JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 2000
UNITED COLONIES DECLARED THEMSELVES FREE & INDEPENDENT STATES 240 YEARS AGO
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) Two centuries and 40 years ago today, July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting here in Philadelphia, adopted the Declaration of Independence, a statement announcing the 13 American colonies were "and of right ought to be" free and independent states.
The Declaration, largely the work of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, followed more than a year of armed conflict with Great Britain the "mother country."
The Declaration of Independence reads...
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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 & the pursuit of Happiness."
Most of the remainder of the document is a list of specific charges against His Majesty, King George III of Great Britain. These charges are listed with the intent to demonstrate that the King had violated colonial rights.
Thomas Jefferson drew on George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Declaration of Rights of 1689.
PRESIDENT KENNEDY SPEAKS AT INDEPENDENCE HALL
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago today, Independence Day 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke at Independence Hall here in the City of Brotherly Love.
The President said...
"To read it today is to hear a trumpet call. For that Declaration unleashed not merely a revolution against the British, but a revolution in human affairs. Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide implications."
TWO PRESIDENTS DIE HOURS APART ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
Charlottesville, Virginia & Quincy, Massachusetts (JFK+50) One hundred ninety years ago today, July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, two of the men most instrumental in its existence died just hours apart.
They were the second President of the United States, John Adams and the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson
Mr.Adams last words were "Thomas Jefferson still survives", but he did not know that his old friend and sometimes adversary had passed away a few hours before.
UNITED COLONIES DECLARED THEMSELVES FREE & INDEPENDENT STATES 240 YEARS AGO
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) Two centuries and 40 years ago today, July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting here in Philadelphia, adopted the Declaration of Independence, a statement announcing the 13 American colonies were "and of right ought to be" free and independent states.
The Declaration, largely the work of Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, followed more than a year of armed conflict with Great Britain the "mother country."
The Declaration of Independence reads...
"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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 & the pursuit of Happiness."
Most of the remainder of the document is a list of specific charges against His Majesty, King George III of Great Britain. These charges are listed with the intent to demonstrate that the King had violated colonial rights.
Thomas Jefferson drew on George Mason's draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Declaration of Rights of 1689.
Declaration of Independence
July 4, 1776
"Yale Dunlap Broadside"
printed by John Dunlap
PRESIDENT KENNEDY SPEAKS AT INDEPENDENCE HALL
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) Fifty-four years ago today, Independence Day 1962, President John F. Kennedy spoke at Independence Hall here in the City of Brotherly Love.
The President said...
"To read it today is to hear a trumpet call. For that Declaration unleashed not merely a revolution against the British, but a revolution in human affairs. Its authors were highly conscious of its worldwide implications."
JFK & Mayor Tate View Liberty Bell
TWO PRESIDENTS DIE HOURS APART ON THE FOURTH OF JULY
Charlottesville, Virginia & Quincy, Massachusetts (JFK+50) One hundred ninety years ago today, July 4, 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, two of the men most instrumental in its existence died just hours apart.
They were the second President of the United States, John Adams and the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson
Mr.Adams last words were "Thomas Jefferson still survives", but he did not know that his old friend and sometimes adversary had passed away a few hours before.
Franklin, Adams & Jefferson
Committee to Draft
the Declaration of Independence
