A Spontaneous Demonstration of Joy with a Great Expenditure of Liquor: The Story Behind America's First Independence Day Celebration in 1777

 On July 5, 1777 Philadelphia’s most widely read daily broadsheet The Pennsylvania Evening Post described the previous day’s Independence Day celebrations in the city as, “A demonstration of joy and festivities.”

In an outpouring of patriotic fervor according to the Pennsylvania Evening Post, ship’s in the harbor along the banks of the Delaware River were said to be, “Dressed in the gayest manner with the colors of the United States and red, white and blue streamers displayed.”

It was reported that day, that as the fittingly decorated ships approached the city--America’s newly minted first capital city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that thirteen cannon shots were fired--one cannon blast for each former British colony that had only the year before turned newly independent state, part of the loose confederation now known as the United States of America.

That night thirteen fireworks were set off in the large green spaces known as the city commons of both Philadelphia, the nascent nation’s new capital, and Boston where the original rebellion that eventually led to American independence had begun.  

Apparently, the fireworks in Boston were set off by the subversive group (subversive to the British Crown that is) known as the Sons of Liberty, and not officially sanctioned by the City itself.

The Evening Post went on to say that, “It was a grand display of fireworks,” and that the city was, “Brightly illuminated in the dark of night.”

It was said that all of these festivities were conducted joyously and spontaneously by Patriots who were fully devoted to the Glorious Cause of American Independence.

Only one year earlier, on July 4, 1776, upon ratification of the Declaration of Independence  while the American colonies esteemed elder statesman, native Pennsylvanian and perhaps the most famous American in the world at the time (short of maybe only George Washington himself) speculated that they all might hang as traitors for what they had just done in the Continental Congress, John Adams, also a fellow signatory of our nation’s Declaration of Independence and the future second President of the United States predicted that posterity would commemorate this momentous day with fireworks.

In a letter to his wife Abigail in July of 1776, John Adams presciently wrote of the Declaration of Independence, “I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by future generations as the great anniversary festival…It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade…with bonfires and fireworks from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.”

John Adams (center) with Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson

And on July 4, 1777 Philadelphia did not disappoint John Adams on the one year anniversary of America’s Independence.

The festivities began at noon with the sailing of the red, white and blue ships into the harbor on the Delaware and with the thirteen cannon shot salute, one blast for each new state, as has already been mentioned.

Then, that afternoon the members of the Continental Congress all gathered together for a celebratory dinner accompanied by many toasts to independence and to the sacrifices being made by the brave men in George Washington’s Continental Army.  In an attempt to humiliate the British, a captured band of Hessian soldiers who had surrendered to the Continental Army on Christmas Day 1776 at the Battle of Trenton in New Jersey, were forced to play music while the members of Congress dined and toasted our freedom.

The climax of that first Independence Day celebration in our nation’s first capital was of course--the fireworks.

As reported in the Evening Post, “The evening was closed with the ringing of bells and at night there was a grand exhibition of fireworks which began and concluded with the firing of thirteen rockets..”

Though, by today’s standards those fireworks used during the very first July 4th celebration in Philadelphia would have been quite crude, more like large sparklers mounted atop a wooden platform that flung dangerous flaming embers into the sky rather than true “rockets” in the modern sense of the word, the spectacle was still awe-inspiring enough to be reported on by broadsheets across the new nation.

Independence Day in Philadelphia 1777

The ever patriotic and eloquent John Adams wrote that, “The wharves and the shoreline were crowded with people eager to celebrate…all shouting and huzzaing in a manner which gave great joy to every friend of this country, and the utmost terror and dismay to every lurking tory.”

However, those tories loyal to the crown, and those British soldiers stationed near enough to Philadelphia to hear the rockets and fireworks going off on July 4, 1777 must not have been terrified enough.

On September 11, 1777-a date that seems to be one of the most inauspicious throughout our nation’s long history-the Continental Army was routed only mere miles from Philadelphia itself at the Battle of Brandywine Creek by an invading British force.

Congress, and the seat of American government was forced to flee westward to York, Pennsylvania, and General Washington’s Continental Army was sent headlong in retreat back across the Delaware and into New Jersey.  Thus began an eight month long humiliating occupation of our nation’s first capital by the British Army.

It is interesting to note, perhaps because they were too busy monitoring the actions of our red-coated enemies and preparing to defend our nation from the largest amphibious invasion that the world had ever seen up to that point, that the Continental Army did not observe the first anniversary of our nation’s independence at all.  

Battle of Brandywine Creek September 11, 1777

Though the following July 4th in 1778, while our army was encamped in the environs surrounding Morristown, New Jersey, and desperately fighting for its survival, George Washington ordered that all the men’s daily rum ration be doubled in observance of Independence Day, and a thirteen gun salute was fired to honor each of the thirteen states.  This tradition of doubling the rum ration and firing a thirteen gun salute would be continued by the Continental Army each year for the duration of the war until our ultimate victory in 1781 after the Battle of Yorktown.

Even during the first spontaneous Independence Day Celebration in Philadelphia in 1777, right from the very beginning, it would appear that our nation’s birthday and the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol have been inextricably linked--and not everyone has approved.

In a letter written to his daughter from Philadelphia on July 4, 1777 representative to the Continental Congress from Connecticut William Williams wrote that he, “Heartily disapproved of the shenanigans going on that day,” foremost among those shenanigans being, “[T]he great expenditure of liquor among other transgressions.”

Perhaps, because of this rampant drunkenness during the Fourth of July, after America finally defeated Great Britain, Independence Day celebrations became much more somber affairs during the late 1780’s and 90’s with July 4th being given over in most parts of the nation to a day of prayer and thanksgiving for America’s independence.

However, during the War of 1812 as large parts of our nation, particularly the American South, became swept up once again in patriotic fervor, 4th of July celebrations centering around fireworks, parades and alcohol-fueled shenanigans once again became a part of American culture culminating in the United States of America’s unprecedented Centennial Celebration in Washington D.C. in 1876.  It was not until the 1870’s, believe it or not, that July 4th, Independence Day, was officially recognized as a federal holiday and truly became the day of midsummer celebration that we know today.

18th Century Fireworks

The groundwork for all of this was laid way back when on July 4, 1777 when the patriots of Philadelphia were spontaneously swept up by an onrushing tide of love for their county even while dreams our nation’s independence had not yet been fully realized and when America’s future still hung precariously in the balance.