This image of the
is courtesy of the National Archives. Visit their site for the
full-size images
or the
Independence Day Exhibit
(Note that this is the original Declaration and not the more familiar 19th C. reproduction.)
Read the text of the Declaration
(It's not a long document.)
Meditate on the Declaration,
then scroll down for more.
Special Event
July Fourth at the Chicago Historical Society
This long-time annual event features a brass-band concert, a reading of the Declaration, and a "patriotic oration" by a public figure -- this year it's former Chicago alderman Leon Despres.
The events start at 10:00 AM on the Fourth in Uihlein Plaza (east of the museum). The museum will be open, and the offer of free admission (until 1:00 PM) has been restored.
Typical program (from this year's press release):
highlights include patriotic musical performances, a reading of the Declaration of Independence, and a children's costume parade led by the World's Tallest Uncle Sam!
Serious Links
Re-visit Philadelphia's
Independence Day 1996 .
Go on
pilgrimage to Independence National Historic Park.
Thomas
Jefferson's own account of the Declaration (starts with " prepared a draught of the Declaration", actually the middle of the story, and continues in detail for three more pages ).
PBS's Nova had a program, "Saving the National Treasures",on the efforts to preserve the actual document.
The program mentioned that fewer people these days know about the events cited in the Declaration as reasons for the separation from Britain. This site explains the history behind each item on the
bill of particulars.
In private life, Gen. Washington lived sociably but quietly at home. Take a Tour of Mount Vernon.
The Father of our Country explains Recruiting and Maintaining an Army.
And Thomas Paine writes, just before the Battle of Trenton, to inspire fellow patriots to stand firm during the American Crisis.
Many of the Founding Fathers talked a good game about manumitting their slaves, but Washington was the one who
actually did it (see a copy of his will for the details).
Salute some
Early Flags featuring the rattlesnake motif.
Written in 1829 (some from a second work of 1856), these
Biographies of America's Founding Fathers are interesting windows on that time, as well on on their subjects. (This link is for the signers of the Declaration, but more are available on the linked-to site.)
Link to another time with these
Revolutionary War Re-Enactors (part of a more extensive Revolutionary War site). Or visit the companion website to PBS's American Experience program on the Lexington and Concord re-enactors.
How much revolution can you take? Embark on a
Virtual Marching Tour of the American Revolutionary War.
But before you leave, equip yourself with a selection of Historical Maps (or just the Revolution).
Beyond the Revolution lies the Growth of the United States (animated map!).
Somewhere between history and urban legend lies an essay commonly titled The Price They Paid. (Yes, it's the one that so many columnists have gotten into hot water for using without checking or attributing.) James Elbrecht's website is trying to separate
fact from fiction.
Frivolous Links
Best holiday movie? Try James Cagney as George M. Cohan (his Oscar role) in Yankee Doodle Dandy (if you don't trust my recommendation, see Roger Ebert's review).
Download a
Fireworks (or other patriotic) screensaver -- handmade by actual patriots .
Send a
Fourth of July Greeting
Card (most options of the card sites I could find, but watch out for the bazillion pop-ups).
Have a
Hot Dog! (and learn about what you're eating) (substitute for long-gone, much-lamented TCS page).
And maybe a
beer to go with that?
(I don't usually link to commercial sites, but the "Sam Adams" page had such a good telling of that firebrand's story that I made an exception. The company has has re-designed their site (all monster shockwave files now, plus a stop at their age verification page), and seems to have dropped the page (no answer to my enquiry about it). As a subsitute, here's Encarta's Samuel Adams.)
For a more traditional menu, see this academic page about
Fourth of July Dinners Prior to the Civil War.
Here are instructions in case you have forgotten how to cut a
5-Pointed Star in One Snip.
The Other Side!
A Maryland Loyalist apologist starts us off with some hard-to-find rousing (for the British)
songs and poems (links to other Loyalist pages as well) (vanished without a trace -- not even the Wayback Machine has it.)
New links added regularly -- or
suggest your own
.
Return to the
Welcome Page.
(If you liked this page, try some of my others.)
This page's URL is:
http://pages.prodigy.net/feaudrey/july4th.htm
The "Stars" graphic is from
THe SKuLL.
The patriotic bomb bullet is from
Iconographics.
Last updated June 2008 (links have been checked; a few new goodies added).