4th of July

Embarrassingly, I realized today that I wasn't completely sure why we celebrate July 4th. I thought it had something to do with the Constitution or something related, but wasn't sure. So I did a bit of research and found the following: On July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Consitution wasn't adopted until 11 years later in September of 1787. Who knew?!! I guess it makes sense to have a Constitution only after declaring independence.

The Declaration of Indepence begins:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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

Check out this picture of the actual Declaration (it's on display in the Smithsonian Institution, along with the Constitution): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:USA_declaration_independence.jpg

I also did some reading on the Star Spangled Banner. I found the following, which made watching the fireworks tonight more meaningful than it was in the past for me:

Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner. He was an American prisoner-exchange agent. Key was near Baltimore on a British naval ship off the coast negotiating the release of an American hostage on September 3, 1813. During the negotiation he became aware of a planned attack by the British on Baltimore that night. The British held him on board a peripheral naval ship during that night, as to keep him from going back to the American troops to forewarn them of the planned attack. As he sat watching the bombardment, the explosions lit up the night sky and allowed him to see the American base and the American flag hoisted above it, which signified that the Americans were still in control of the base. During the night the bombardment stopped and Key was unable to tell if the American flag had been replaced by the British flag, but the dawn light revealed the American flag still remained.

The fireworks symbolize the "the bombs bursting in air" that Key's watched that night, during which time he was able to see "that our flag was still there", giving him assurance that the Americans were still holding strong against the attack.

Check out this copy of Key's original penning of the poem (later turned into a song): http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/KeysSSB.jpg