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 shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore.

Adams, John. "Novanglus No. VII, March 6, 1775." John Adams: Revolutionary Writings 1755-1775, edited by Gordon S. Wood. Library of America, 2011.

Burke, Edmund. "Speech on Conciliation with the Colonies." The Portable Edmund Burke, edited by Isaac Kramnick. Penguin, 2009.

Paine, Thomas. "Common Sense." Rights of Man, Common Sense, and Other Political Writings, edited by Mark Philp. Oxford University Press, 2009, introduction.

Pyrrhus. Quoted in "Pyrrhus." Parallel Lives by Plutarch. Oxford University Press, 2009, ch. 21, sect. 9.