Friday, July 04, 2008

Happy Second

On July 2 1776, the Congress of thirteen of the British colonies in North America passed a Resolution of Independence presented by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.
With the passage of the Resolution of Independence, the colonies had officially severed political ties with Great Britain. In a now-famous letter written to his wife on the following day, John Adams predicted that July 2 would become a great American holiday.

The famous grand parchment document in the National Archives known as the Declaration of Independence, but actually titled "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America", was signed by most of the delegates on August 2 1776, although some signers were not present and had to sign later.

Happy Second.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

A sad day severing ties with the benevolent guiding hand that first civilised the country - many commentators beleive that this day marks the start of the decline in North America which has continued ever since

Tillerman said...

That's a very mean thing to say, especially on a country's birthday. If it hadn't been for America the world would never have seen such incredible contributions to civilization as tea bags, peanut butter, disposable diapers, and the Force 5 sailboat.

Thank You America. We Love You. And Happy Birthday (even if you do celebrate it on the wrong day.)

Anonymous said...

The resolution was on the second.

The barbecue was on the fourth.

Anonymous said...

You're absolutely right odocker. Barbecues are as American as the National Debt and Arnold Schwarzenegger. And just to prove it, here is a story about Fourth of July barbecues and the only surviving Founding Father.

PeconicPuffin said...

Blame it on a knucklehead named George.

Carol Anne said...

BTW, in the original declaration, the word "united" was not capitalized. It was only many years later that the term United States came to be used to define this nation.

The document itself is a magnificent example of the combination of inductive and deductive reasoning, and I use it every term as an example to my students of how to construct a logical argument. Those of my students who have come here from somewhere else and who are studying to pass the test to become citizens usually have a pretty good grasp. Those of my students who were born in this country usually need a lot more help. They know that the Fourth of July is a day to set off fireworks, but they haven't the foggiest notion why.

Pat said...

Don't we obviously we set off fireworks on the Fourth of July because we never had a Guy Fawkes?

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