4th of July - Why we celebrate.

[quade 4]

Ok, this bugs the crap out of me. I just saw it stated AGAIN on the History Channel (of all places) and it's bugging the crap out of me that yet again somebody says the wrong thing. What the hell is it, just so ingrained as the wrong thing that people just don't know?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[mnealtx 0]

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What the hell is it, just so ingrained as the wrong thing that people just don't know?

Modern public education FTW.

Who cares about a holiday for some dead white slaveholders anymore, anyway?

"When in the course of human events..."

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[futuredivot 0]

Celebrate in hope that someone is Washington remembers this passage.

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

You are only as strong as the prey you devour

[quade 4]

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Modern public education FTW.

Well, what I find interesting is that with Google at their fingertips, 50% of the respondence to the poll so far are still wrong.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[mnealtx 0]

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Modern public education FTW.

Well, what I find interesting is that with Google at their fingertips, 50% of the respondence to the poll so far are still wrong.

Doesn't surprise me in the least.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[lawrocket 3]

Because it is Ron Kovic's birthday.

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[TomAiello 26]

We're celebrating our right to keep and bear fireworks!

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[quade 4]

Oh my goodness, 10:15 pdt and we're now up to 71% incorrect in answering this simple question. WTF?

We, as a country, are not passing history.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Belgian_Draft 0]

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Oh my goodness, 10:15 pdt and we're now up to 71% incorrect in answering this simple question. WTF?

We, as a country, are not passing history.

If you are arguing that the Declaration wasn't signed on July 4th, you are correct. I've been trying to tell people that since grade school.
But that isn't what you asked. You asked why we celebrate and we are celebrating the signing and adoption of the Declaration even though we do so on the wrong day.

HAMMER:
Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a
kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the
object we are trying to hit.

[SpeedRacer 1]

from wikipedia:

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Signing
The signed, engrossed copy of the Declaration, now badly faded, is on display at the National Archives in Washington, DC.

The date when the Declaration was signed has long been the subject of debate. Within a decade after the event, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams all wrote that the Declaration had been signed by Congress on July 4, 1776.[82] This seemed to be confirmed by the signed copy of the Declaration, which is dated July 4. Additional support was provided by the Journals of Congress, the official public record of the Continental Congress. When the proceedings for 1776 were first published in 1777, the entry for July 4, 1776, stated that the Declaration was engrossed (carefully handwritten) and signed on that date.[83]

In 1796, signer Thomas McKean disputed that the Declaration had been signed on July 4, pointing out that some signers were not then present, including several who were not even elected to Congress until after that date.[84] "[N]o person signed it on that day nor for many days after", he later wrote.[85] Although Jefferson and Adams disagreed with McKean, his claim gained support when the Secret Journals of Congress were published in 1821.[86] The Secret Journals contained two previously unpublished entries about the Declaration. The entry for July 19 reads:

Resolved That the Declaration passed on the 4th be fairly engrossed on parchment with the title and stile of "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen united states of America" & that the same when engrossed be signed by every member of Congress.[87]

The entry for August 2 stated:

The declaration of Independence being engrossed & compared at the table was signed by the Members.[88]

In 1884, historian Mellen Chamberlain argued that these entries indicated that the famous signed version of the Declaration had been created following the July 19 resolution, and had not been signed by Congress until August 2.[89] Historian John Hazelton confirmed in 1906 that many of the signers had not been present in Congress on July 4, that the fifty-six signers had never been together as a group, and that some delegates must have added their signatures even after August 2.[90] While it is possible that Congress signed a document on July 4 that has since been lost, historians do not think that this is likely.[91]

Although most historians have accepted the argument that the Declaration was not signed on July 4, and that the engrossed copy was not created until after July 19, legal historian Wilfred Ritz wrote in 1986 that "the historians and scholars are wrong".[92] Ritz argued that the engrossed copy of the Declaration was signed by Congress on July 4, as Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin had stated, and that it was implausible that all three men had been mistaken.[93] Ritz believed that McKean's testimony was questionable,[94] and that historians had misinterpreted the July 19 resolution. According to Ritz, this resolution did not call for a new document to be created, but rather for the existing one to be given a new title, which was necessary after New York had joined the other twelve states in declaring independence. Ritz argued that the phrase "signed by every member of Congress" in the July 19 resolution meant that delegates who had not signed the Declaration on the 4th were now required to do so.[95]

Ritz argued that about thirty-four delegates signed the Declaration on July 4, and that the others signed on or after August 2.[96] Historians who reject a July 4 signing maintain that most delegates signed on August 2, and that those eventual signers who were not present added their names later.[97]

So the text was completed & approved by Congress on July 4th, but not signed until August.

Speed Racer
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[timmyfitz 0]

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Oh my goodness, 10:15 pdt and we're now up to 71% incorrect in answering this simple question. WTF?

We, as a country, are not passing history.

So please oh great one, tell us why do we celebrate the 4th of July?

[AirCav 0]

It was the approval of the Declaration of Independence not the signing. The last signature was a considerable time later.

Splitting hairs in IMHO

GW685,D3888,C5052,SCS843

[timmyfitz 0]

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It was the approval of the Declaration of Independence not the signing. The last signature was a considerable time later.

Splitting hairs in IMHO

Exactly. But if someone want to make a poll with no correct answer to try to make themselves feel superior, go for it.

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/images/declaration_big_enhanced.jpg

I think I see a date on this document at the top. The day we celebrate our independence, not the day we celebrate when people signed the document. After all, it is call Independence Day.

[tbrown 26]

Exactly. But if someone want to make a poll with no correct answer to try to make themselves feel superior, go for it.

I think I see a date on this document at the top. The day we celebrate our independence, not the day we celebrate when people signed the document. After all, it is call Independence Day.

[turtlespeed 226]

Besides, it is what is on the tablet that the beautiful Statue of Liberty has in the book she holds.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun