Happy Independence Day!

[Sailor Steve]

What? Two days early?

Well, yes and no. Meaning you get to hear one of my favorite stories.

After the 'French and Indian War' (Known as the 'Seven-Years War' to the rest of the civilized western world), the British parliament decided that the American colonies should help pay for it, seeing as how a large part of the war was fought here, and colonial militia Major George Washington played a large in starting it.

Of course everyone knows how the colonists felt that they should levy their own taxes, or else get their own representatives in parliament - "No Taxation Without Representation", and all that. Originally that was all they wanted. Then they complained to King George III that parliament was treating them badly, and they wanted separate but equal status; which would have made them the first Commonwealth country - our own government, but still under the King. Unfortunately, George told them to stop acting like children and pay their taxes like good little subjects, and of course that made the colonials want to sit right up and say "Yes, Sire!" - NOT!

Most people also know how the Royal Governer of Massachussetts got scared and asked for troops to defend his a...um, keep the peace; and how in 1770 some of those troops got pushed around and shot back; and how in 1773 Sam Adams and friends objected to having to pay a tax on tea when the Honourable East India Company could import said tea for no charge, and said tea ended up at the bottom of Boston Harbor.

And of course the war actually started on April 19, 1775, when the troops were sent to seize the colonists armory at Concorde, Massachussetts, the first American Gun Control act. The colonists fought back at Lexington and Concorde, and the war was underway. Many of the colonial leaders at that time still hoped to reach an equitable peace and stay British.

Over the next fifteen months the Continental Congress was formed and formally declared war, and several commuities and colonies created their own declarations of independence. It was finally decided to make the independence general, and Congress set about making it official.

The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in May 1776, and on June 7 Richard Henry Lee issued a resolution

That these united colonies are, and of a 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 disolved.

On June 11 Congress appointed the "Committee Of Five" to create a formal declaration, consisting of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. They voted that Jefferson should write the document, and the committee would then examine and revise it. Adams wrote years later that Jefferson offered him the job, but that he said Jefferson was better qualified

Reason First. You are a Virginian and a Virginian ought to appear the head of the business.
Reason Second. I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular; you are very much otherwise.
Reason Third. You can write ten times better than I can.

Jefferson wrote that it didn't really happen that way, but it's still a great story.

Jefferson finished the first draft, discussed some changes with Adams and gave it to Franklin on June 21. On July 2, the revised copy was presented to Congress, and they voted for independence. They then proceeded to revise the document further as a whole. The most important record of that day was a letter from John Adams to his wife Abigail:

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 shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forever more.

How could Adams have been so wrong? On July 3 the Congress made several more revisions, some of which broke Jeffersons's heart. Among these was a clause in which he accused King George of being responsible for the slave trade, a patently false premise which probably deserved removal.

The final copy was ready on July 4, and they took a vote deciding that this was the copy they wanted to send to the printers. Adams wrote nothing in his diary or a letter concerning that day, and Jefferson only wrote in his account book that he purchased a new thermometer and seven pairs of gloves for his wife.

So why the 4th, and not the 2nd? Two reasons:

1) The vote for independence really wasn't as important as the Declaration itself, as the stated purpose was to explain to the rest of the world why they were fighting against the Mother Country.

2) The copy that went to the printers on the fourth, and entered into history on the fifth; the copy we have today; says right there at the top, very first thing: IN CONGRESS, JULY 4TH, 1776...

One last irony: both Adams and Jefferson 'remembered' in old age signing the document on the 4th. This is also untrue - they all signed it in a special session a month later, on August 2nd. It was then that John Hancock signed in large letters, not so King George could "read it without his spectacles", but so there would be no mistaking that he was the president of the Congress and the ringleader of the rebels. It was also then that Benjamin Franklin made his famous statement "Now, gentlemen, we must all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."

Oh, one more reason to honor the 4th as the official day: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died the same day, exactly 50 years later, on July 4th, 1826.

[Letum]

One day we shall seek revenge!

And when we do all taxes will be back-dated! ( Mwahaha! )

[Reaves]

Mutinous dogs!

:p

edit- Good read though

[Onkel Neal]

Yeah, my favorite holiday. Happy 4th of July!

[Iceman]

What will you do without it?

Happy Independence Day my fellow Americans!

[Reaves]

Originally Posted by Iceman

What will you do without it?

Possibly live in a democracy.

As the vandals say...

America stands for freedom, but if you think your free, try walking into a deli, and urinating on the cheese.

Or am I just nitpicking on a definition? Afterall, one could say I am free to run a deli without someone urinating on my cheese. Hmmm must ponder this some more.

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Letum

One day we shall seek revenge!

And when we do all taxes will be back-dated! ( Mwahaha! )

Oh Yeah?! You and what army!? :p :rotfl:

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Oh Yeah?! You and what army!? :p :rotfl:

Please send HMS Cornwall. That'll teach us.

[Reaves]

Originally Posted by waste gate

Please send HMS Cornwall. That'll teach us.

Careful or you'll get the Barmy Army rocking up on your shores.

[Tchocky]

Happy Independence Day

(I know it's not the 4th for you guys yet!)

I wish I was back in the States. But then again, I'm always like this after moving house

[TteFAboB]

Is Easter still open for grab?

[Reaves]

I'm going for Happy INTERNATIONAL TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!!!

Arrgh!

[TwistedFemur]

The Origin of Our National Anthem Star Spangled Banner

By Isaac Asimov

Written by the late Isaac Asimov, in March 1991. Asimov was born in Russia, and emigrated in 1923 with his parents when he was a young child. He became an American citizen in 1928.

I have a weakness - I am crazy, absolutely nuts, about our national anthem. The words are difficult, and the tune is almost impossible, but frequently when I'm taking a shower, I sing it with as much power and emotion as I can. It shakes me up every time. I was once asked to speak at a luncheon. Taking my life in my hands, I announced I was going to sing our national anthem - all four stanzas. This was greeted with loud groans. One man closed the door to the kitchen, where the noise of dishes and cutlery was loud and distracting. "Thanks, Herb," I said. "That's all right," he said. "It was at the request of the kitchen staff."

I explained the background of the anthem, and then sang all four stanzas. Let me tell you, those people had never heard it before - or had never really listened. I got a standing ovation. But, it was not me; it was the anthem.

More recently, while conducting a seminar, I told my students the story of the anthem, and sang all four stanzas. Again, there was a wild ovation and prolonged applause. And again, it was the anthem, and not me. So, now let me tell you how it came to be written.
In 1812, the United States went to war with Great Britain, primarily over freedom of the seas. We were in the right. For two years, we held off the British, even though we were still a rather weak country. Great Britain was in a life and death struggle with Napoleon. In fact, just as the United States declared war, Napoleon marched off to invade Russia. If he won, as everyone expected, he would control Europe, and Great Britain would be isolated. It was no time for her to be involved in an American war.

At first, our seamen proved better than the British. After we won a battle on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, sent the message "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." However, the weight of the British navy beat down our ships, eventually. New England, hard-hit by a tightening blockade, threatened secession.

Meanwhile, Napoleon was beaten in Russia and, in 1814, was forced to abdicate. Great Britain now turned its attention to the United States, launching a three-pronged attack. The Northern prong was to come down Lake Champlain toward New York, and seize parts of New England. The Southern prong was to go up the Mississippi, take New Orleans and paralyze the West. The Central prong was to head for the Mid-Atlantic states, and then attack Baltimore, the greatest port South of New York. If Baltimore was taken, the nation, which still hugged the Atlantic coast, could be split in two. The fate of the United States, then, rested, to a large extent, on the success or failure of the Central prong.

The British reached the American coast, and on August 24, 1814, took Washington, D.C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay, toward Baltimore. On September 12, they arrived and found 1,000 men in Fort McHenry, whose guns controlled the harbor. If the British wished to take Baltimore, they would have to take the Fort.

On one of the British ships was an aged physician, William Beanes, who had been arrested in Maryland, and brought along as a prisoner. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of the physician, had come to the ship to negotiate his release. The British Captain was willing, but the two Americans would have to wait. It was now the night of Tuesday, September 13, 1814, and the bombardment of Fort McHenry was about to start.

As twilight deepened, Key and Beanes saw the American flag flying over Fort McHenry. Through the night, they heard bombs bursting, and saw the red glare of rockets. They knew the Fort was resisting, and the American flag was still flying. But, toward morning, the bombardment ceased, and a dreaded silence fell. Either Fort McHenry had surrendered, and the British flag flew above it; or the bombardment had failed, and the American flag still flew.

As dawn began to brighten the Eastern sky, Key and Beanes stared out at the Fort, tyring to see which flag flew over it. He and the physician must have asked each other, over and over, "Can you see the flag?"

After it was all finished, Key wrote a four-stanza poem telling the events of the night. He called it The Defence of Fort McHenry, and it was published in newspapers, and swept the nation. Someone noted that the words fit an old English tune called To Anacreon in Heaven - a difficult melody, with an uncomfortably large vocal range. For obvious reasons, Key's work became known as The Star Spangled Banner, and in 1931, Congress declared it the official anthem of the United States.

Now that you know the story, here are the words. Presumably, the old doctor is speaking. This is what he asks Key:

Star Spangled Banner

Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

("Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other elevations that surround a Fort. The first stanza asks a question. The second gives an answer. )

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream.
'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
("The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has failed, and the British can do nothing more but sail away, their mission a failure. In the third stanza, I feel Key allows himself to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise. During World War II, when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung. However, I know it, so here it is)

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

(The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three, and with even deeper feeling. )

Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand,
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n - rescued land,
> Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I hope you will look at the national anthem with new eyes. Listen to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears.

And, don't let them ever take it away

[kiwi_2005]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

What? Two days early?

Real reason: I wanted to beat Avon to it!

:rotfl:

EDIT: Oh an happy Independence day!

[The Avon Lady]

Originally Posted by kiwi_2005

Real reason: I wanted to beat Avon to it!

Happy Labor Day, everybody.