Tag Archives: Independence Day

muted celebration?

Recently National Review compared and contrasted The United States and Britain: “Every nation needs a mythic anchor. Ours is our revolutionary self-founding. Britain is its longer, slower maturation.” Eight years after the Civil War ended a Southern newspaper didn’t feel … Continue reading

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another glorious day

From the July 8, 1871 issue of Harper’s Weekly: An editorial commented on the picture – the Fourth of a July was customarily a noisy, boisterous, and often dangerous holiday: ____________________________ A week later the editors still found the Fourth … Continue reading

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reading the reasons

On July 2, 1776 the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia voted for independence from Great Britain. On July 4th the Congress agreed to the words in the written Declaration. July 8th was a “great day of celebration” in Philadelphia as … Continue reading

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“Eighty-odd years since …”

The Fourth of July 1863 was a glad day for the Union during the American Civil War. Rebels surrendered Vicksburg, Mississippi to Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant, and that evening the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia began to … Continue reading

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fake views?

In its July 3, 1869 issue Harper’s Weekly presented a couple iconic images from the American independence movement during the 1770’s. The incident Paul Revere depicted did not happen in 1775. The Boston Massacre “was a confrontation on March 5, … Continue reading

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“incongruous” fourth

Talk about progress. Thanks to the global media, seemingly more and more omnipresent, we can be more and more aware of all the pain and agony throughout this world. I realize I don’t have enough empathy for all the people … Continue reading

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four score and ten

150 years ago today Massachusetts state representative George Bailey Loring delivered an Independence Day oration at Newburyport, Mass. He paid homage to Abraham Lincoln and declared the supremacy of the federal government. He disagreed with President Andrew Johnson’s objection to … Continue reading

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“devout joy at the salvation of the country”

From The New-York Times July 6, 1865: THE CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE DAY. The observance of the National Anniversary was characterized everywhere throughout the country by a sober heartiness and earnest enthusiasm, in perfect keeping with the peculiarities of the occasion. … Continue reading

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good time in the grove

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in 1864: FOURTH OF JULY IN TYRE. – The patriotic citizens of Tyre have procured a monument which is to be erected to the memory of the deceased Soldiers from that town. It … Continue reading

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“the solitary blunder”

A Southern take on the North’s coming celebration of July 4th and the Declaration of Independence: the United States was abrogating all the principles of the Declaration except for its one mistake – the idea that “all men are created … Continue reading

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