Independence Day 2011
The 4th of July, American Independence Day, celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, which declared US Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. But technically speaking, July 4th doesn’t qualify to be the US Independence day.
Historically, the legal liberation of 13 original colonies took place on July 2, 1776, in a closed session of Congress. However, the Second Continental Congress took two more days to modify the famous of American documents, delaying the final approval of Declaration of Independence by two more days.
Although the Declaration of Independence managed to get the Congressional approval on July 4, 1776, it was not made public until July 8. Thus the first Independence Day was celebrated on July 8, 1776.
The Declaration of Independence was read on July 8th, 1776 by Col. John Nixon. He, less than a year later, would be made a brigadier general of the Continental Army.
The day saw summoning of citizens to Independence Hall for the very first public reading of the US Independence Declaration, by ringing the bells of Philadelphia (including the Liberty Bell). This breaks yet another American myth regarding the ringing of Liberty Bell.
Contrary to the popular misconception, Liberty Bell did not ring on July 4th, 1776 to mark the US Independence day. Americans had to wait four more days (till July 8th) to listen to the Liberty Bell as well as the public reading of Declaration of Independence.
- Independence Day.
As we gather with family and friends this 235th Independence Day weekend to enjoy barbecues, parades and fireworks, it is important to take time to reflect on the freedom that is uniquely ours as Americans, the truly exceptional country God has blessed us with, and the responsibility we have to safeguard it and better it for future generations.
America faces some critical challenges. Even the freedom that is uniquely ours as Americans is at stake.
We have an economy where more Americans are out of work than at any time since the Great Depression. We face record-high gas prices. Our total debt currently equals the size of our entire economy. Foreign debt alone threatens to consume our entire gross domestic product – what our economy produces in a given year – by 2021, leaving us completely beholden to foreign creditors, the largest of which is China.
The debt crisis we face makes our freedom and the future of our children and grandchildren far less certain than that of any generation since the one that pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in the Declaration of Independence.
Americans have never shied away from great challenges. We fought for freedom and liberty against the most powerful empire the world had ever known and won.
We settled a nation stretching 3.000 miles from sea to shining sea, and put a man on the moon three decades before we could conceive of iPhones and laptop computers.
We have overcome great obstacles and made our share of mistakes.
While not perfect, our nation is perhaps the best vehicle ever devised for raising the condition of all men.
On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, leading the 13 original colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation free from British rule and taxation.
From coast to coast, countrymen and women will celebrate this most American of holidays with parades, fireworks and backyard cookouts.
Here’s a look at some of the numbers behind the Fourth of July, as provided by the U.S. Census -
2.5 million. The number of people living in the newly independent nation in July, 1776.
311.7 million. The nation’s estimated population today.
$3.2 million. In 2010, the dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags; the vast majority of this amount was for American flags made in China.
$486,026. The dollar value of U.S. flags exported in 2010. Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $256,407 worth.
$190.7 million. The value of fireworks imported from China in 2010.
$37 million. U.S. export of fireworks with Japan purchasing the most.
31. The number of places in America with “liberty” in their names; Iowa had the most of any state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.
35. The number of places with ‘eagle’ in their names. The most populous is Eagle Pass, Texas.
11. The number of places with ‘independence’ in their names the most populous being Independence, Mo.
$98.3 billion. Dollar value of trade last year between the U.S. and the U.K., making the British, our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading trade partner today.
More than 1 in 4. the chance that the hotdogs and pork sausages consumed today originated in Iowa. The Hawkeye State was home to 19 million hogs and pigs as of March – more than one-fourth of the nation’s total.
6.8 billion pounds. Total production of cattle and calves in Texas last year, accounting for one-sixth of the nation’s total production.
6. The number of states where the value of broiler chicken production was $1 billion or more between December 2009 and November 2010. These states were: Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas.