I don't know how true the stories are about what Fourth of July celebrations were like in the earlier days of the Republic. I'm sure I read the Declaration during a high school history class, but it wasn't emphasized, and nobody even hinted to me that it just might have been the most profoundly revolutionary document in human history. I didn't start thinking about it seriously until I was finished with college and trying to figure out whether I wanted to be a politician or a writer. I have, of course, come to appreciate what the Declaration of Independence means....