Today's history lesson

[Bhelliom]

here you go enjoy you independance day

1054 Brightest known super-nova (Crab Nebula) starts shining (23 days)

4th 1636 City of Providence, Rhode Island form

1754 George Washington gives Ft Necessity to France

1776 Declaration of Independence-US gains independence from Britain

1796 1st Independence Day celebration is held

1802 US Military Academy officially opens (West Point, NY)

1827 Slavery abolished in NY

1829 Cornerstone laid for 1st US mint (Chestnut & Juniper St, Phila)

1845 Texas Congress votes for annexation to US

1861 In a special session of 27th Congress Lincoln requests 400,000 troops

1862 Lewis Carroll creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice P Liddell

1863 General Lee's army withdraws from Gettysburg

1865 1st edition of "Alice in Wonderland" is published

1876 1st public exhibition of electric light in SF

1884 Statue of Liberty presented to US in Paris

1914 1st US motorcycle race (300 miles, Dodge City Ks)

1931 1st fireworks are held at Cleveland Stadium

1936 League of Nations starts sanctions against Italy

1942 1st American bombing mission over enemy-occupied Europe (WW II)

1944 1,100 US guns fire 4th of July salute at German lines in Normandy

1952 Canadain Currency, Mint & Exchange Fund Act allows gold coins of $5, $10, and $20 to be minted

1959 America's new 49-star flag honoring Alaska statehood unfurled

1960 America's new 50-star flag honoring Hawaiian statehood unfurled

1966 LBJ signs Freedom of Information Act

1975 Fictional wedding date of Coneheads

1980 Nolan Ryan is 4th to strikeout 3,000

1987 Nazi Klaus Barbie, "Butcher of Lyon" sentenced to life in France

1993 Pizza Hut blimp deflates & lands safely on W 56th street in NYC

1994 Rwandese Patriot Front occupies Kigali

1996 Hot Mail, a free internet E-mail service begins


Wow Lots of stuff happened on july 4th... most of it is American... so Happy independance day

[Red]

Here's a little more history about the Declaration of Independence.
It actually wasn't signed on July 4th. it was approved. The actual signing didn’t take place until a month later. Most of the delegates signed the Declaration on August 2, 1776.
Several signatures were obtained later ... George Wythe (Virginia) on August 27; Richard Henry Lee (Virginia), Elbridge Gerry (Massachusetts), Oliver Wolcott (Connecticut) signed in September; Matthew Thornton (New Hampshire) in November. Thomas McKean, representing Delaware, was serving in the army and was unavailable to add his ‘John Hancock’ until 1781.
Following the natural rights theory of John Locke, the document proclaimed the equality of ‘all men’ and their ‘unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. The authors wrote that governments were established to secure these rights; when they failed to do so, the people could abolish them. This one statement alone was considered as treason to the British crown.

And so, at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Hancock said, “Now we must all hang together.”

Benjamin Franklin smilingly stated, “Or most assuredly we will all hang separately.”

Oh that Ben, he was such a card. :)

[Bhelliom]

Interesting red... I didn't know that before.

Damn those british overlords. Throw off the yoke of their oppression and gain a new freedom for a new nation. Under god.

By god I mean GW of course :ph34r:

Edit: and by GW I mean the new one... not Washington