We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done in this process of time, of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it; and we go from these meetings in better humor with ourselves – we feel more attached the one to the other and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. Abraham Lincoln
Speech July 10, 1858 in Chicago on the Declaration of Independence and its celebration (1809-1865)