This coming Saturday will be the day of our country's independence celebration. It will be a day of picnics, little league baseball, outdoor festivities ending with an evening of fireworks. Most people know the basic idea of what the July 4th celebration is about. Our country's founding fathers signed a Deceleration of Independence on July 4th. This was telling England we are no longer British subjects. We don't even like tea all that much, so there!
Of course the Revolutionary War was in full gear after that day. There were 56 individuals who signed the Deceleration of Independence. Five of the signers were captured by the British, labeled traitors and tortured to death. Twelve of the signers had their homes ransacked by the British and then burned. Two of the signers lost sons who were serving in the Revolutionary Army. Another signer had two of his sons captured and held on a British ship. None of the signers actually had an easy time after signing the Declaration of Independence. The signers were intelligent individuals who realized what would happen to them. We can only imagine their level of commitment to our nation’s freedom.
Here are some interesting facts about the Deceleration of Independence. The facts are in bold and my valuable insights are in italics.
According to author Kenneth C. Davis, July 2nd is the real day of Independence, but it's celebrated on the fourth because that's when congress accepted Jefferson's declaration.
Now that we know that what do we do? Make it a federal holiday starting on July 2nd and ending on July 4th?
Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence on a "laptop," which was a writing desk that could fit on one's lap.
Things have certainly changed. I don't think Thomas Jefferson's laptop had Deceleration of Independence app. If it did, things would probably different.
Only two men signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776 — John Hancock and Charles Thompson.
What were the rest of the signers doing? Were there prior to Independence day celebrations? Were the other signers busy participating in a potato sack race and working the bar-b-que for a picnic? The Declaration of Independence didn't surprise anyone. The colonies and the British Empire had been battling for at least a year prior to it being created.
Jefferson's original draft of the deceleration of independence was lost and the one eventually signed is the "engrossed" document.
Okay, I had to look this up. Engrossed means the copy of a document that has all the details and can be signed. Legal types call signing a document “executing” it. It's not signing a document with stuff spilled on it that makes it a “gross” document (You know you had that thought). The original was lost on it's way to France.
“Aye don know what dis iz.”
“Ah, it's our Declaration of Independence.”
“Who would want to read this, it's not in French.”
“We speak English.”
“No my problem. I zay we play tic tac toe on ze back.”
“Okay.”
Thomas Jefferson changed the wording of the Declaration of Independence from "the pursuit of property" to "the pursuit of happiness."
How did someone talk Thomas Jefferson into this?
“You don't like that I put 'the pursuit of property.' in the Declaration of Independence?”
“Hey, Tom, buddy, let's think about this for a minute. Not everyone can be a property owner these days. Unless you're a rich white guy, you are out of luck. Let's put something in there everyone can pursue, like happiness.”
“Happiness?”
“Yeah, I mean, think about it. You may have no money and live is poverty, but we'll make sure you know you can at least pursue happiness.”
“Makes sense, happiness is going in there now.”
“Great.”
In 1776, about 2.5 million people lived in the United States verses over 300 million people today.
I think the "pursuit of happiness" clause in the Declaration of Independence may have played a role in the population increase.
Congress declared July 4th as an official holiday in 1870 as part of a bill to officially recognize other holidays, Christmas being one of them.
Talk about bureaucracy. We declare our independence in 1776 and wait 94 years to make it and Christmas official holidays? What were these people in the government doing? Drinking rum, riding horses and singing “Yankee Doodle?
"Yankee Doodle," a popular American patriotic song, was originally sung prior to the Revolution by British military officers in mockery of the unorganized and buckskin-wearing “Yankees”
“Oh yeah? Well, look at who is dominating the leather industry around the world. Guess what? It isn't the British. To all those British military officers who mocked our ancestors I say “Pbbbbbbtth!”
An estimated 150 million hot dogs will be consumed on July 4th.
Most of them will probably be consumed during the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island, New York.
I hope everyone has a great July 4th celebration. We might want to take a minute and think about the 56 men who in 1776 had the courage to stand up to the most powerful empire in the world at the time.. The colonists paid a huge price so we can enjoy the freedoms we have today.
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