July 4, 2011
Joyous Indepence Day to All!
To hell with politics, let's set off some incendiaries!
Bonfires, illuminations, and -- and -- balloons?!
On July 3rd, 1776, John Adams sent a letter to Abigail Adams, his wife, exulting in the great and awful deed the Second Continental Congress had just performed:
[Independence Day] ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.
Adams, in his lawyerly way, imagined the day of celebration would be July 2nd, the day the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Second Continental Congress. But practical Americans instead chose the date actually printed on the Declaration itself; it was easier to remember! So July Fourth it became, that first Independence Day, and real Americans celebrate it every year.
Finally, just because I really, really like it, here's the image we used the last couple of years:
Happy Independence Day - 1916 meets
Hatched by Dafydd on this day, July 4, 2011, at the time of 12:00 AM
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