NICC Library: Monthly Spotlight: 4th of July

4th of July

After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, relations between the American colonies and Great Britain soured. The British government, in severe financial distress as a result of wartime military expenditures, sought to streamline its colonial administration and increase tax revenue from the colonies. In particular, King George III and his ministers wanted the colonists to pay for some part of their own defense. Many Americans, however, objected to the new British taxes. Measures such as the Stamp Act of 1765 drew especially strong opposition. The Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, but the Townshend Acts of 1767 levied new taxes. Merchants retaliated by boycotting British imports, and by 1770, all of the Townshend duties had been repealed except for the tax on tea.

Great Britain sent troops to maintain order in the colonies, but clashes between the colonists and British soldiers erupted. In 1770, the Boston Massacre took place when British soldiers fired into an angry mob. Attempts at reconciliation were made, but colonial discontent continued to grow. In 1773, opposition to the tea tax and to the tea monopoly of the British East India Company led a group of colonials to stage the famous Boston Tea Party. In order to punish the rebellious colonists, Parliament passed the “Coercive” or “Intolerable” Acts of 1774, which authorized the closing of Boston Harbor and prohibited town meetings without the governor's consent.

On July 2, 1776, Congress formally voted for independence. That same day, Jefferson brought his committee's proposed declaration of independence before the delegates, who debated its merits for two days and made certain revisions. The final version was ratified on July 4, 1776. John Hancock, the president of the Congress, and Charles Thomson, its secretary, signed the document that same day. On July 9, 1776, the provincial congress of New York ordered its delegates to the Second Continental Congress, who had abstained from voting on July 4, to endorse the document. Thus, on July 19, 1776, the Congress resolved to have the “unanimous declaration” written on parchment. --Independence Day. Salem Press Encyclopedia

The designer of the 50-star flag lived in Lancaster, Ohio
Americans will eat around 150 million hot dogs on the fourth
The only two people who signed the Declaration of Independence on the 4th were Charles Thompson and John Hancock
There is something written on the back of the declaration
1. Unfortunately, not a treasure map, but the "Original Declaration of Independence dated 4th July 1776."
The average age of the signers of the declaration was 45 years old
1. John Hancock and Edward Rutledge were the youngest at 26 years old
2. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest at 70 years old
The declaration was written on a laptop
1. Specifically, a writing desk that fits on your lap, but a laptop nonetheless.
Americans spend more than a billion dollars on fireworks each year.
It's estimated that there were only 2.5 million people living in America when the Declaration was signed
1. As of 2022, it's up to 333 million
The 50th anniversary of Independence Day was strange.
1. Thomas Jefferson (82) and John Adams (90) both died on July 4th, 1826, within 5 hours of each other
The 4th of July wasn't made a federal holiday until 1870, about 100 years after the nation was founded
Pre-revolutionary years, people would celebrate the king's birthday in the summer
1. During the summer of 1776, people would have mock funerals for King George the 3rd as a symbol of not being part of the monarchy anymore
Massachusetts became the first state to make July 4th an official state holiday
John Adams firmly believed that Independence Day should be celebrated on July 2nd
In the declaration, it wasn't originally written "the pursuit of happiness"
1. It was "the pursuit of property", but Benjamin Franklin talked Jefferson out of it, saying it was too 'narrow'
Jefferson wasn't recognized as the principal author until the 1790s.
1. It was a group project with Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston
In one of Jefferson's earliest drafts of the Declaration, he condemned the slave trade.
1. He called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” and denounced King George III for “creating and sustaining” the slave trade.
2. The language was deleted later, but also know that Jefferson owned more than 200 slaves in 1776...
The Pennsylvania Evening Post was the first newspaper to publish the Declaration
After George Washington read the Declaration aloud at the New York City Hall, a riot broke out.
1. Turns out there were a bunch of British Naval ships docked in the harbor
2. During the riots, a statue of King George the 3rd statue was torn down and melted into musket balls (42,000 to be exact) for the Revolutionary army
A woman's signature appears on some copies of the Declaration of Independence
The tradition of grilling out on the 4th didn't start until the 1800s in Virginia
Since 1972, Coney Island's hot dog haven has had a hot-dog-eating contest.
1. It's gotten so big that it's on ESPN every year
2. The most hot dogs eaten has been 76
Thomas Jefferson was the first president to celebrate the 4th in the White House
George Washington once celebrated the 4th by giving double rations of rum to his soldiers in 1778
James Monroe also died on July 4th
The nation's oldest parade takes place in Bristol, Rhode Island
1. It started back in 1785 and still continues today