During the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries, many people sailed from England to America and started a new life there. New homes like this in other countries were called colonies. The King of England was still king of the people in the colonies, and so they had to send money (taxes) to England every year. But the thirteen American colonies wanted to be free from England; they wanted their government to be in America. They did not want to send money to England and were very angry about this.

In 1770 British soldiers fired guns at some of these pepople in Boston, and in 1773 there was the famous Tea Party. A tea-ship came to Boston and there was a fight about paying taxes on the tea. Three hundred and forty boxes of tea went into the water !Now King Geaoge III and his government were angry too.

On 4 July 1776, Thomas Jefferson and his friends wrote the declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

The British and the Americans fought each other until 1781 in the American war of Independence. In 1773, both sides agreed to the independence of America, and so THE UNITED OF AMERICA was born.

The first Fourth of July celebration was in Philadelphia in 1777, the ships fired their guns and there was a lot of noise. Now every year on the Fourth of July, Americans celebrate Independence Day.

There are special church services at this time, but most of the celebrations are outside because it is in summer. Many families barbecue, eat and play games outside, in their gardens or in a park.

In many towns there are parades through the streets with loud music and bright colours.

The red, white and blue American flag flies everywhere. It has fifty stars and thirteen stripes ( seven red, six white). The fifty stars are for the fifty states in the United States, and the thirteen stripes are for the first thirteen states. The flag has changed many times, every time a new state join the USA, but the flag which you can see today goes back to the Fourth of July 1960.

Independence Day usually ends with lots of fireworks. it is like one big party.

The fourth of July

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