When did the 4th of July become Veterans Day?

[misanthrope]

39. One of the primary participants of that July 1776 convention said this:

"But the Day is past. 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 Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

"You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. -- I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. -- Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."

–John Adams in letter to Abigail, July 3, 1776

While Adams obviously understood the role of the military in their enterprise, he also knew it was more complex than that. The celebration was due for the courage in standing up to the world's preeminent power of that time. The bravery was in the stand itself, not just the military action to follow. Forging their own nation was an endeavor fraught with peril of various sorts.

It can also be seen as a celebration of the Enlightenment principles and philosophies which formed the foundation of the Declaration of Independence, for the concept of inalienable rights of self-governance. It's far more than the simplistic holiday which we've made of it.

Now it's a time when folks who come unglued at the mention of burning a flag will turn the same object into clothing or eat baked beans off its image on a paper plate. Or when those half of those swilling beer and exploding fireworks don't even bother to vote and of those who do, fewer inform themselves on issues or involve themselves in their community to much of an extent at all.