1July
4th Cards and History |
| July
4, 1776 - After various changes to Jefferson's original draft,
a vote was taken late in the afternoon of July 4th. Of the 13 colonies,
9 voted in favor of the Declaration; 2, Pennsylvania and South
Carolina voted No; Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. |
| John
Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, was the first to
sign the Declaration of Independence. It is said that he signed his
name "with a great flourish" so "King George can read
that without spectacles!" |
| July
6, 1776 - The Pennsylvania Evening Post is the first newspaper
to print the Declaration of Independence. |
| July
8, 1776 - The first public reading of the declaration takes
place in Philadelphia's Independence Square. The bell in Independence
Hall, then known as the "Province Bell" would later be
renamed the "Liberty Bell" after its inscription - "Proclaim
Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof." |
| August
1776 - The task begun on July 4, the signing of the Declaration
of Independence, was not actually completed until August. Nonetheless,
the 4th of July has been accepted as the official anniversary of
United States independence from Britain. |
| July
4, 1777 - The first Independence Day celebration takes place.
It's interesting to speculate what those first 4th festivities
were like. By the early 1800s the traditions of parades, picnics,
and fireworks were firmly established as part of American Independence
Day culture. |
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