The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]

The Mohican Board! [Bumppo's Redux!]

Username:	Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

All Forums

The LIGHT IN THE FOREST

In the News ...

4th Of July 2019 ...

New Topic

New Poll

Reply to Topic

Printer Friendly

| More

BookMark Topic

Author

Topic

Monadnock Hiker
Colonial Militia

Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
August 31 2017

Status: offline

Posted - July 04 2019 : 09:14:22 AM

https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-declaration-of-independence/fourth-of-july/
.
The Declaration of Independence

We celebrate American Independence Day on the Fourth of July every year. We think of July 4, 1776, as a day that represents the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent nation.

But July 4, 1776 wasn't the day that the Continental Congress decided to declare independence (they did that on July 2, 1776).

It wasn’t the day we started the American Revolution either (that had happened back in April 1775).

And it wasn't the day Thomas Jefferson wrote the first draft of the Declaration of Independence (that was in June 1776). Or the date on which the Declaration was delivered to Great Britain (that didn't happen until November 1776). Or the date it was signed (that was August 2, 1776).

So what did happen on July 4, 1776?

The Continental Congress approved the final wording of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. They'd been working on it for a couple of days after the draft was submitted on July 2nd and finally agreed on all of the edits and changes.

July 4, 1776, became the date that was included on the Declaration of Independence, and the fancy handwritten copy that was signed in August (the copy now displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.) It’s also the date that was printed on the Dunlap Broadsides, the original printed copies of the Declaration that were circulated throughout the new nation. So when people thought of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776 was the date they remembered.

In contrast, we celebrate Constitution Day on September 17th of each year, the anniversary of the date the Constitution was signed, not the anniversary of the date it was approved. If we’d followed this same approach for the Declaration of Independence we’d being celebrating Independence Day on August 2nd of each year, the day the Declaration of Independence was signed!

How did the Fourth of July become a national holiday?

For the first 15 or 20 years after the Declaration was written, people didn’t celebrate it much on any date. It was too new and too much else was happening in the young nation. By the 1790s, a time of bitter partisan conflicts, the Declaration had become controversial. One party, the Democratic-Republicans, admired Jefferson and the Declaration. But the other party, the Federalists, thought the Declaration was too French and too anti-British, which went against their current policies.

By 1817, John Adams complained in a letter that America seemed uninterested in its past. But that would soon change.

After the War of 1812, the Federalist party began to come apart and the new parties of the 1820s and 1830s all considered themselves inheritors of Jefferson and the Democratic-Republicans. Printed copies of the Declaration began to circulate again, all with the date July 4, 1776, listed at the top. The deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4, 1826, may even have helped to promote the idea of July 4 as an important date to be celebrated.

Celebrations of the Fourth of July became more common as the years went on and in 1870, almost a hundred years after the Declaration was written, Congress first declared July 4 to be a national holiday as part of a bill to officially recognize several holidays, including Christmas. Further legislation about national holidays, including July 4, was passed in 1939 and 1941.

report to moderator

Monadnock Hiker
Colonial Militia

Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
August 31 2017

Status: offline

Posted - July 05 2019 : 06:29:57 AM

https://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/history/signers-cost.htm
.
What happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
.

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

John Q. Adams, son of John Adams, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, wrote: “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedoms. I hope you will make good use of it.”
.
What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners: men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

In early September 1776, the British burned the home of Francis Lewis and seized his wife. Held in prison with no bed and no changes of clothing, she was finally released after two years of suffering and her health gone. She died soon after her release.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the
Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his grist-mill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Lewis Morris’ New Jersey home was looted and burned and his grist mills destroyed. While he eluded capture by sleeping in caves and forest, his ailing wife died and his 13 children were scattered. His failing health forced him to leave the New Jersey legislature in 1779, and he died less than three years after the Declaration was signed.

Richard Stockton rushed home to Princeton, New Jersey, in 1776 to rescue his family from approaching British troops. He was captured and thrown into prison, where he was repeatedly beaten and kept near starvation. The British also destroyed his home and burned his papers. As a result of mistreatment, he became an invalid and died in 1781.

John Morton was criticized by many of his Pennsylvania neighbors for breaking the tie vote of the Pennsylvania delegation in favor of independence. The criticism depressed him deeply. Early in 1777 he became ill and died.

Philip Livingston’s 150,000 acre estate was seized by the British, but he continued to contribute his dwindling fortune to Congress for the war effort. The strain of the revolutionary struggle also depleted his health, and he died less than two years after signing.

Robert Morris issued over one million dollars of personal credit to finance the war effort, and raised $200,000 to defeat the British at Yorktown. In 1798, his personal finances collapsed. Never reimbursed by the country, he spent three years in debtor’s prison.

Joseph Hewes of North Carolina gave tirelessly of himself to create a navy and help General Washington. Working long hours without adequate food and rest, he lost his health and died in 1779 at age 49.

Philip Livingston’s 150,000 acre estate was seized by the British, but he continued to contribute his dwindling fortune to Congress for the war effort. The strain of the revolutionary struggle also depleted his health, and he died less than two years after signing.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships sunk or captured by the British Navy. Although he lost his wealth and was forced to sell his land, he continued to serve in the Virginia Legislature. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in poverty.

Thomas Heyward, Jr. served in the army and was taken prisoner. The British raided his plantation while he was in prison and burned his buildings. His wife became ill and died before he was released.

Williams Hooper of North Carolina was hunted by the British. He fled, and they burned his home and lands.

Thomas Nelson, Jr. served as governor of Virginia and distributed large sums of his money to the families of his soldiers. At the Battle of Yorktown, he led 3,000 Virginia militia against the British. Although the British took refuge in homes belonging to Virginians, Nelson’s troops shelled them away. At the battle of Yorktown, he noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.

report to moderator

richfed
Sachem

USA

Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
May 13 2002

Status: offline

Administrator

Posted - July 05 2019 : 3:23:22 PM

Men ready & willing to pay the price. We owe them so much, it is heartbreaking to see them being trashed by the lunatic-base of one of our political parties.

report to moderator

Monadnock Hiker
Colonial Militia

Bumppo's Patron since [at least]:
August 31 2017

Status: offline

Posted - July 05 2019 : 4:09:57 PM

A "different breed" in those days ... Can you seeing that kind of really "personal involvement" today??? Not a chance. - All we have today is politicians (both parties) looking to get re-elected by ANY means needed - to stay on the "gravy train". - Not to mention trying to undue everything they gave us.

report to moderator

Dark Woods
Colonial Settler