Teaching Resource
Background
As copies of the Declaration of Independence spread through the colonies and were publicly read at town meetings, people lit great bonfires, illuminated their windows with candles, fired guns, rang bells, and tore down and destroyed the symbols of monarchy on public buildings.But what exactly were people celebrating? A speech or a written document? Freedom or equality? Inalienable rights or the right to rebel?The actual Fourth of July holiday may have been started...