June 30, 2016
United States of America Celebrates 240 Years
By Eloise Graham
The United States of America is 240 years old. She has seen a lot of changes, carried many deep hurts, grieved over many injustices, shown many grotesque scars; yet, she is still America the Beautiful, home of the free and the brave.
On Monday the 4th of July, or Sunday the 3rd, or maybe even the entire weekend, we will be celebrating our independence from the rule of England. During all of the celebrations, can we share some of America’s history with younger family members; tell them the reason we are celebrating? Promote a country that is united, not divided.
Some of the facts and some trivia:
- July 4, 1776 our forefathers drafted the Declaration of Independence from the rule of the Throne of England. Twelve of the colonies’ delegates voted in favor of declaring separation from England. The delegates from New York voted in favor on July 9th, after their assembly empowered them to do so. Then it took two weeks for the Declaration to be “engrossed” – written on parchment in a clear hand. Most of the delegates signed on August 2, 1776. Some signatures were at a later date.
- After the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the “Committee of Five” – Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston – was charged with overseeing the reproduction of the approved text. John Dunlap, a Philadelphia printer did the copies in his print shop. On July 5, these copies were distributed to the 13 colonies to newspapers, local officials and the commanders of the Continental troops. These rare documents, called “Dunlap broadsides” predate the engrossed version signed by the delegates.
- We celebrate July 4, 1776 as our Independence Day, but in actuality, the dissension with England had started 10 or 11 years earlier. “No taxation without representation” was coined as early as 1765, and the protests escalated with the Boston Tea Party in 1773.
- The official start to the war was in 1775 with “the shot heard round the world.” However, there was probably more than one shot as there were many skirmishes happening simultaneously. British soldiers were killed at the North Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts at the battle of Concord, however, shots had been fired earlier at Lexington killing eight colonists and wounding a British soldier.
- France officially joined the war as an ally of the Colonists in 1778. Spain followed suit in 1779 as an ally of France. July 4, 1779 was the Battle of New Haven. An ugly battle in which the British burned many homes and ransacked the place. They took about 40 Patriot prisoners, men, women and children, back to their ships.
- In 1781, the British settled in Yorktown, Virginia. However, the French blocked their escape with a naval victory. After the defeat of Yorktown, the British Parliament turned against the war and voted to end offensive operations.
- In 1783, the signing of the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States of America over the territory bounded roughly on the north by what is now Canada, Florida to the south and the Mississippi River to the west.
Best wishes America for a Happy Two-hundred and Fortieth Birthday!
