Editorial: Honoring freedom on July 4, 2025

The memory of hot dogs, sparklers and fireworks from atop a hill sitting with neighbors on a blanket tops the list of my favorite July 4^th memory.

Whoosh! Bang! Pop! The sky crackled in red and yellow; gasps sounded with applause and purple and orange fragments of light spiraled downward, disappearing into the night’s black abyss and my little sister awed.

No July 4^th celebration has this memory beat, and it’s been 58 years since.

What is your favorite July 4^th memory?

Enter the July 4 Memory Contest: Send a photo and a few sentences, no more than 200 words, to editor@sandhills.news for consideration for publication in Sandhills News. You could be on the front page!

A note on history: On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence, asserting our separation from Great Britain as a new, sovereign nation and establishing the ideals that define the United States of America. With its audacious statement that “all men are created equal,” the Declaration proclaimed that all people possess individual rights that cannot be taken away, thus radically altering the course of human history.

Transportation and communication delayed adopting the declaration until July 4 because the founding members of congress ensured each of the thirteen states had affirmation and New York had yet to affirm.

David McCullough, author of “John Adams,” describes the uncertainty surrounding colonial unity and notes that all thirteen colonies ultimately aligned. New York’s transition from abstaining to supporting independence indicates how support for independence was increasing, even in regions that were initially more cautious or divided.

According to David McCullough, on July 3, 1776, John Adams sent his wife Abigail a letter about July 2, 1776, being a day to remember:

“The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. 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.”

July 4, 2025

Stephanie M. Sellers