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July 4, 2021 6:30 AM
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer
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AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
FILE - In this Thursday, May 15, 2003 file photo, visitors tour the Capitol Rotunda near John Trumbull's painting titled "Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776". On that day, the Continental Congress formally endorsed the Declaration of Independence. Celebrations began within days: parades and public readings, bonfires and candles and the firing of 13 musket rounds, one for each of the original states. Nearly a century passed before the country officially named its founding a holiday.
Library of Congress via AP
In this July 4, 1910 photo made available by the Library of Congress, United Confederate Veterans from the Civil War march with drummers down a street in Petersburg, Va.