Segment from Independence Daze

Rockets' Red Glare

Ed and Peter interview Jim Heintze, who has chronicled history’s most explosive July Fourth celebrations. And we hear from a few of today’s fireworks planners.

Declaration of Introduction

Ed and Brian express skepticism about an entire episode devoted to the Fourth of July, but Peter paints a vivid picture of colonists’ need to revolt.

00:02:28

American Scripture

Peter talks to the late Pauline Maier about the most important parts of the Declaration (not the first paragraph!), and how meanings of “independence” have changed over time.

00:06:35

Host Peter Onuf tells co-host Ed Ayers and Brian Balogh how the 4th of July displaced George Washington’s Birthday as the first truly national holiday – when Thomas Jefferson’s partisans pushed it for their own reasons.

00:03:24

Rockets' Red Glare

Ed and Peter interview Jim Heintze, who has chronicled history’s most explosive July Fourth celebrations. And we hear from a few of today’s fireworks planners.

00:05:59

00:10:46