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4th of July, because it is American Independence Day

It will cost more to travel and it will also cost more to prepare the barbecue. Inflation is also making itself felt in the US, but the Americans will not give up their party: the 4th July. There are dates that remain etched in the memory even if they have nothing to do with the country in which you live. One of these is the 4th of July, the American Independence Day that is in the collective imagination thanks to cinema and television, so much so that it comes to barbecue, as Americans do in their Independence Day. However, this year one also thinks that the land of rights and freedom is a little less so after the ruling of the Supreme Court which removed the right to abortion at the federal level.

What happened

On July 4, 1776, 243 years ago, the Continental Congress, i.e. the assembly of 56 delegates from the 13 British colonies in America (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) adopted the Declaration of Independence.

No taxation

The document sanctioned the farewell to the now hated motherland with the elimination of any ties of political dependence on Great Britain which had not allowed the American colonies to have a vote and formal representation and these felt exploited: the colonies could only trade with the motherland and could not independently dispose of what they produced. The motto of the rebels was “no taxation without representation”, no taxes without having political representation in the British parliament.

Boston tea party

The no to this request led to the revolt of the colonies as early as 1773 against the motherland led by King George III, forever remembered as the one who lost the American colonies. Perhaps the best known episode is that of the Boston Tea Party. A group of settlers disguised as Indians stormed some Company of India ships loaded with tea in Boston and threw the goods overboard to protest the favorable conditions enjoyed by English merchants. The actual war, with George Washington leading the Americans, went on from 1775 to 1778. The British recognized US autonomy in 1783 and in 1787 the Philadelphia Convention adopted the current US Constitution.

The declaration of independence

“We hold that these truths are self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, which among these rights are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness; that to guarantee these rights governments are instituted among men and derive their just powers from the consent of the governed … ».

The text of the declaration, which contains some of the basic principles of the philosophy that still governs the United States, was written by the future third president Thomas Jefferson. The approval took place on 2 July, on 4 there was the ratification of the deed at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, where it is kept together with the liberty bell. Congress President John Hancock and after him the elected representatives of the 13 colonies signed it.

The party

It was not immediately a holiday on July 4th. Jefferson himself died in 1826, on July 4, 50 years after the declaration and the date became even more solemn. As early as 1781, it was recognized by Massachusetts and the term Independence Day was first used in 1791. From 1870 it was established as an unpaid federal vacation for government employees. Only in 1941 did it become a paid federal holiday.

Content

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Events and parades are organized in every state. Protagonists are the stars and stripes flag and the fireworks, but also the barbecues and baseball games. The aliens arrived at the cinema on July 4th in Independence Day and it’s Born on July 4th the veteran played by Tom Cruise (but really born the day before) and directed by Oliver Stone who becomes a pacifist after losing the use of his legs in the horror of Vietnam.

Other stories of Vanity Fair that may interest you:

– Queen Letizia and Jill Biden, a first time in flamenco style

– Sergio Mattarella, the day of the oath

Source: Vanity Fair

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