Happy Independence day!

[Platapus]

Happy Independence Day :up:

Today 2 July, in 1776, the Continental Congress voted and approved the Lee Resolution.

"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.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation."

It was passed 12-0 with one abstaining. New York finally voted in favour on 9 July 1776.

The evening of 2 July 1776, the Pennsylvania Evening Post published the statement: "This day the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies Free and Independent States."

John Adams, in writing to his wife Abigail on 3 July 1776.

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch 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 shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

The Declaration of Independence was not what declared our independence (even back then congress had problems entitling stuff). It was the Lee Resolution. The Declaration of Independence was a document designed to rally support from the citizens on the decision Congress made on 2 July 1776.

What many people don't realize is that the intended audience of the Declaration of Independence was the American people.


So happy Independence Day! Let's cock a good natured snook to our British friends and allies. :rock:

[Onkel Neal]

Yes, happy Indepence Day! Go USA! :salute:


But I still love the British.

[Bakkels]

Ah the 4th of July, of course. Happy Independence Day from across the pond. :salute:

[yubba]

Happy Independence Day:woot::woot::woot:I just can't wait to start poopin in depends, what was the question again.

[Platapus]

Ah the 4th of July, of course. Happy Independence Day from across the pond. :salute:
2 July actually. :)

[Bakkels]

2 July actually. :)

Well, it's the third over here :03: But not quite the 4th indeed.. :oops:
So tell me, why is Independence Day celebrated on the 4th when the declaration was signed on the second?
Or wasn't your quote about the final Declaration of independence? (Just tryin to get a free history lesson here)

[Tchocky]

I was wondering whether Sailor Steve or Platapus would post first this year :DL

[Jimbuna]

Happy Independence Day America

http://www.onlinedownloads.org/diary/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/happy-independence-day.jpg

[krashkart]

Stay safe everyone. :woot:

[Rilder]

Happy Independence day, Amerikans. :O:

[FIREWALL]

Yes, happy Indepence Day! Go USA! :salute:


But I still love the British.

Ah the 4th of July, of course. Happy Independence Day from across the pond. :salute:

And Happy Returns to both of you. :salute::woot::woot::salute:

[Platapus]

So tell me, why is Independence Day celebrated on the 4th when the declaration was signed on the second?

The declaration of Independence was first signed on the 4th. However, congress voted for independence on 2 July.


Why is Independence Day celebrated on the 4th? Probably for the same reasons Christmas is celebrated on a day that Jesus was not born. :D

[Onkel Neal]

Jesus was born on American Independence Day? I knew it!

[Betonov]

http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com/images/coin_info/half_disme/Congress_voting_independence.jpg
Congress voting on independence

http://chismetime.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/20070521-thomas-jefferson-picture.jpg
''We expected that the notion will pass the voting, but never so unanimously'' T. Jefferson

http://mrsoskil.wikispaces.com/file/view/burgoyne.jpg/109703893/burgoyne.jpg
''We were ovestreched fighting the damn froggies, and now the colonials are acting up. In the long run I doubt we can win this mess'' an un-named British general said in response to the colonial uprising


Happy independence Yenks :salute:

[Jimbuna]

Jesus was born on American Independence Day? I knew it!

That's correct and his birthplace was the UK :DL

[Platapus]

Jesus was born on American Independence Day? I knew it!

And Jesus spoke English. Its in the Bible. :yep::D

[Oberon]

God is an Englishman. :yep:

In all seriousness, Happy Independence Day, hope you guys have a good one. :salute:

[Penguin]

The declaration of Independence was first signed on the 4th. However, congress voted for independence on 2 July.


:hmmm: interesting, didn't know that the US declared its independence de facto on the 2nd. I guess I'll have to watch the John Adams miniseries again....
I wonder how many Americans know this fact.

Anyway: Happy Independence Day! :salute:

[Tinman764]

My mother moved to the US a while ago and this is her 1st independence day over there... she's told me that she's desperate to fly a Union Jack from her window as a "joke"... so if anyone around the Michigan area spots a Union Jack anywhere that's probably my mum - go easy on her! :yeah:

Happy independence day to all you lovely people over there :salute:

[Platapus]

:hmmm: interesting, didn't know that the US declared its independence de facto on the 2nd. I guess I'll have to watch the John Adams miniseries again....
I wonder how many Americans know this fact.

Anyway: Happy Independence Day! :salute:

It was the Lee Resolution where congress voted 12-0-1 for independence. New York changed their abstention several days later.

As for Americans knowing this. Few do and fewer care. Most do not know that the DoI was not addressed to King George but to the citizens.

It is important to remember that there were several versions of the DoI.

If one wishes to be absolutely correct (and win almost all bar bets), the document voted on 4 July 1776 was actually "A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled". This is what historians consider the Fair Copy or final copy that was presented to congress.

On the night of 4 July, 200 copies of the "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America" were printed up by John Dunlap. These are called the Dunlap Broadsides. That version did not have any signatures. But did have John Hancock's (as President of the Congress) and Charles Townsend's (as Secretary of the Congress) name in type. One copy (some sources say two) was sent to England.

in January, 1777 Mary Goddard printed up the first version of the DoI with names but not the signatures. This version is called the Goddard Broadside. However, not all the names that eventually ended up signing the DoI were in place for this broadside.

It should be noted that the Dunlap and the Goddard broadsides were printed in type, not hand written.

On 19 July 1776, Timothy Matlak (sometimes misnamed Matlock) was commissioned to scribe the words of the DoI in script. This is called the Engrossed copy. John Hancock signed in the center and large, not because of any claim that King George would need glasses, but more on tradition. As President of the Congress, it was appropriate that his signature would be larger and centered.

Eventually, over several years, the 56 "original" signers of the DoI signed it. Some who voted for it never signed it and some who never voted for it signed it. Such is government.

In 1820, William Stone was commissioned to engrave the Engrossed copy. It took him three years to complete this process. These versions are called the Stone engravings and are the basis for any modern reproduction of the DoI.

It may come as a surprise that few Americans today know much about the DoI, but it shouldn't. The DoI was actually a relatively unimportant document for the first 20 years. Few Americans in the late 1770's and in the 1780's knew about it and less seemed to care. When the Congress was debating the Constitution, there is no record of the DoI being discussed or referenced.

What sparked the interest in the DoI in the late 1790's? Politics. Jefferson and Adams were engaged in a vicious political battle for the 1796 term. Both political parties used the DoI as a political tool to discredit the other.

If it were not for the political bickering of Jefferson and Adams, it is possible the DoI would have faded (literally) into obscurity.

Probably more than you ever wanted to know about the DoI.

But this is why I like to celebrate 2 July as our independence day. The Lee Resolution was a single act that happened on a single day. The "signing" of the "Declaration" was an activity that took place over five years. Thomas McKean of Delaware did not sign it until 1781!

[Drebbel]

Happy Birthday USA !

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2287968/Forums/SubSim/4thofjuly-a.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2287968/Forums/SubSim/4thofjuly-b.jpg

[Penguin]

Wow!
Thanks for the detailed explanation, Platapus. :up: Yup, I read it all. That's what I love subsim for: again I will go more educated into bed than I woke up (not smarter ;))

What I would like to add that maybe the second sentence of the declaration is the more important one in regarding people's natural rights, in my opinion the first sentence is one of the most beautiful ever written in the English language:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

[papa_smurf]

Happy 4th of July from your former masters:woot:

[HunterICX]

Happy the 4th USA :woot:

HunterICX

[BossMark]

Happy 4th of July from your former masters:woot:
Yep :woot:

[danasan]

Happy 4th of July and thanks to Platapus, very interesting reading :salute:

[mookiemookie]

Have a happy and SAFE 4th of July!

[Takeda Shingen]

And a Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Americans!

[Growler]

Signer for Maryland, Charles Carroll of Carrolton (for whom several states have named counties and/or schools) was the last signer to die, at the age of 95.

Working tonight at USS Constellation on the Inner Harbor - hope everyone has a safe, fun Fourth!

[the_tyrant]

happy birthday USA:woot:

[Platapus]

Some additional almost interesting trivia: There were state versions of the DoI also. Copies of the Dunlap Broadsides were given to the individual states and different versions were printed by the local news papers. Including one version in German for a Penn. news paper. This making this the first foreign language publication of our DoI.

Trivia question: Which country was the first to recognize the United States as an independent country and how did they recognize us? :hmmm:

Hint: Barbara Tuchman wrote about it in 1988. :know:

[Betonov]

Saint Eustaiuse by exchanging a gun salute ??


In 1778, Lord Stormont (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Murray,_2nd_Earl_of_Mansfield) claimed in Parliament (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom) that, "if Sint Eustatius had sunk into the sea three years before, the United Kingdom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom) would already have dealt with George Washington (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington)"

interesting stuff :D

[Platapus]

Saint Eustaiuse by exchanging a gun salute ??



A weiner! :yeah::salute:

Barbara Tuchman wrote "The First Salute".

“The First Salute” refers to the events of 16 November 1776, when the governor of Saint Eustatius, Johannes de Graaff, returned the salute of the visiting American ship Andrew Doria—the first time a great power acknowledged an American vessel at sea, thereby tacitly recognizing American independence. The British were enraged at this perceived betrayal by the Dutch, and the further deterioration of relations eventually led to the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-1784), which fully exposed the appalling weakness of the Dutch Republic.

http://www.thesatirist.com/books/TheFirstSalute.html

[Sailor Steve]

The declaration of Independence was first signed on the 4th. However, congress voted for independence on 2 July.
Actually the Declaration wasn't signed until August 2.

Why is Independence Day celebrated on the 4th? Probably for the same reasons Christmas is celebrated on a day that Jesus was not born. :D
It's celebrated on the 4th because that's the date of the final resolution acceptance vote, as noted in the preamble to the published document.

[Platapus]

Actually the Declaration wasn't signed until August 2.


It's celebrated on the 4th because that's the date of the final resolution acceptance vote, as noted in the preamble to the published document.

I am afraid you are wrong on both counts.

The Fair Copy was "signed" by John Handcock after all the changes were made. However this signing was only a procedural signing as in accepting it as President of the Congress. His "signing" indicated that this marked up version was the final version and that it had been approved by congress. This was a standard procedure. Members of congress did not sign every single resolution that was approved. Only the President of Congress signed as a way of formalizing the acceptance.

Since the Fair Copy has been destroyed, we don't know if Hancock formally signed it, initialed it, or maybe put a check mark and a smiley face on it. :D The term "signed" does not always mean an actual signature. It can mean that it was formally accepted. Most likely he signed it.

The Dunlop Broadsides listed Hancock's name and the phrase "Signed by order and on behalf of the Congress" That document was made on the evening of 4 July. But since it was a document in type there was no actual signature.

Etymologists could debate whether this version was the first signed copy or not. :)

The actual signed copy of the DoI was not made until 19 July 1776. This was the Engrossed copy and the one version that would, eventually over the next five years, be signed by members of congress. John Hancock was the first to sign it on 19 July 1776. This is the version of the DoI that has the actual signatures. It is very likely that someone signed the Engrossed copy of the DoI on 2 Aug. But the signing of the DoI took place between 1776 and 1781.

The voting for the Lee Resolution was completed on 2 July 1776 not on the 4th. The 4th was when congress voted on the final version of the DoI. Two separate events. The DoI is not a resolution.

I know, picking of nits, but that period of history is of great interest to me.

[Howard313]

Crap I'm late! :cry:

Sorry, we had a huge storm this 4th of July and my power was knocked out.

Sooooo Happy 5th of July? :DL

[nikimcbee]

I got my fix of fireworks.:woot::woot: Sadly, I had to work yesterday.