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HISTORY OF THE 4th OF JULY: THOMAS JEFFERSON

Perhaps no one person is more associated with the 4th of July in American History than Thomas Jefferson, probably because it was his hand that penned the immortal Declaration of Independence.

As my friend Clay Jenkinson — who has been portraying Jefferson for over 20 years — says in his book Thomas Jefferson: The Man of Light:

“The Third President is the Muse of American life, the chief articulator of our national value system and our national self-identity. Jefferson was a man of almost unbelievable achievement: statesman, man of letters, architect, scientist, book collector, political strategist, and utopian visionary. But he is also a man of paradox: liberty-loving slaveholder, Indian-loving relocationist, publicly frugal and privately bankrupt, a constitutional conservative who bought the Louisiana Territory in 1803.”

Even by 1782, as an admiring French visitor observed, Jefferson, “without having quitted his own country,” had become “an American who … is a musician, draftsman, astronomer, natural philosopher, jurist and a statesman.” He knew about crop rotation, Renaissance architecture, could dance a jig, play the fiddle, or tie an artery.

Though friends in their youth, disagreements separated Thomas Jefferson and our second President John Adams in later years. They were eventually reconciled toward their twilight years and though they never saw each other again after Adams left the White House to be replaced by Jefferson, in the last 14 years of their lives they exchanged 156 letters, some of them quite warm. This correspondence is generally regarded as the intellectual capstone to the achievements of the revolutionary generation and the most impressive correspondence between prominent statesmen.

They both died on the same day, July 4th, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, two of the last three signers. At the age of 91 John Adams collapsed in his favorite reading chair and died that afternoon, his last words are often reported to have been, “Thomas Jefferson still lives.” However, though this story appears even in contemporaneous obituaries, eulogies, and biographies — even as recently as David McCullough’s popular biography — his spinster niece and adopted daughter Louisa Smith recalls only that Adams mentioned the name Jefferson. Adams died at about 6:20.

But Jefferson might have said “Wrong, as usual,” if he had still been alive. However, in his last days his health had failed and he passed in and out of consciousness. Shortly before midnight on the 3rd of July, 1826 Jefferson asked his doctor one last time “Is it the 4th?” with his doctor replying “It soon will be.” Later around 1 pm on the 4th just a few hours before Adams died — in his home in Monticello, Virginia — surrounded by his daughter and some special slaves, at the age of 83, Thomas Jefferson died.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

Tagged as: john adams, Thomas Jefferson

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HISTORY OF INDEPENDENCE DAY

Independence Day, or the Fourth of July celebrates the adoption by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, of the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the severance of the allegiance of the American colonies to Great Britain. It is the greatest secular holiday of the United States, observed in all the states, territories and dependencies.

Although it is assumed that the Continental Congress unanimously signed the document on the 4th of July, in fact not all delegates were present and there were no signers at all. Here is what really happened.

The congressional delegate from Virginia, Richard Henry Lee, introduced in the Continental Congress, on June 7, 1776, a resolution

“that…body declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from allegiance to or dependence on the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain…”

On June 10 a committee of five, headed by Thomas Jefferson (the actual writer), was appointed to prepare a declaration suitable to the occasion in the event that the Virginia resolution was adopted. Jefferson’s version was revised by Benjamin Franklin and John Adams before it went to the Congress where they did some editing of their own.

Congress approved the resolution July 2; the declaration composed by Jefferson and amended by his committee was adopted July 4. That evening John Hancock ordered Philadelphia printer John Dunlap to print 200 broadside copies of the agreed upon Declaration that was signed by him as President and Charles Thomson as Secretary. These were distributed to members of the Congress and distributed to the 13 colonies and elsewhere. The Declaration was read in the yard of the state house July 8. New York did not even vote on it until July 9. The signing was even more gradual, and it is somewhat misleading to speak of the “fifty-six original signers of the Declaration of Independence”.

By August 6, most of those whose names are on the document had signed, but at least six signatures were attached later. One signer, Thomas McKean did not attach his name until 1781! Some of those who signed were not even in Congress when the Declaration was adopted, and some who voted for it in Congress never did get around to signing it. Robert R. Livingston was one of the original committee of five; he helped to frame it; he voted for it; and he never signed it.

The first anniversary of the declaration was observed only in Philadelphia, PA, by the adjournment of Congress, a ceremonial dinner, bonfires, the ringing of bells and fireworks. In 1788, after the requisite number of states had adopted the constitution, Philadelphia celebrated July 4 by elaborate festivities, including a grand procession.

Boston, Massachusetts first observed the day in 1783, and thereafter this celebration replaced that of the Boston Massacre, March 5. The custom spread to other cities and states, where the day was marked by parades, patriotic oratory, military displays and fireworks. In the present day, games and athletic contests, picnics, patriotic programs and pageants, and community fireworks of pyrotechnic expertise are characteristic of the 4th of July.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian

www.billpetro.com

Tagged as: 13 colonies, Benjamin Franklin, continental congress, declaration of independence, history of independence day, independent states, john adams, john hancock, july 4 1776, Thomas Jefferson

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HISTORY OF JULY

The month of July was renamed for Julius Caesar, who was born in that month. Prior to that, it was called Quintilis in Latin meaning the fifth month in the ancient Roman calendar. This was before January became the first month of the calendar year about the year 450 BC. We currently use the more recent Gregorian calendar — recent as in AD 1582 — which makes use of Anno Domini, meaning “in the year of our Lord” counting from the birth of Jesus. As we’ve previously discussed, in this calendar Jesus was  born curiously 4 to 6 years BC or “Before Christ.”

The Gregorian calendar was a reform of the Julian calendar which was itself a reform of the previous Roman calendar. The Julian calendar was introduced by Julius Caesar himself in 46 BC, where he added — probably after returning from an African military campaign in late Quntilis (July) — an additional 67 days by putting two intercalary months between November and December, as Cicero tells us at the time. This took care of some of the leap year problems. The Romans, after his death, renamed Quintilis to Iulius (July) in honor of his birth month.

Though Julius Caesar is often called the first Emperor of Rome, that honor actually goes to Octavian, or Augustus Caesar to whom Julius was great uncle. Julius did, nevertheless, play an important part in Rome’s transformation from a Republic to an Empire. He rose to the position of “perpetual dictator” and his conquest of Gaul and his invasion of Britain extended the Roman world to the North Sea. His family Julia was the beginning, at the very height of Roman government, of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty that lasted until the demise of Nero in AD 68. His family claimed ancient roots from Iulus, who was the son of the Trojan price Aeneas of legend, the son of Venus, as described by the epic Latin poem The Aeneid that tells of the origin of Rome, and is named earlier in Homer’s Iliad.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

Tagged as: Julius_Caesar

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SCIENCE OF THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

The word Solstice comes from the Latin solstitium meaning “Sun, standing-still.” This year the Summer Solstice occurs on June 21 at 05:45 UTC, or Coordinated Universal Time, or Zulu Time, or roughly Greenwich Mean Time.

This is also known as the Northern Solstice as the Sun is positioned directly above the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere. This time of year is known as Midsummer, though the official Midsummer Day is actually celebrated on June 24, thanks to differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Christian festivals during this time of year are related to the Birth of St. John the Baptist. In Bolivia and Peru it’s called the Festival of San Juan.

Earth enjoys different seasons because the planet is tilted 23 degrees and 27 minutes off the perpendicular to the plane of orbit. This means that the earth revolves like a tilted spinning top. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of sunlight as the Sun is at its highest arc in the sky, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. The farther north one is from the Equator, the more pronounced this is in Summer. However, as the Earth continues its orbit, the hemisphere that is angled closest to the sun changes, and the seasons are reversed.

In the Northern Hemisphere the sun appears at its highest point in the sky, and its noontime elevation appears to be the same for several days before and after the solstice, so that it looks like the Sun is “standing still” until following the Summer Solstice, the days begin to grow shorter and the nights longer.

Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
www.billpetro.com

Tagged as: midsummer, sacred_holiday, Science, solstice, st_john_the_baptist

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