Happy July 2-- Part 2: Why the 4th and Not the 2nd?

John Adams correctly predicted a lot about how our nation's birthday would be celebrated, all these 243 years later.  But he was incorrect as to the day, which he figured would be July 2, the day the Congress voted on a resolution to form a new country out of British control.

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable epocha, in the history of America, Adams wrote.  "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary festival."

So, our day of celebrations, not the six days before or two days after July 4, should actually have been celebrated this past Tuesday, not today on Thursday.  How did this come to be?  Why for two centuries has our country's birthday been celebrated on the 4th instead  of the 2nd?

Go to My Running the Blockade: Civil War Navy to Find Out Why on Part 3.  Also there you will find parts 4 and 5.  --Old Secesh

Happy July 2nd-- Part 1: John Adams Sees Into the Future.

This was the day that John Adams predicted that Independence Day would be celebrated.  But, he was wrong.

From the July 4, 2019, Chicago Tribune  "John Adams predicted an Independence Day on July 2 but fate interceded" by Bianca Sanchez.

"On July 3, 1776, the day after the Second Continental Congress voted on a resolution to declare independence from the British, John Adams sent a letter to his wife, Abigail, back home in Massachusetts.  In the letter, the Founding Father prophesied a grand celebration  of America's independence.

" 'It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other from this time forward forever more,' he wrote expectantly."

Well, this is what has been happening since last Saturday.  Only, he was thinking all this would occur on July 2, not July 4 as it turned out to be.

--Old Rebel (Because That's What They Were.  Rebels.  Someone Else Was Called Rebels during the Civil War.)

About Gen. Meade's Spurs-- Part 4: From the Estate of George Gordon Meade Easby

The spurs going up at auction belonged to George Gordon Meade Easby, the general's grandson.  He was a major art and antique collector, who inherited more than 100,000 antiques and personal items which had been in his family for centuries.

These items included items of the Meades as well as utensils used by the Founding Fathers during the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Many of those items have been on loan at times to the White House.

--Old Secesh