[TPIN] (American) Independence Day wishes from a student of history

[Mark Heckler]

Just passing along my (very!) traditional wishes   for Independence Day...
  
    "The second day of July, 1776, will be the most   memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be   celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It 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, forevermore."
    In a letter to his beloved wife   Abigail
July 3, 1776
Why July   2nd rather than July 4th? Did our nation's second President have it wrong? Not   at all. On July 2nd, the Continental Congress debated the current draft of the   Declaration of Independence, then voted unanimously to accept the Declaration   pending further revisions.  On the fourth, another unanimous vote adopted the   final version of the document. Future-President Adams was pointing to the date   of Congress's vote to declare our nation's independence rather than the date of   the final document. Both were historic days and guided this new nation to the   same outcome.
    Another reason we recognize July 4th,   perhaps: both President Jefferson and   President Adams died on July 4, 1826...exactly 50 years after the adoption of   the Declaration of Independence. President Adams' final words? "Thomas Jefferson   still lives." Sadly, President Jefferson had died earlier that day. In one short   day, America lost two Founding Fathers who contributed the most to the document   detailing its reasons for declaring itself a free nation: Jefferson as its   primary author, Adams as a central figure working to revise the declaration to   enable its passage.
    And who says history is dull? :-D
    May you all have a happy and deeply meaningful   Independence Day.
    Mark