John Adams seems to have started it all. The founding of our country, the Founding Father wrote to his wife Abigail, "ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore." And thus, he predicted, we would always remember that momentous date in 1776--the second of July.
Adams was off by a couple of days (he was marking the resolution of independence; we celebrate the signing of the Declaration). But regarding the guns, bonfires and illuminations, he was right on...
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