4th of July Questions

The 4th of July is coming up and here are some questions to ask your family or just ask yourself:

1. What is significant about the date July 4, 1776?
On July 4, 1776 a historical document called the Declaration of Independence was signed and adopted by the American colonies to declare their independence from British rule.

2.  Just prior to this date, there a great tension between the American colonies and Great Britain.  America desperately wanted to break away from British rule.  Several things were terribly unfair. Name three.
The colonies wanted to voice their opinions when Great Britain made decisions that affected them.  They had asked Britain many time for a say in matters, but were denied.  In 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which required the colonists to pay a tax on newspapers, legal and business documents, and various other items.  The British government also said that the colonies must sell their furs, tobacco, wood, and other products to Britain only.  The colonies complained.  They felt that they should have the right to sell their products to whatever country would pay them the best prices.  The colonies also wanted to make their own furniture, clothing, and machinery.  but the British Parliament even insisted that they import all such manufactured goods from Britain, almost 3,500 miles away, taking several weeks or months to arrive in America.

3.  What was the Boston Tea Party?  Was it really a party?
Because a law was passed by Parliament placing a tax on imported goods, the colonists rebelled.  The tax was finally lifted on most items but not on tea.  In 1773, irate colonists boarded some British ships in Boston Harbor and dumped all of the tea overboard.  This rebellion was called The Boston Tea Party.  The colonists were then punished by Great Britain with some laws the colonists called the Intolerable Acts.  Because of these laws, the colonists finally decided the time had come to fight for their freedom and to break all ties with Great Britain.  The Revolutionary War had already begun with Massachusetts.  Now Great Britain increased their forces.  The war intensified.

4.  Who were the minutemen and what was their role?
Minutemen were volunteers who promised to be ready for military duty at a minute's notice.  They were trained to use guns and were prepared to fight with the militia.  One-third of all the new regiments were made up of minutemen.  Paul Revere was one of the most famous minutemen.  He rode hours through the night, on horseback to Lexington to warn the patriots there that the British were coming.  Revere also participated in the Boston Tea Party.  He was so familiar to the British in his role of minutemen that his name appeared in London journals.  He served as a special messenger on many occasions for Boston patriots such as Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

5.  Who was asked to write the Declaration of Independence?  Where did he write it, and how long did it take him?
On June 10, 1776, Congress voted to name a committee to write a Declaration of Independence.  The committee consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman.  The committee asked 33-year-old Thomas Jefferson to write a draft of the declaration.  He had a reputation as an excellent writer.  John Adams said of him, "If George Washington was the sword of the Revolution, Thomas Jefferson was the pen."  To have a safe place to work, he rented a small room in the house of a bricklayer, Jacob Graff.  Although Jefferson drew on the ideas of many other thinkers and writers, he wrote the Declaration without referring to any books or pamphlets.  He finished the project in only two weeks.  Franklin and Adams made a few minor changes.  The delegates then began to debate Jefferson's draft.  Most changes were slight, except the paragraph in which Jefferson condemned the slave trade.  After much discussion, this passage was deleted.

6.  John Hancock was President of the Congress.  Why did he sign his name so large?  Why did the British put him on the top of the list as one of the most dangerous Americans?
John Hancock signed the Declaration first because he was the President of the Congress.  He was fiercely angry with Great Britain's King George III, so he signed the declaration "with great flourish."  He then said,  "There, King George can read that without spectacles!"  Hancock was on the top of the list of most dangerous Americans because he was the most vocal critic of the King.

7.  Those who signed the Declaration knew something terrible could happen to them if they signed this document.  What could happen to them and why?
Signing the Declaration was a serious thing.  If this new nation failed, each of the delegates whose signature was on the document could be convicted of high treason and put to death.  A short time earlier, a prince from Scotland had been accused of treason and beheaded in public ceremonies.  They knew the same could happen to them.  Eventually, 56 members of Congress signed.  The document because official on the day of balloting, July 4, 1776.  The original document was hand-copied 80 times that same night and distributed.

8.  When the votes were cast from each of the delegates of the thirteen colonies on July 1, 1776, it appeared that the Declaration wouldn't pass.  A horseman was sent immediately on the 80-mile journey to get something.  What was it?
On July 1, 1776, votes were cast to decide whether the colonies should separate from England.  Initially, Pennsylvania, south Carolina, and New York were not in favor of separating from Great Britain.  A fast horseman was sent on an 80-mile trip to the farm of Caesar Rodney, Delaware's third delegate, to get his vote.  Rodney w
9.  The Declaration of Independence was read publicly on July 8, 1776.  What British symbol was burned in a bonfire while the crowd applauded?
The Maryland Gazette reported that people entered the State House and pulled down the coat of arms of British King George III from the wall of the Supreme Court Chamber.  That night the coat of arms was carried to a nearby park and placed on top of a bonfire and burned.  The onlookers cheered as the reminder of King George went up in flames.
10.  The next day, July 9, word of independence reached New York City.  How did the soldiers react to the news?  People were released from jails and prisons.  Why were the people set free?
George Washington and his arm of 28, 500 soldiers were stationed at Bowling Green in New York.  By order, the Declaration was read to each brigade.  The men reacted to the news by yanking the statue of King George III from off its pedestal.  They melted the 1,000-pound lead figure to form into bullets that were used six weeks later in the Battle of Long Island.  George Washington was not pleased with this action.  He remarked that the act showed a lack of self-discipline.  The British had forced people in American into jails or prisons if they owed money and couldn't pay their debts.  When the Declaration was read, the people were finally set free because they were considered no longer under British rule.