Independence Declared
By RollingThunder Posted in History — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
. . . 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.
With these words, John Adams told his wife Abigail of the passage of the Lee Resolution. The resolution, proposed by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, stating in part: . . . 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.
Of the 13 colonies 12 voted in favor on July 2, with New York abstaining. The New York delegation finally approved the resolution on July 9. The document we know as The Declaration of Independence was approved, in its final form, on July 4, 17776. Hence, the traditional date of America's independence.
Today, however, is the day that independence was formally declared by The First Continental Congress. So, as you celebrate freedom on Friday, take a moment to remember July the second and all it means to our great country.
Letter source: Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776, "Had a Declaration..." [electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic Archive. Massachusetts Historical Society. http://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/
http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/jul/declaration/
"Small town folks get bitter after which they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment"- Barack Carter Obama
I give it 233 years, TOPS.
Seriously, one of the Founders (I beleive it was also Adams) lamented that there simply weren't enough great men around to do the work that lay before the nascent nation. They had to create a whole new country, while simultaneously fighting off the most militarily powerful empire in human history.
I don't know what kind of great men Adams was hoping to find, but I'm planning on going to Mass tonight to give thanks that they were able to "make do" with the likes of Adams, Hamilton, Jefferson, and Franklin.
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"You can't save the Earth unless you're willing to make other people sacrifice" - Scott Adams (speaking through Dogbert)
fix the date, tho!
Jim Tomasik