Today is Friday, July 4th, 2014; Karen's Korner #2850

Happy 4th of July!

To celebrate, here are a few fun facts about the Declaration of Independence and the some reasons about why we celebrate as we do:

* The Declaration of Independence was a document declaring the United States to be independent of the Royal Crown and was signed on July 4, 1776 by congressional representatives of the 13 colonies;

* It was signed by 56 delegates with an average age of 45 years old; and not one of those 56 was born in America;

* The United States didn't exist until the Declaration of Independence was signed. Not everyone signed the document on July 4; the last was Matthew Thornton who signed it on November 4, 1776;

* The document stated that authority to govern belongs to the people rather than to kings; the reason for the American Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence was due to the belief that the Stamp Act of 1765 imposed by Parliament Act by the British government was unconstitutional;

* The population of the United States at the time was 2.5 million; 20% of its citizens remained loyal to the British King and its government rule;

* When the Congress was declared traders by royal decree, the members responded by signing the Declaration of Independence;

* On July 4, 1826, fifty years to the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died. They were the only two signers who became U.S. presidents;

* It wasn't until July 4, 1941 the Independence Day became a legal holiday;

* The most famous lines from the Declaration of Independence:

"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 them are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

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