Bicentennial America
"Independence Day," John Adams wrote to his wife on July 3, 1776, one day before the Declaration of Independence was officially adopted by the Continental Congress and five days before its firt public reading in Philadelphia, "ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfire and illuminations, from one end of the country to the other, from this time forever more."
And so it has been, on every July 4th since that watershed event in human history that took place in Philadelphia in 1776, in peace and war, in calm and crisis, in prosperity and decline, by each succeeding generation. And so it is being celebrated throughout the land this weekend, but with added emphasis, as Americans mark the 200th anniversary of their country's birth.
The "Comprehensive Calendar of Bicentennial Events," published by the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration lists more than 5,000 separate events scheduled on or about July 4. They range from the largest parade ever staged in the nation's capitla, followed by the most brillian fireworks display in U.S. history, to a sail-by of most of the world's remaining great sailing ships in New York harbor, to a cowboy reunion in Stamford, Tex.
America, in short, is not having one big Bicentennial celebration but as many different ones as there are communities in the country. It has turned out to be a do it yourself Bicentennial and we like to think that is something John Adams and his contemporaries would have approved of.
A few years ago, when people first began thinking about how the nation might properly observe the Bicentennial, all kinds of grandiose plans were proposed. The feeling was that there should be one great national display or fair, something like the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, that would symbolized America to itself and to the world and remain as a permanent monument. For a time, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington and other cities vied for the designation of Bicentennial City.
But the closer we drew to the actual Bicentennial, the more it became apparent that, problems of financing to one side, there was simply no way to symbolize the United States of America, let alone sum up 200 crowded years of history, in any one place or event.
There is really, only one way we can adequately observe America's Bicentennial and only one enduring legacy we can leave to future generations. This is by each American in 1976 making a declaration in his heart of renewed devotion to the ideals that motivated the Americans of 1776.
The Declaration of Independence was more than the birth certificate of a new nation. It was a spark that lit the imagination of the 18th-century world. It was the culmination of a centuries-long struggle for human freedom - nay, not the culmination but the real beginning. It was a challenge thrown in the face of history. It was a testament of faith that men, possessing certain inalienable rights, were capable of securing those rights under governments of their own free choosing.
Behind all th epomp and parade, the bonfires and illuminations, these are the living truths we celebrated on the Grand and Glorious Fourth in the 200th year of the United States of America. So may it be "forever more."
The Sunday Express News
San Antonio, TX
Sunday, July 4, 1976
