Fourth of July

Top 5 Myths About the Fourth of July!
By HNN Staff

#1 Independence Was Declared on the Fourth of July.
America's independence was actually declared by the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776. The night of the second the Pennsylvania Evening Post published the statement: "This day the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies Free and Independent States."

So what happened on the Glorious Fourth? The document justifying the act of Congress-you know it as Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence-was adopted on the fourth, as is indicated on the document itself, which is, one supposes, the cause for all the confusion. As one scholar has observed, what has happened is that the document announcing the event has overshadowed the event itself.

When did Americans first celebrate independence? Congress waited until July 8, when Philadelphia threw a big party, including a parade and the firing of guns. The army under George Washington, then camped near New York City, heard the news July 9 and celebrated then. Georgia got the word August 10th. And when did the British in London finally get wind of the declaration? August 30th.

John Adams, writing a letter home to his beloved wife Abigail the day after independence was declared (i.e. July 3), predicted that from then on "the Second of July, 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." A scholar coming across this document in the nineteenth century quietly "corrected" the document, Adams predicting the festival would take place not on the second but the fourth.

2 The Declaration of Independence was signed July 4.
Hanging in the grand Rotunda of the Capitol of the United States is a vast canvas painting by John Trumbull depicting the signing of the Declaration. Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams wrote, years afterward, that the signing ceremony took place on July 4th. When someone challenged Jefferson's memory in the early 1800's Jefferson insisted he was right. The truth? As David McCullough remarks in his new biography of Adams, "No such scene, with all the delegates present, ever occurred at Philadelphia."

So when was it signed? Most delegates signed the document on August 2nd, when a clean copy was finally produced by Timothy Matlack, assistant to the secretary of Congress. Several did not sign until later. And their names were not released to the public until later still, January, 1777. The event was so uninspiring that nobody apparently bothered to write home about it. Years later Jefferson claimed to remember the event clearly, regaling visitors with tales of the flies circling overhead. But as he was wrong about the date, so perhaps he was wrong even about the flies.

The truth about the signing was not finally established until 1884 when historian Mellon Chamberlain, researching the manuscript minutes of the journal of Congress, came upon the entry for August 2 noting a signing ceremony.

As for Benjamin Franklin's statement, which has inspired patriots for generations, "We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall hang separately" … well, there's no proof he ever made it.

#3 The Liberty Bell Rang in American Independence.
Well of course you know now that this event did not happen on the fourth. But did it happen at all? It's a famous scene. A young boy with bond hair and blue eyes was supposed to have been posted in the street next to Independence Hall to give a signal to an old man in the bell tower when independence was declared. It never happened. The story was made up out of whole cloth in the middle of the nineteenth century by writer George Lippard in a book intended for children. The book was aptly titled, Legends of the American Revolution. There was no pretense that the story was genuine.

If the Liberty Bell rang at all in celebration of independence nobody took note at the time. The bell was not even named in honor of American independence. It received the moniker in the early nineteenth century when abolitionists used it as a symbol of the antislavery movement.

If you visit the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, encased in a multi-million dollar shrine (soon to be replaced by an even grander building), a tape recording made by the National Park Service leaves the impression that the bell indeed played a role in American independence. (We last heard the recording three years ago. We assume it's still being played.) The guides are more forthcoming, though they do not expressly repudiate the old tradition unless directly asked a question about it. On the day we visited the guide sounded a bit defensive, telling our little group it didn't really matter if the bell rang in American independence or not. Millions have come to visit, she noted, allowing the bell to symbolize liberty for many different causes. In other words, it is our presence at the bell that gives the shrine its meaning. It is important because we think it's important. It's the National Park Service's version of existentialism.

As for the famous crack … it was a badly designed bell and it cracked. End of story.

#4 Betsy Ross Sewed the First Flag.
A few blocks away from the Liberty Bell is the Betsy Ross House. There is no proof Betsy lived here, as the Joint State Government Commission of Pennsylvania concluded in a study in 1949. Oh well. Every year the throngs still come to gawk. As you make your way to the second floor through a dark stairwell the feeling of verisimilitude is overwhelming. History is everywhere. And then you come upon the famous scene. Behind a wall of Plexiglas, as if to protect the sacred from contamination, a Betsy Ross manikin sits in a chair carefully sewing the first flag. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is where Betsy sewed that first famous symbol of our freedom, the bars and stripes, Old Glory itself.

Alas, the story is no more authentic than the house itself. It was made up in the nineteenth century by Betsy's descendants.

The guide for our group never let on that the story was bogus, however. Indeed, she provided so many details that we became convinced she really believed it. She told us how General George Washington himself asked Betsy to stitch the first flag. He wanted six point stars; Betsy told him that five point stars were easier to cut and stitch. The general relented.

After the tour was over we approached the guide for an interview. She promptly removed her Betsy Ross hat, turned to us and admitted the story is all just a lot of phooey. Oh, but it is a good story, she insisted, and one worth telling.
Poor Betsy. In her day she was just a simple unheralded seamstress. Now the celebrators won't leave her alone. A few years ago they even dug up her bones where they had lain in a colonial graveyard for 150 years, so she could be buried again beneath a huge sarcophagus located on the grounds of the house she was never fortunate enough to have lived in.

So who sewed the first flag? No one knows. But we do know who designed it. It was Frances Hopkinson. Records show that in May 1780 he sent a bill to the Board of Admiralty for designing the "flag of the United States." A small group of descendants works hard to keep his name alive. Just down the street from Betsy's house one of these descendants, the caretaker for the local cemetery where Benjamin Franklin is buried, entertains school children with stories about Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration, who is also credited with designing the seal of the United States. We asked him what he made of the fantasies spun at the Betsy Ross house. He confided he did not want to make any disparaging remarks as he was a paid employee of the city of Philadelphia, which now owns the house.

The city seems to be of the opinion that the truth doesn't matter. Down the street from the cemetery is a small plaque posted on a brick building giving Hopkinson the credit he rightly deserves.

#5 John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Died on the Fourth of July.
Ok, this is true. On July 4, 1826, Adams and Jefferson both died, exactly fifty years after the adoption of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, which the country took as a sign of American divinity. But there is no proof that Adams, dying, uttered, "Jefferson survives," which was said to be especially poignant, as Jefferson had died just hours before. Mark that up as just another hoary story we wished so hard were true we convinced ourselves it is.

The Writing of the Declaration of Independence

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness...

Prelude to a Birth
In the 10 or so years before the Declaration of Independence, the relationship between the Colonies and its "mother country" had deteriorated to quite an extent (only natural with a controlling parent). With such actions as the Stamp Act of 1765, the Townshend Act of 1767, and the infamous Tea Tax of 1773, the feeling of pride in being an English subject quickly eroded, not to mention the natural progression of discontent to those being governed in a distant land. These colonists grew upset at having the restrictions and the levies placed on them as British subjects, without the full rights of a British subject. In response to the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 (in response to the Tea Tax), the British parliament took harsher measures against Boston and Massachusetts (called the Coercive Acts). In response to these measures, the Colonies grew more united, and the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774.

Now, this is 3 1/2 years after the Boston Massacre so armed conflict had already taken place. As the Congress met, storehouses in Massachusetts were already being filled with guns and ammunition, preparing for the fight that those in Massachusetts knew lay ahead. But many in the rest of the Colonies were somewhat unaware, or more likely, unperturbed with what was going on in Massachusetts. At the time, the consensus did not have us seeking independence from Great Britain. The meeting was more of a way to redress the grievances, and the Congress adopted a Declaration of Rights and Grievances, and took measures to make themselves more independent from an economic standpoint.

Even when the Second Continental Congress convened in May 1775, a full month after war began at Lexington and Concord, the majority of colonies did not favor independence. In July they gave it a final go, sending another petition to King George in England to take care of the colonists' complaints. Unfortunately for England, King George not only ignored the pleas for resolution, but also declared the Colonies to be in rebellion with the crown. The colonists also found out that England was planning on sending in German troops to fight the colonists. So hopes of reconciliation ebbed away.

Thomas Paine and Harry Lee--Time For Independence
On January 10, 1776, one of the great patriotic works was published. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense pleaded for independence, and savagely attacked the institution of monarchy. This fiery document helped support the cause for independence among the people.

On April 12th, North Carolina authorized its representatives in Congress to vote for independence. On May 4th Rhode Island voted themselves independent. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced the resolution (immediately seconded by John Adams of Massachusetts):

Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connections between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

But only 7 of the 13 Colonies were ready to vote for independence, making it an impossible dream for the moment. Among the bickering debate that went on, one person suggested putting off the vote 3 weeks, until July 1. This was agreed to, as well as appointing a committee to draft a declaration of independence.

The Committee
Five men were named to the committee: Benjamin Franklin, the best-known man in the colonies (very much in favor of independence); John Adams, the leading advocate for independence; Roger Sherman, also in favor of independence; Robert Livingston, who was not sure of the cause at the moment; and Thomas Jefferson, who had made his mark as a writer two years earlier in a paper about the rights of the colonists. The choice to write the declaration was between Adams and Jefferson. Adams argued with Jefferson that the latter should do the writing, as Adams felt not only that a Virginian should write it (Virginia having introduced the resolution and as part of the South, was more feasible to the other Southern states), but also that Adams' great unpopularity could endanger it's adoption, and finally, that Jefferson was the far superior writer.

The Writing
So Jefferson spent the next two weeks standing at a desk with a quill pen, writing and re-writing. He would wake each morning and read what was written the night before, and would often cross out and rewrite. Jefferson then made a "clean" copy of the declaration, which became the foundation of the document, labeled by Jefferson as the "original Rough draught." After Jefferson was finished, Adams made a few revisions, and then Franklin did the same, and then the committee as a whole did the same. A total of forty-seven alterations including the insertion of three complete paragraphs were made before it was presented to Congress on June 28.

The document had three main parts. First, the reasons for this group of Colonies to be free, and it's beliefs on democracy. The second part listed 28 grievances against King George, and the third was Lee's resolution, noting that these 13 Colonies were now a free and independent nation.

The Vote on Independence
On July 1, as scheduled, the first vote was taken on Lee's resolution, with nine colonies in favor of independence. By the next day, South Carolina voted yes, terminally ill Caesar Rodney rode the 80 miles up from Delaware to break his state's deadlock in favor of independence. Once Benjamin Franklin was able to turn Pennsylvania's "nay" to a "yea", the vote became unanimous on July 2, 1776 (New York had abstained due to unclear instructions, but voted yes weeks later). These United States were born.

As for the Declaration of Independence, the Congress was not through picking that apart yet. Thirty-nine additional revisions were made to the committee draft before its final adoption on the morning of July 4. Although most of the revisions were in Jefferson's handwriting, both he and Adams fought hard to keep the document as it had been presented to the Congress. The most important changes were the deletion of clauses condemning the British people (as well as King George and Parliament). It was felt that many still had friends in England, and did not wish to offend them.

The second major alteration to the document came back to haunt this country significantly in the decades to come (particularly from 1850-75), and still does today: the question of slavery. Although Jefferson was a wealthy slave owner, in writing this declaration of freedom, he resolved to free his family's 50 slaves (but not until his death). But due to the pressures of particularly South Carolina and Georgia, the "discouragement of the importation of slaves" (though somewhat hypocritically, is placed solely at the feet of the British government), was stricken from the document for the threat of these states not signing the document, and perhaps backing out of the war.

July 4
With the changes made, the final draft of the document was unanimously adopted on July 4, 1776. Once it was signed by the President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock (where we get the phrase "signing one's John Hancock"), and the Secretary of Congress, Charles Thomson, it was sent to the printer (John Dunlap). On July 5th, Hancock distributed copies to all of the states. The declaration was publicly read in Philadelphia on July 8th in the State House (now Independence Hall) yard, with its bell (now known as the Liberty Bell) ringing constantly. The following day, General Washington ordered the declaration to be read to the troops in and around New York, as many British ships were seen already in the harbor. That same day, New York ratified the resolution, making it truly unanimous. On July 15th, Congress was informed of this, and 4 days later, ordered that the document be engrossed on parchment. That copy was then signed on August 2nd by 50 members of Congress (some of whom not present to vote on the document the previous month). 6 others (who had been in Philadelphia for the vote but had since left), also signed, bringing the total to 56 (except Secretary Thomson, who was not a delegate).

Significance
When the document was read in Europe, it gave a legitimacy to the Colonists cause (as was the whole intent), and helped to win support; and in the case of France, ships and money, which helped to win the war.

Until France's "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" (1791) (inspired by our Declaration), America's Declaration of IndependThe Writing of the Declaration of Independence was perhaps the leading document to inspire revolution across the world. Even years later, other revolutionaries used it to inspire those desiring to cast off the yoke of tyranny, and create a land of democracy.