The 4th of July
The great patriotic holiday points back to the date the Continental Congress ratified the text of what is now called the Declaration of Independence . The Congress having two days before taken the decision to declare independence from Great Britain (i.e., to revolt), on the Fourth adopted a text written by Thomas Jefferson declaring that fact and enumerating the reasons. The document was rapidly printed and distributed, with public readings taking place in on July 8th in Philadelphia, PA, Trenton, NJ, and Easton, PA. On July 9th, General George Washington read it to his troops in New York City, while thousands of British troops were in New York Harbor. The first translation, into German, was published on July 9th. It quickly made its way throughout the colonies and was published in British newspapers by mid-August. (Please note in the picture to the left the strikethrough of "Forever" is an anti-counterfeiting device in this official image from the Postal Service.) History