The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays. For me, it’s always been a time to hang out with friends and family, eat good food, and see how long it takes for Uncle Ed to blow off his hand with some fireworks. I made up that last part. I’ve always loved the holiday, but I’ve never really thought much about it. The only time I’ve felt somewhat patriotic on the 4th of July was the one after September 11. I’ve never really thought much about the holiday, or what it means. Well, while eating my 3rd hotdog on this past 4th of July, I told myself that I would learn about this holiday- what happened, how it happened, why it happened, etc. Now, for some of you, dear readers, this will be old news. Some of you may even be laughing at my ignorance. That’s perfectly fine. But I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who’s unsure about our roots. So this is for them. Enjoy the fruits of my hard labor.
Ok, step one failed. Wikipedia, or the “W,” as I call it, brought forth no results. Typing in “4th of July” and “Independence Day” resulted in who died on July 4, and Will Smith. I guess I’ll have to be a real reporter. Dang.
A family friend of mine who wishes to remain nameless is the smartest man in the world. That’s not an exaggeration, he really is. Why he would want to remain nameless is beyond me, considering all the action he could get by being featured in this article. Actually, that’s not true. I write these and I still don’t get any action. Oh well, it’s all for the “experience” right? Tangents aside, this guy is incredibly intelligent in all things historical. So I thought, “who better to steal information from and claim it as my own than him?” So, according to Smarty Mcsmartypants, America’s “Independence Day” occurred on July 4, 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Duh right? Sadly, I didn’t put Independence Day and the Declaration of Independence together. Why I’m admitting this in a public forum, I’ll never know.
Alright, so, this dude King George III, not to be confused with King George I or King George II, was the King of England, hence the “king” part of King George. He ruled the US, which included 13 colonies. There was a ton of taxation going on in England, and the locals were getting pretty TO’d. Fearing rebellion, KG (King George) sent some troops out, which led to the famous scene of Paul Revere riding down the streets of Concord Massachusetts on his horse screaming “the British are coming! The British are coming!” Huh. I always thought he yelled “the Red Coats are coming.” “That’s how easily influenced your generation is by television and movies,” says unnamed smart guy. Sad.
Alright so that happened in April of 1775, so we still had a little over a year before we declared independence. What happened in that span of time? Well, there was the battle of Concord with “the shot heard round the world.” I never knew that’s where that term came from. This battle marked the unofficial start of the colonies war for independence. Everyone kind of chilled until May of the following year, in which the colonies sent some delegates to the Second Continental Congress, in an effort to try to work out their differences an England. Nothing was really accomplished and the colonies were getting frustrated. However, they never officially declared war.
So now it’s June of 1776. Colonies were annoyed, KG was frustrated as well, and something needed to be done. That something turned out to be the formation of another committee that was comprised of such household names as Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Boy, did those last two get hosed in terms of the grand echelon of history or what? Whatever. So this committee was formed to create a declaration. This declaration was created with the intent of…um…declaring Independence. Wanna guess what it was called? Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of it and it was presented to congress on June 28. It got edited a few times (I wonder if Thomas Jefferson hated being edited as much as I do), and the final draft was presented on July 4, 1776. A vote was taken and 9 of the 13 colonies were in favor of the Declaration. Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against it, Delaware was undecided, and New York abstained. Wimps. Regardless, the Declaration was voted in favor of off we were!
John Hancock was the first to sign his, uh, John Hancock. In an interesting side note, the Declaration wasn’t done getting signed until August, but everyone decided to make the 4th of July America’s official Independence Day.
So there it is. There’s the history behind the reason for fireworks, hotdogs, and Rocky Marathons. Most of you probably knew all of this already, but I didn’t, and I’m the writer, so BACK OFF!!!