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YourHub.com \\ Parker \\ Stories \\ Holidays \\ Independence Day

Independence Day was almost a day late

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Contributed by: Joe McDaniel on 7/5/2006

On the 4th July each year we observe the only national holiday that celebrates the United States of America as a whole.

The values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness explicitly motivated our Founding Fathers to declare independence from Britain. There were other values - democracy, freedom, and equality under the law, to name a few.

Members of the Continental Congress, representing our original 13 states voted secretly on 2nd July (the vote was 12 - 0, with New York abstaining) to approve independence. After another two days of reworking the text of the document, a second 12-0 vote was taken a little after 11:00 p.m. on 4th July and a copy signed by John Hancock, President of the Congress, was officially made available to the people of Philadelphia. If the proceedings had taken another hour, we would be celebrating on 5th July.

It wasn't until a month later, on 2nd August, 1776, that a printed Declaration was signed by all members of the congress. This signing was kept secret to protect members from British reprisal. It was dangerous and pivotal time in our nation's history. We can hardly fully appreciate the risk those men took and the courage they displayed.

As we sit in our comfortable homes and look out our windows at the Stars and Stripes we might ask ourselves if we, in a similar situation, would have signed our names to such a document and, in so doing, risked the lives of our wives, children and fellow citizens.

Independence Day has been celebrated in many ways. Gen. George Washington marked the day in 1778 by giving his hungry and outnumbered soldiers a double ration of rum. In recent times, the price of gasoline normally goes up around the 4th. Coolers are put to good use now instead of the picnic baskets of old and we watch baseball, Wimbledon and World Cup soccer on High Definition TVs from the comfort of our lawn chairs or sofa/recliners.

Our prosperity, our security, our freedom to celebrate in any way we choose - all are made possible by the foresight and courage of those remarkable Americans 230 years ago.

Only two signers of the Declaration of Independence went on to become president; John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Both were brilliant men. Both passed away on 4th July.

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Submitted By: Graham McDaniel

posted on 7/5/2006 @ 8:20:46 AM

Rated Story

great article Joe!

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Joe McDaniel

Parker , CO

Joe McDaniel has posted 217 stories and 198 comments since joining on 9/14/2005. Joe McDaniel's average story rating is 4.94.

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