July 2nd - A Great Day in History
Today is the day that I was born. This alone should make this day a great day in history, but there is more to it than that. Here is a little history lesson.
Nations have come together in many ways over the years. The United States of America also had it's own way of coming into being. But, one of the unique things about the United States of America is the Declaration of Independence. So, how did this document come into being?
Any American child can tell you that Independence Day is July 4th. I am here to dispute that a little bit. Certainly, the year was 1776. In June of that year (actually on the 7th), the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) read the following Resolution: "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 connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
This all stems from grievances that had been given to King George III who had not answered any of those grievances. One of the main grievances was because the colonists felt that they were being taxed without having representation in parliament. This is why most (if not all) of the colonies had many of the same thoughts as to this declaration. The American colonies were already in rebellion, and indeed, this was proclaimed with a Royal proclamation in August of 1775. Mercenaries had been hired from Germany to fight against the people in the Americas, and a few other things had happened which made those in the Americas realize that the mother country saw the colonies as foreigners. Independence was on the horizon.
All of this was what was going on when the above resolution was read. There were those who still wanted to resolve the disputes with Great Britain, and the resolution was postponed with a vote of the 13 colonies, seven to five, with New York refusing to vote. This happened on June 11th and a recess was called. While this recess was on, Thomas Jefferson and four others were asked to come up with a case to present to the world for independence. The other four men were John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Livingstone. A rough draft was done by Jefferson, who had Franklin and Adams make some corrections to it.
Anyway, on July 1st congress reconvened. The resolution I have quoted above was voted on on July 2nd. The decision needed to be unanimous and 12 of the 13 voted in favor of it. New York abstained from this vote as well. Hence, the date of Independence for America is actually the 2nd of July (hence the great day in history). However, they still needed to look over the Declaration of Independence. This was done through July 3rd and the morning of the 4th. Finally, on the 4th of July, church bells rung out as the Declaration of Independence (which had a few more modifications though it was still mostly what Thomas Jefferson had written) was officially ratified. On July 9th, New York officially approved of the document.
An interesting side note is that this declaration was not signed on July 4th, as is commonly believed, but it was signed on August 2nd. In all, 56 delegates signed this document. These were brave men who were willing to sign this document. There was a fear of reprisals against these men for signing this document, and yet these men were willing to put their safety and the safety of their families for this declaration.
Anyway, on this day (my birthday) I want to say how grateful I am for the bravery of these men (along with their families) in creating this independent nation partially through this declaration. I am grateful for all the men and women who have fought for and preserved the freedoms that I have. Never before America has a democracy survived. Democracy certainly wasn't born with America. The Greeks had it and spread it around a little, but in the long run it was destroyed. America has put forth a workable democracy to the whole world, and it is working. May God continue to protect our democracy is my hope and my desire.
-------------------------------------------------
Now, just a little bit about my day today. I came to work this morning, and a little bit into it, one of my bosses asked if it was my birthday. I had forgotten about it (although my wife says that she said happy birthday to me this morning - that I didn't hear) and had to think a little bit about it and told her yes. Of course, they say your memory is the first thing to go. Nothing extraordinary happened at work.
I left work a little bit early and got home. I got a few gifts from my family and then we went to Johannah's kitchen for dinner. I had a great omelet, my kids split a roast beef dinner, and my wife ordered Chicken Mushroom and Cheese, and then they came back to her and asked if she still wanted that since they didn't have any mushrooms. She changed her order to Broiled Halibut. We thought it was a bit expensive for what was brought out, but we got a $5 discount since they weren't able to give her her original dinner. Overall, the dinner was quite satisfying.
After dinner, we went to Mulligans for some miniature golf. We had quite a bit of fun with that, and then headed home. On the way, we decided to buy some fireworks for my birthday tonight. At home, we had some birthday cake and ice cream and then I had to get online to take care of setting up a free account to check my credit rates because of the University Hospitals which lost some tapes with some of my families information on them. Thankfully, they now have those tapes back, but we don't know who all may have been able to get information off of them. At least we have some protection.
When we were watching the News tonight, my wife saw a house that looked like one of her friends homes, and they gave an address that fit the place of the house (although it was off by one number) that had burned and had about $200,000 worth of damage. They had taken out a 50 year old woman from the home and showed paramedics doing CPR on her while they were driving. My wifes friend was 49, so she was really scared about it all. She called a few peoples homes and nobody was answering. Finally, she got hold of one of her sisters and was told that she had moved from that home three weeks ago. It certainly put some dread into my wife though.
Well, we decided we hadn't had enough of fires so we went out and lit up those fireworks for the final part of celebrating my birthday.
Nations have come together in many ways over the years. The United States of America also had it's own way of coming into being. But, one of the unique things about the United States of America is the Declaration of Independence. So, how did this document come into being?
Any American child can tell you that Independence Day is July 4th. I am here to dispute that a little bit. Certainly, the year was 1776. In June of that year (actually on the 7th), the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) read the following Resolution: "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 connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."
This all stems from grievances that had been given to King George III who had not answered any of those grievances. One of the main grievances was because the colonists felt that they were being taxed without having representation in parliament. This is why most (if not all) of the colonies had many of the same thoughts as to this declaration. The American colonies were already in rebellion, and indeed, this was proclaimed with a Royal proclamation in August of 1775. Mercenaries had been hired from Germany to fight against the people in the Americas, and a few other things had happened which made those in the Americas realize that the mother country saw the colonies as foreigners. Independence was on the horizon.
All of this was what was going on when the above resolution was read. There were those who still wanted to resolve the disputes with Great Britain, and the resolution was postponed with a vote of the 13 colonies, seven to five, with New York refusing to vote. This happened on June 11th and a recess was called. While this recess was on, Thomas Jefferson and four others were asked to come up with a case to present to the world for independence. The other four men were John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Livingstone. A rough draft was done by Jefferson, who had Franklin and Adams make some corrections to it.
Anyway, on July 1st congress reconvened. The resolution I have quoted above was voted on on July 2nd. The decision needed to be unanimous and 12 of the 13 voted in favor of it. New York abstained from this vote as well. Hence, the date of Independence for America is actually the 2nd of July (hence the great day in history). However, they still needed to look over the Declaration of Independence. This was done through July 3rd and the morning of the 4th. Finally, on the 4th of July, church bells rung out as the Declaration of Independence (which had a few more modifications though it was still mostly what Thomas Jefferson had written) was officially ratified. On July 9th, New York officially approved of the document.
An interesting side note is that this declaration was not signed on July 4th, as is commonly believed, but it was signed on August 2nd. In all, 56 delegates signed this document. These were brave men who were willing to sign this document. There was a fear of reprisals against these men for signing this document, and yet these men were willing to put their safety and the safety of their families for this declaration.
Anyway, on this day (my birthday) I want to say how grateful I am for the bravery of these men (along with their families) in creating this independent nation partially through this declaration. I am grateful for all the men and women who have fought for and preserved the freedoms that I have. Never before America has a democracy survived. Democracy certainly wasn't born with America. The Greeks had it and spread it around a little, but in the long run it was destroyed. America has put forth a workable democracy to the whole world, and it is working. May God continue to protect our democracy is my hope and my desire.
-------------------------------------------------
Now, just a little bit about my day today. I came to work this morning, and a little bit into it, one of my bosses asked if it was my birthday. I had forgotten about it (although my wife says that she said happy birthday to me this morning - that I didn't hear) and had to think a little bit about it and told her yes. Of course, they say your memory is the first thing to go. Nothing extraordinary happened at work.
I left work a little bit early and got home. I got a few gifts from my family and then we went to Johannah's kitchen for dinner. I had a great omelet, my kids split a roast beef dinner, and my wife ordered Chicken Mushroom and Cheese, and then they came back to her and asked if she still wanted that since they didn't have any mushrooms. She changed her order to Broiled Halibut. We thought it was a bit expensive for what was brought out, but we got a $5 discount since they weren't able to give her her original dinner. Overall, the dinner was quite satisfying.
After dinner, we went to Mulligans for some miniature golf. We had quite a bit of fun with that, and then headed home. On the way, we decided to buy some fireworks for my birthday tonight. At home, we had some birthday cake and ice cream and then I had to get online to take care of setting up a free account to check my credit rates because of the University Hospitals which lost some tapes with some of my families information on them. Thankfully, they now have those tapes back, but we don't know who all may have been able to get information off of them. At least we have some protection.
When we were watching the News tonight, my wife saw a house that looked like one of her friends homes, and they gave an address that fit the place of the house (although it was off by one number) that had burned and had about $200,000 worth of damage. They had taken out a 50 year old woman from the home and showed paramedics doing CPR on her while they were driving. My wifes friend was 49, so she was really scared about it all. She called a few peoples homes and nobody was answering. Finally, she got hold of one of her sisters and was told that she had moved from that home three weeks ago. It certainly put some dread into my wife though.
Well, we decided we hadn't had enough of fires so we went out and lit up those fireworks for the final part of celebrating my birthday.
posted by Craig's Blog at 10:57 PM
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