Public rituals have always held a vital place in American culture. By far the noisiest and most popular of these to emerge in the nation's early years was Independence Day. After a decade of fitful starts, the Fourth of July eclipsed local and regional patriotic observances to become the premier "American Jubilee.".

Celebrating the Fourth provides a history of this holiday and explores its role in shaping a national identity and consciousness in three cities - Boston, Charleston, and Philadelphia - during the first fifty years of the American republic. Independence Day celebrations justified, validated, and helped maintain nationalism among people unused to offering political allegiance beyond their own state borders.

As the observances became increasingly popular and symbolically important, political partisans competed hotly for the right to control the meaning of the festivals.

The actions of these partisans, as well as of less politically motivated citizens, provide important clues to understanding American culture in the post-revolutionary era. Taken together, the parades, parties, firework displays, sporting events, and drinking bouts that marked a proper observance of the Fourth of July constituted a public ritual expressing the beliefs and values of the participants.