The Second Continental Congress officially declared independence from Great Britian on July 4, 1776. What caused this momentous day?
The road to independence was paved with taxes. The cause was a series of events, which began after the French and Indian War, also know as the Seven Years War in 1763. Because of the massive debt, the British Parliament passed laws such as the Stamp Act, which taxed many transactions in the colonies in 1765.
Also, the first Quartering Act was enacted, the same year, which required colonists to pay for troop housing and food.
The Next event was the Townshend Act, in 1767, which taxed items imported into the colonies. The Colonies struck back by boycotting British goods. To stop the resistance, the British sent troops to occupy Boston.
Tensions continued between British troops and Boston residents, boiling over into the Boston Massacre.
Next in 1773, the British withdrew their troops from Boston and repealed much of the Townshend Act, except on Tea.
They then enacted the Tea Act, which allowed the British East Co. to sell tea that undercut colonial merchants. The result was the Boston Tea Party.
In 1774, the British then passed the Coercive Acts, which closed Boston Harbor until the cost of lost tea was paid for, it also replaced colonial elected councils, with British appointed councils, and forbade town meetings.
In 1775, the second Quartering Act, which allow the British military to house troops in unoccupied house and buildings, while it did not force colonists to board troops in their homes. That same year, British General Thomas Gage sent troops to Concord Mass. for the seizure of gunpower. The British troops were turned back after killing 7 Colonials. The British lost 73 dead, 174 wounded and 26 missing during their return to Boston.
From October 1775, thru January 1776, the British attached and burned the coastal towns of Falmouth, Mass. and Norfolk, Virginia. The Colonists realized they needed to band together for survival and the need for independence. The result was the Declaration of Independence of the American Colonists from Great Britian.
The first 4th of July celebration was in Philadelphia. Ships in the harbor fired a 13-Gun salute, at night bonfires were built and fireworks ignited with 13 rockets at the end. The new nation of the Untied States of America flag was also present, it had thirteen strips alternating Red and White for the original 13 states and thirteen White stars on a Blue field representing a new constellation.
The stars were arranged in a circle. This flag has been called the “Betsy Ross” flag; however, it has not been proven that Betsy Ross made the flag.
The Declaration of Independence draft was written by Thomas Jefferson and edited by luminaries such as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. Only Charles Tomson and John Hancock signed it on July 4th, it wasn’t until August 2,1776, that the final version was signed. The preamble to the Declaration of Independence contains the entire theory of American government in a single inspiring passage: “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, that to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men. Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
“ Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty.” Louis D.
Brandies.
Happy 248th Birthday, USA!
