WHY AMERICANS CELEBRATE JULY 4.

Mataura Ensign, 4 July 1914, Page 4

WHY AMERICANS CELEBRATE JULY 4.

There is endless couiusioij (.says an American contributor-to 'iMunsey's') as ;o the exact daie on.. which we should 'elebrate the D&claration of lndcjiendiiice.. On June 7, 1770, in llie Continental Congress, Richard Henry l<ee, of Virgnia, moved the adoption of three resolutions, the first of which was as follows ''That these l iiit d States are, ajid if right ought to lie, iree and indepeiidint .States, tint ihe\ ire absolved from all allegiaiiti to ih< Hi ilifli Crown, and that all political <onneoti<m beiwi'eti diem and the State of (Jrent liritain is! Mifl ought to be, totally dissolved." ' This resolution was briefly debated, •ind its further consideration postponed mtil .fulv 1. In tho meantime a committee, lieaded by Thomas JeflW«on, ivas appointed to draft a formal declaration, wh'eh wis to lie cciisjdered n case the resolution should lie accepted. . Lee's resolution was; adopted on July 2, after two days of debate. With this Jtep the American colonies. were definitely separated from Great Britain. That (lie members of the Corit iiental Congress regarded .Inly '2 as the dato if this separation, and the first day of their independence, i.s n-itaolishid l»y, it pa wage in a letter .written -by John \dams to his wife on July H:— ' "Yesterday the greatest (pillion was decided wlreh ..>vur was debated in Vmerca. But th- dav is past—the econd dav of July, 177 C. will he tho most memorable epoch in the history of Anier'ca. I am apt to liel'eve .that it will be celebrated by (succeeding generations as tho great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated a« tho Jay of deliverance, bv solemn acts oflevoticn to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnised with pomp and parade, vrth shows, games, shorts, guns, bolls, bonfires and illuminations from one end if the continent to the other, from this timo forward, for over more." After -the adoption of Lee's resolution Jefferson's Declaration was at onco taken up and its considerat'cn continued on the two following days, July 3 and 4. Debate on the report, might have lasted indefinitely—for there wa» much diversity of oo.nion—but for a reason which Jefferson describes in his own way:— "The weather was oppressively warm and the.rooin occupied liv the deputes was hard by a stable, whence the hungry Hies swarmed thick and fierce, alighting on their legs and biting hard through their thin stochingfi. Treason was preferable to discomfort." And so, on (lie afternoon of July 4, Jefferson's Declaration was adopted.' On the stli attested copies were sent to several assemblies, and on the 6th the docume.it was printed in the Philadelphia papers.