William Stone, "In Congress, July 4, 1776: the unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America," 1823.Boston Public Library Fireworks, the pyrotechnic kind, are what’s most commonly associated with the Fourth of July: loud, colorful celebration. A more fitting association would be with words, the fighting kind: loud, polemical cerebration. Five new exhibitions keyed to the imminent 250th anniversary of American independence remind us that the Revolution really was a war of words.