Ever wondered why we set off those humungous kaleidoscopes of gunpowder in our sky each Fourth of July? Apparently, the history of fireworks in America is as old the country itself. On our first Independence Day celebration, held in Philadelphia on July 4, 1777, when the country was still in the midst of the Revolutionary War against Britain, citizens came together to watch their new nation’s sky illuminated in a grand display meant to raise spirits. “I think they wanted to create a morale booster, and it worked,” James R. Heintze, author of The Fourth of July Encyclopedia, told USA Today. “The news spread, and Fourth of July celebrations with fireworks took hold quickly in other places.” One of our Founding Fathers had even predicted that Americans would commemorate their independence with pomp and circumstance. On July 3, 1776, a day ahead of the Continental Congress’ adoption of the final version of the Declaration of Independence, Massachusetts delegate John Ad