THE PHONY HOLIDAY: Myths About the Fourth of July Fact-Checking the Fourth Richard Shenkman is the author of Presidential Ambition: Gaining Power at Any Cost HarperPerennial, 2000). He is the Managing Editor of TomPaine.com Editor's Note: The following excerpt is from Mr. Shenkman's Legends, Lies and Cherished Myths of American History. In the willingness of Americans to foster myth and misconception, nothing is sacred, not even holidays. That American independence was declared on the Fourth of July in 1776 is so well established that it might seem unpatriotic to question the fact. But it's not fact. Historical records plainly show that independence was declared by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on July 2. The night of the second the Pennsylvania Evening Post published the statement: "This day the Continental Congress declared the United Colonies Free and Independent States." Americans have endeavored not to let the facts get in the way of tradition, however. When a scholar in the nineteenth century discovered a John Adams letter that contradicted the tradition of the Fourth of July, he simply altered the document to conform with current belief. Adams had predicted in a letter to his wife dated July 3, 1776, that from then on "the Second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." To "correct" the record, the scholar altered the date of the document to read "July 5" and had Adams predicting that the holiday would be celebrated, not on the second but on the fourth. The widespread belief in the Fourth as the great anniversary day is based on the fact that Jefferson's Declaration of Independence was adopted that day; when the declaration was published, it bore the date July 4. Thus what seems to have happened, as one scholar observed, is that the document announcing independence overshadowed the act of declaring it. Congress itself didn't celebrate independence until July 8, when the members participated in a gala public demonstration that included the firing of guns and a parade of soldiers. People in the rest of the country celebrated independence even later, depending on when the news of Congress's action reached them. Washington's soldiers, camped in New York, didn't hear of the Declaration until July 9. Savannah, Georgia, had to wait until August 10. Word didn't reach London for another two weeks. France finally heard on August 30. Yet another myth persists concerning the Declaration of Independence: that it was signed the day it was adopted. Even contemporaries got this wrong. Just a few years after the Revolution both Jefferson and Franklin reported in letters to friends their memory that the Declaration had been signed by all of the delegates (with one exception) on July 4. When someone challenged his memory in the early 1800s, Jefferson stuck by his mistake. It wasn't until 1884 that the record was corrected when historian Mellon Chamberlain, researching the manuscript minutes of the journal of Congress, discovered that the declaration was signed by most delegates on August 2. A few didn't affix their signatures until even later. One person didn't sign until 1781. Only John Hancock, president of Congress, and Charles Thomson, secretary, signed it on the fourth. When the document was originally published, the Congress cautiously refused to say who, beyond Hancock and Thomson, had approved it. Not until January 1777 were the names of the other signers released. Equally wrong is the belief that independence was unanimously supported in Congress. Actually, more than half a dozen delegates opposed the rebellion. In the penultimate roll call Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted no, Delaware's delegates were divided, and New York's members, lacking instructions, didn't vote. In the end South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Delaware voted to approve independence, South Carolina only because it didn't want to be left out. New York, still uninstructed, abstained. At least independence is not so shrouded in error as it once was. For a long time North Carolinians believed that they deserved the credit for making the first statement of independence. So convinced were they of the authenticity of the so-called Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, which was supposedly approved in 1775 in Mecklenburg County, that the state legislature required students to learn about it. In a sober moment the legislature repealed the order. Nothing much has been said about the North Carolina declaration since. Historian Allan Nevins, apparently with good reason, says it was a fraud. It was not put into written form until 1800, it wasn't even printed until 1820, and its written version was provided by a county clerk on the basis of his memory of the event. Mecklenburg does figure in the developing schism with Great Britain. In May 1775 some resolutions were passed denying the authority of the king in North Carolina. But there was no mention of independence. Originally published at: http://www.tompaine.com/history/2000/06/30/index.html <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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