Photo Gallery, 2004

Bob Pfitzenmeier, a float technician for the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks spectacular, climbs the Statue of Liberty float to make final preparations for the biggest fireworks display in the United States, July 1, 2003, in New York. For three days expert pyro-technicians from Souza Fireworks and Macy's employees prepareed specially rigged barges for the 4th of July fireworks display. (Photo/Mary Altaffer)

President's Independence Day Message, 2004

America is a place of freedom and opportunity. We are caring toward neighbors in need and generous to the sick and struggling. We are a strong, decent, and good-hearted country. All of us are blessed to be citizens of the United States and are proud to call America our home. Complete text

Related Item:
President's Radio Address | Audio
Remarks by the President at 4th of July Celebration in Charleston, West Virginia

July 4th, 2004

The following articles and photos illuminate aspects of U.S. history and values, and provide a snapshot of some of the diverse ways in which Americans have celebrated the Fourth of July.

The articles are either in the public domain or have been copyright cleared for reproduction and republication outside the United States. Copyright requirements, if any exist, are listed with the individual articles.

Making Sense of the Fourth of July
By Pauline Maier
Maier discusses the history of the Fourth of July, which celebrates the Declaration of Independence rather than the actual independence from Britain, and how the Declaration came to usurp a role that Americans normally delegated to bills of rights.

Winter of Discontent
by Norman Gelb
Even as he endured the hardships of Valley Forge, George Washington faced another challenge: critics who questioned his fitness to lead

Constitution Is Most Important U.S. Export
by Albert P. Blaustein
In this essay Albert Blaustein, who taught at Rutgers School of Law and authored a six-volume work on the U.S. Constitution, outlines how the document has been used as a model by other governments in crafting their own constitutions. Written to commemorate the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, the article remains a classic assessment of the attraction of America's fundamental political document to nations struggling to achieve democracy from the eighteenth into the twenty-first centuries.

The Idea of America
By Morghan Transue
As part of the "We the People" initiative, the National Endowment for the Humanities invited high school juniors across the United States to submit essays that explore what it is that connects the United States as a nation. More than thirteen hundred essays were submitted. The winner, Morghan Transue, examines the belief of most Americans that governmental "checks and balances" safeguard American democracy.

Independence Day, Apart From the Fireworks
By James D. Bloom
Each year, on July 4, Americans celebrate their freedom and independence with great fanfare. But writers and artists have often seen a deeper meaning in what is for most Americans a celebratory occasion. Like writers everywhere, they tend to probe and analyze this powerful symbolic event for nuanced reflection on the values that underlie the Fourth of July. As a result, the national holiday in classic American literature sometimes takes on an ironic or shadowed cast.

Independence Day in Bristol, Rhode Island
By Carol McCabe
This July, Bristol, a coastal town founded in 1680, will again celebrate the Glorious Fourth with its historic Military, Civic and Firemen's Parade. The first mention of Independence Day in Bristol dates from July 1777, when a British officer heard celebratory sounds across the waters of Narragansett Bay: "This being the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence of the Rebel Colonies, they ushered in the morning by firing 13 cannons, one for each colony ...

Our Flag Was Still There
By Edwards Park
It's the Star-Spangled Banner; the anthem it inspired plays on as a musical salute to the Stars and Stripes