
With the 4th of July just around the corner, you may enjoy another free eBook in the Our American Holidays series. Independence Day: Its Celebration, Spirit, and Significance as Related in Prose and Verse edited by Robert Haven Schauffler is a nice complement to our 4th of July Holiday Helps.
The editor puts forward a “British-friendly” view of the Revolutionary War and, as such, puts the focus on:
…a day of initiation into the meaning of true citizenship and a
festival of deep and genuine and beautiful patriotism.
Whatever you think of the editor’s views on Independence Day, which you will find elaborated on in the introduction, you’ll still enjoy the selection of readings that follow, categorized by:
- Celebration.
- Spirit and Significance.
- Before the Dawn of Independence.
- The Declaration.
- The Struggle for Independence.
- Sweet Land of Liberty.
- Fiction.
- The New North.
Contributors include:
- Daniel Webster.
- Patrick Henry.
- Samuel Adams.
- John Quincy Adams.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson.
- William Cullen Bryant.
- James Russell Lowell.
- John Greenleaf Whittier.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes.
- William Cowper.
- Many others.
We have added this free eBook to our 4th of July resources. Enjoy!
Free eBook
- Read online
- EPUB (suggest converting for Kindle)
Additional Resources

4th of July {Holiday Helps}
We’ve pulled together background information, activities, units, lesson plans, and printables to help you celebrate the 4th of July!
Enjoy the other books in the Our American Holidays series: