Barbecue, like fireworks and flying red, white and blue flags, is one of our oldest Independence Day traditions, dating back to the early days of the American republic.

A celebratory feast was the centerpiece of the holiday from the very beginning. On July 4, 1777, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia commemorated the first anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence with “an elegant dinner,” as newspapers described it, followed by rounds of toasts to liberty and the memory of those who had fallen in the ongoing war.

In the decade that followed, the public dinners grew larger, and perhaps a little less elegant, as they moved outdoors and began to feature whole animals cooked on pits in the ground. On July 4, 1788, a “respectable body of gentlemen,” per the Pennsylvania Packet, gathered about a mile outside Richmond, Virginia, “where an excellent barbecue was provided.” On that same day, the citizens of York, Pennsylvania, and Augusta, Georgia, celebrated with barbecue, too. All three gatherings ended with cannon salutes and the drinking of 13 patriotic toasts, one for each of the newly united colonies.

By the first decade of the 19th century,........

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