VICTORIAN VILLAGE Life Style
Happy Birthday America In 1775, people in the thirteen colonies began fighting the British under King George III for their own independence.
4 th of July Fun Facts When the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, 2.5 million people lived in the U.S. 249 years later, 343.9 million people live in the U.S.. August 2, 1776 is when most of signers formally signed the Declaration. Massachusetts was the first state to declare Independence Day a holiday in 1781. The Fourth of July wasn’t declared a federal holiday until 1938. The only member of the Continental Congress to formally sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776 was John Hancock. The average signer of the Declaration of Independence was 45 years old. Of the 56 signers, the youngest, Thomas Lynch Jr. and Edward Rutledge, were only 26. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest signer at 70 years old. Bristol, Rhode Island is home to the world’s oldest Independence Day celebration which dates back to 1785. In 1804, the White House hosted its first Fourth of July celebration. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe were all Presidents who died on the Fourth of July.
On July 2, 1776, Congress secretly voted for independence from Great Britain. Two days later, on July 4, 1776, the final wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved, and the document was published. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence was on July 8, 1776. Delegates began to sign the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. In 1870, Independence Day was made an unpaid holiday for federal employees. In 1941, it became a paid holiday for them. The first description of how Independence Day would be celebrated was in a letter from John Adams to his wife Abigail on July 3, 1776. He described “pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations” throughout the United States. However, the term “Independence Day” was not used until 1791. Interestingly, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, both signers of the Declaration of Independence and presidents of the United States, died on July 4, 1826— exactly 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
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