Happy July 4th!!!!

It's been a great July 4th so far.  It started for me last night at the Iron Pigs game where I got to see Ryan Howard hit a home run, some strongmen and then  fire works.  Since the Pigs hit over 5 runs it also meant that we received coupons for free 6 inch subs at Subway which are our lunch today.

This morning my bff,  Cathy,  and I headed to the George Taylor home for the reading of the Declaration of Independence.   The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American Colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire.  It was read by Daniel K. McCarthy, an Attorney at Davison & McCarthy.  Mr. McCarthy has practiced law in the Lehigh Valley for over 35 years and he is a member of the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners.

The Declaration of Independence is interesting reading - after hearing parts of it this morning (3 yup 3 airplanes went over during the reading) I decided to read it on line.

We know the most famous part of it - the 2nd sentence -

"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."  which has become a major statement of human rights.  But it then goes on to a list of grievances against King George III.  It calls him, "A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

The Declaration ends as follows:

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Here is some July 4th Trivia -

• Betsy Ross, according to legend, sewed the first American flag in May or June 1776, as commissioned by the Congressional Committee.
• Independence Day was first celebrated in Philadelphia on July 8, 1776.
• The word patriotism comes from the Latin patria which means homeland or fatherland.
• Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on Independence Day, July 4, 1826.
• The 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence did not sign at the same time, nor did they sign on July 4, 1776. The official event occurred on August 2, 1776, when 50 men signed it.
• The names of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were withheld from the public for more than six months to protect the signers. If independence had not been achieved, the treasonable act of the signers would have, by law, resulted in

 And, of course, one of those signers was George Taylor.

Happy 4th of July Catasauqua, be proud to be an American and show that pride today and every day, and that's another day in Catasauqua