©2020 Verizon Media. As it turns out, setting off mini-explosions of all shapes and colors (but particularly red, white and blue) on July 4 goes back almost as far as American independence itself. Despite his memorable paeans to the institution (Franklin famously said, "Marriage is the most natural state of man, and...the state in which you will find solid happiness") and his claim that "It is the man and woman united that make the complete human being," Franklin notoriously surrounded himself with female admirers.

Even though the 4th might be a little different this year, here’s Morgan is the Assistant Digital Managing Editor at Reader’s Digest.

or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...or the whole week? Independence Day is typically called the “4th of July.” Washington's birthday is designated as such, even though the holiday is commonly known as … However, veterans groups opposed the change and most states kept their Veterans Day commemorations on Nov. 11, the date in 1918 when World War I fighting ceased. They get the Fourth of July off; if during the week, they get that day off and if on the weekend, they usually don’t get an extra day. Congress said the move would "bring substantial benefits to both the spiritual and economic life of the Nation," according to the Archives. Congress declared the first federal holidays in the 1870s -- a handful of observances with Independence Day among them, according to a 2014 Even today, Congress' edict applies only to federal employees. Yet the holiday wasn't established until 1983.

Here's Why You're Able To.We all know that Benjamin Franklin was an exemplary American, embodying the thrift, industriousness, and political equality we celebrate every Independence Day. He noted that most private employers, but not all, give extra compensation to employees who work on federal holidays.These federal holidays were created at different times and in response to different movements.

There were some rockets, but they were crude by contemporary standards. Every Fourth of July, sparkly fireworks illuminate the sky. Here's how they each came to be.These federal holidays, three of the first to be established, were created in 1870.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed a law that moved the holiday back to Nov. 11, according to the Inauguration Day was named a permanent holiday in 1957 for those in the Washington, D.C., area. English February 2001 -- in one day we laid off 350 people, and before the bloodshed was finished, 1,000 people had lost their jobs from my companies. It’s certainly a day for celebration, but why fireworks? "It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. Ever wondered why we set off those humungous kaleidoscopes of gunpowder in our sky each Fourth of July? So long as the laboring man can feel that he holds an honorable as well as a useful place in the body politic, so long will he be a loyal and faithful citizen. If a person works a weekend and the Fourth falls on a weekend day, the Fourth is given as a day during the week because those who work weekends are usually community service workers (hospital, ambulance, police, fire department). He earned the title of "The First American" for his crusade to unite the original American colonies, but his loyalty to the U.S. may not have extended to his marriage. All rights reserved. Well, you can thank famous historian John Adams for it. Congress and the president have never tried to establish holidays that apply to the states, the CRS report says. If the holiday is on a weekday we get that day off. more_vert open_in_new Link do źródła It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. Tap here to turn on desktop notifications to get the news sent straight to you.Sign up for membership to become a founding member and help shape HuffPost's next chapterWe made it easy for you to exercise your right to vote!Part of HuffPost Politics.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr: mbell1975Important conversations are happening now. "But that first fireworks display was a far cry from today's elaborate, choreographed pyrotechnic shows. It applies every four years on Jan. 20 when a new president is sworn into office.Columbus Day was created in 1968 as part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act and set for the second Monday in October.

On July 3, 1776, a day ahead of the Continental Congress' adoption of the final version of the Declaration of Independence, Massachusetts delegate "I am apt to believe that [Independence Day] will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival," he wrote. Independence Day in the United States, also known as the Fourth of July or simply July 4th, is a federal holiday.