The Chronicles Of Grant County

Freedom Trail
Pinos Altos

(The image was provided courtesy of Angelique Johnson through Pixabay.)

Freedom Trail in Pinos Altos received its name from the freedom – the liberty that people in the United States were accorded through the U S Constitution. According to a statement from The White House, “the First Amendment [of the Constitution] provides that Congress make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. It protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

While Americans celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth of July, the actual Declaration of Independence took place two days earlier.

The written document confirming the Declaration of Independence and laying out the reasons for the proclamation was approved on July 4, 1776. It is that document that was eventually printed and released to the public.

In a statement issued on September 1, 2018, the National Park Service provided details on this sequence of events that led to what we today call “Independence Day.”

“The Second Continental Congress met inside Independence Hall beginning in May 1775,” according to this statement. “It was just a month after shots had been fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, and the Congress was preparing for war. They established a Continental army and elected George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, but the delegates also drafted the Olive Branch Petition and sent it to King George III in hopes of reaching a peaceful resolution. The King refused to hear the petition and declared the American colonies in revolt.”

“On June 7, 1776, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee put forth the resolution for independence: ‘Resolved, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states…,’” the statement continued. “Voting was postponed while some of the delegates worked to convince others to support independence, but a committee of five men was assigned to draft a document of independence: John Adams (MA), Benjamin Franklin (PA), Thomas Jefferson (VA), Roger Sherman (CT), and Robert R. Livingston (NY). [Mr.] Jefferson did most of the work, drafting the document in his lodgings at 7th and Market Street.”

The statement continued by noting that “On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to adopt Lee’s resolution for independence. This is the day that John Adams thought should be celebrated with ‘Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.’ (John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776.)”

“Between July 2 and July 4, Congress argued over every word in Jefferson’s draft of the declaration, making numerous changes,” the statement continued. “On July 4, Congress voted again – this time to approve the wording of the Declaration of Independence. They didn’t actually sign the document that day. After New York’s delegates received instructions from home to vote for independence (they had initially abstained), the document was sent to Timothy Matlack to be engrossed (handwritten). Fifty of the 56 men signed the engrossed Declaration of Independence inside Independence Hall on August 2, 1776.”

Thus, while we celebrate Independence Day on the Fourth of July, today – July 2, 2023 – is actually the anniversary of the day independence was declared by what eventually became known as the “United States of America.”

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© 2023 Richard McDonough