Tag Archives: Independence Day

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2023

American flagBalladeer’s Blog wishes a happy birthday to the USA! What happened in early July of 1776 certainly needs no rehashing so in keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing more out of the way subjects this post will examine various events that took place on other July 4ths throughout American history.

JULY 4TH, 1778 – George Rogers Clark led his rebel forces in taking the British stronghold of Kaskaskia, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers. Clark and his Rangers were on a mission for then-Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.

JULY 4TH, 1783 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court is finalizing its written decision holding that slavery has been illegal in the state since adoption of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in 1780. Continue reading

36 Comments

Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SIGNERS FROM NEW JERSEY

The 4th of July is nearly upon us, so here is yet another seasonal blog post. This one looks at the five men from New Jersey out of the fifty-six men total who signed America’s Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. 

abraham clarkABRAHAM CLARK – Abraham’s two sons Aaron and Thomas were captured during the war and may have perished while captives of the British. Accounts vary and some sources even claim he had three sons die in the war. 

JOHN WITHERSPOON – His son James was killed in the Battle of Germantown, his home was burned by the British and Princeton University, where Witherspoon was president, was vandalized by the Brits as well. Continue reading

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Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2022

American flagBalladeer’s Blog wishes a happy birthday to the USA! What happened in early July of 1776 certainly needs no rehashing so in keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing more out of the way subjects this post will examine various events that took place on other July 4ths throughout American history.

JULY 4TH, 1778 – George Rogers Clark led his rebel forces in taking the British stronghold of Kaskaskia, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers. Clark and his Rangers were on a mission for then-Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.

JULY 4TH, 1783 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court is finalizing its written decision holding that slavery has been illegal in the state since adoption of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in 1780. Continue reading

21 Comments

Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War

1776: FOURTH OF JULY MUSICAL

1776-musical-movieIt may be my fondness for mythology that makes me love to watch particular movies around particular holidays.  I say that because many of the well- known myths were recited on ancient holidays when their subject matter was relevant to those festivities. The stories helped accentuate the meaning of the special events and that’s the reason I love holiday-themed movies.

At Christmas I watch countless variations of A Christmas Carol, for New Year’s Eve it’s Bloodhounds of Broadway, around Labor Day I watch Matewan and Eight Men Out, at Halloween, naturally, horror films like the original  Nightmare On Elm Street, Thanksgiving Eve I do Oliver! and for Frontierado (which is just a month away now) I do Silverado.

Since the actual 4th of July is loaded with activity I always show 1776 on the night before. It’s a great way to get in the mood for Independence Day. It’s a musical but with brilliant dialogue portions and the story involves the political maneuvering surrounding the Original Thirteen Colonies at last announcing their independence from Great Britain, more than a year after  the shots fired at Lexington and Concord started the war.

The story is excellently conveyed and is moving, comical, invigorating and poignant all at once. As long as you know which parts of the tale are depicted accurately and which are complete b.s. it’s a terrific way to spend each 3rd of July evening. Continue reading

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Filed under opinion

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2020!

American flagBalladeer’s Blog wishes a happy birthday to the USA! What happened in early July of 1776 certainly needs no rehashing so in keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing more out of the way subjects this post will examine various events that took place on other July 4ths throughout American history.

JULY 4TH, 1778 – George Rogers Clark led his rebel forces in taking the British stronghold of Kaskaskia, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers. Clark and his Rangers were on a mission for then-Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.

JULY 4TH, 1783 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court is finalizing its written decision holding that slavery has been illegal in the state since adoption of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in 1780. Continue reading

34 Comments

Filed under Neglected History, opinion

DEFY DEMOCRAT TYRANTS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON!

mascot new look donkey and elephant headsWith the 4th of July nearly upon us, what better time to remind ourselves of the need to stand up against the would-be dictators called Democrats. Those nauseating hybrids of Nazis and the Mafia have combined with Technofascists and Corporate vermin to try to impose limits on the freedom of every single one of the rest of us. People are losing their jobs and their lives just for expressing opinions that Democrats disagree with.

In honor of the 4th of July let’s put our defiance in the form of the section of our Declaration of Independence in which King George’s offenses against Americans were listed:

*** Democrats fought for the spread of slavery and waged a Civil War to keep their slaves. When they lost that war they formed the Ku Klux Klan and further oppressed the freed slaves via terrorism and later Jim Crow Laws.

*** Democrats still refuse to change the name of their political party in order to bury their racist past, and persist in blaming the rest of us for their party’s racism.

Democrats KKK*** Democrats interred Japanese-Americans during World War Two and persist in blaming the rest of us for their party’s racism.

*** Democrats caused the Trail of Tears and persist in blaming the rest of us for their party’s racism. 

*** Democrats continue to imply that their riots and all other damage they have inflicted on the rest of us over the past few years are all our own fault for not voting the way they tried to dictate to us. They treat the rest of us like abused spouses and imply we “asked for it” by disobeying them.  

*** Democrat Roger B Taney was behind the atrocious Dred Scott Decision which basically ruled that African-Americans were not human beings. Needless to say, Democrats persist in blaming the rest of us for this, too.

*** Democrats used every underhanded legislative and judiciary trick their bigoted minds could come up with to keep violating the rights of African-Americans. They did this for a century, then gave into the inevitable and embraced the long-active Civil Rights Movement which was rolling along DESPITE Democrat opposition.

*** Democrats pretend that they can elevate themselves above the rest of us by playing a cheap game of claiming that their party “changed” and is no longer to be blamed for racism. THE ENTIRE COUNTRY CHANGED, so if Democrats can point to an alleged “Big Switch” or a “switching around” it applies to all of us, not just them.

Democrat rat logo

DEMOCRAT PARTY

*** Democrats want people to lose their livelihoods and be unemployable just for expressing opinions which Democrats and their Corporate Fascist Allies disagree with, denying DUE PROCESS to their victims. Democrats and their Corporate Fascist Allies are violating the Civil Rights of everyone they prey upon in such a manner.

*** Democrats ridiculously pretend to be “on the right side of history,” a saying as meaningless as when people used to claim they had “God on their side.” EVERYBODY thinks they are on “the right side of history” and that they have “God on their side.”

*** Democrats encourage violence, looting and the imposition of “Autonymous Zones” which erect those WALLS that Democrats claim to oppose and which extort money from victims trapped within those zones. In Seattle the Antifa/ “Warlords” killed and injured assorted innocent victims including some black people whose “lives matter” Democrats hypocritically claim. 

*** Democrats call the police “the Blue Klux Klan” and chant “Every city, every town, burn the precinct to the ground” to facilitate their imposition of Democrat-controlled “Reconciliation/ Community Counselors” to replace the police. Those Democrats will run their areas as tyrannically as Democrats run every college campus under their administrative control. Those Democrat political police will act according to the Intersectional Pyramid instead of the law. 

*** Democrats openly discriminate against people based on their skin color, religion, sexual preference, political affiliation and other qualities all while lecturing the rest of us about the evils of such practices.

*** Democrats and their Technofascist allies have distorted Social Media outlets into Democrat house organs in which ONLY their views and arguments are permitted expression. 

*** Democrats have distorted the educational system into a political forum in which ONLY their views and arguments are permitted expression.

*** Democrats distorted Liberalism into a philosophy that was critical only of the Western World.

*** Democrats absurdly call Independence Day celebrations “a celebration of White Supremacy.” Continue reading

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Filed under LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES, Neglected History, opinion

THE INDEPENDENCE DAY “SPEECH” THAT NEVER WAS

Declaration of IndependenceFor the most part the silly conspiracy theories about the establishment of the United States are good only for laughs. One of my favorites, however, features a speech from a mysterious figure usually associated with Freemasons, Rosicrucians and/or the Bavarian Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt.

I don’t believe for one minute that such an enigmatic man showed up and tipped the balance toward ratifying the Declaration of Independence with a fiery, impassioned speech. However, I DO believe that the wording of that fictional tirade is pretty moving and nicely captures the feel of Independence Day.

Here is the relevant part. I’m omitting the ridiculous section where this mystery man supposedly made Nostradamus-style predictions about America’s future.

Independence Hall“They (the British) may stretch our necks on all the gibbets in the land. They may turn every rock into a scaffold, every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave and yet the words of that parchment can never die!”

“They may pour our blood on a thousand scaffolds and yet from every drop that dyes the axe a new champion of freedom will spring into birth. The British king may blot out the stars of God from the sky but he cannot blot out His words written on that parchment there. The works of God may perish … His words, never!”  

“The words of this Declaration will live in the world long after our bones are dust. To the mechanic in his workshop they will speak hope. To the slave in the mines, freedom. But to the coward kings these words will speak in tones of warning they cannot choose but hear.” Continue reading

26 Comments

Filed under Mythology, Neglected History

REVOLUTIONARY WAR BATTLES BEFORE THE FOURTH OF JULY

 Balladeer’s Blog as usual will be marking the USA’s upcoming birthday with a series of holiday-themed posts. Since we get overexposed to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 and the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 I will instead stay true to my blog’s theme and focus on the action in between April 19th, 1775 and early July 1776.

May 10th, 1775 – The British Fort Ticonderoga in New York is seized in what would today be called a Special Forces raid by Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, who beat other American forces to the valuable military prize. Allen and his men had the advantage of being an organized body under arms for quite a long time because they were originally formed to fight for the independence of what is now the state of Vermont (“Green Mountain”).

           They had been an active guerilla force fighting for Vermont’s right to be an independent entity rather than part of the Hampshire Grants being fought over by New York and New Hampshire. Their secret headquarters was the Catamount Tavern which is why the University of Vermont’s sports teams are called the Catamounts. 

May 12th, 1775 – Crown Point, NY is taken by American forces in another early but forgotten action. 

May 16th – Benedict Arnold’s ultimately ill-fated invasion of Canada sees its first action as his forces besiege  St John. Among Arnold’s troops are Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys and Daniel Morgan’s Kentucky Rifles, a unit that will see impressive action throughout the entire war, from Canada to the Deep South.  Continue reading

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Filed under Neglected History

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY 2019

American flagBalladeer’s Blog wishes a happy birthday to the USA! What happened in early July of 1776 certainly needs no rehashing so in keeping with my blog’s theme of addressing more out of the way subjects this post will examine various events that took place on other July 4ths throughout American history.

JULY 4TH, 1778 – George Rogers Clark led his rebel forces in taking the British stronghold of Kaskaskia, near the confluence of the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers. Clark and his Rangers were on a mission for then-Virginia Governor Patrick Henry.

JULY 4TH, 1783 – The Massachusetts Supreme Court is finalizing its written decision holding that slavery has been illegal in the state since adoption of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in 1780. Continue reading

18 Comments

Filed under Neglected History, Revolutionary War

1776: FOURTH OF JULY MUSICAL

1776-musical-movieIt may be my fondness for mythology that makes me love to watch particular movies around particular holidays.  I say that because many of the well- known myths were recited on ancient holidays when their subject matter was relevant to those holidays. The stories helped accentuate the meaning of the special events and that’s the way I use various movies.

At Christmas I watch countless variations of A Christmas Carol, around Labor Day I watch Matewan and Eight Men Out, at Halloween, naturally, horror films like the original Nightmare On Elm Street, Thanksgiving Eve I do Oliver! and for Frontierado (which is just a month away now) I do Silverado.

Since the actual 4th of July is loaded with activity I always show 1776 on the night before. It’s a great way to get in the mood for Independence Day. It’s a musical but with brilliant dialogue portions and the story involves the political maneuvering  surrounding the Original Thirteen Colonies at last announcing their independence from Great Britain, more than a year after  the shots fired at Lexington and Concord started the war.

The story is excellently conveyed and is moving, comical, invigorating and poignant all at once. As long as you know which parts of the tale are depicted accurately and which are complete b.s. it’s a terrific way to spend each 3rd of July evening. Continue reading

12 Comments

Filed under Revolutionary War