“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival,” John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, in the summer of 1776 about the day he had just witnessed, adding that it would be “the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America,” and “ought to be solemnized 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.”
He was referring, of course, to the immortal date of the Second of July. Huh? Contrary to the version of events that we will celebrate tomorrow, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare America’s freedom from Great Britain on July 2. It wasn’t until 48 hours later that the same body formally endorsed the text drafted by Thomas Jefferson (with help from Adams and Benjamin Franklin, among others) that put these words to paper. Another nuance shrouded in mythic ambiguity: John Trumbull’s painting, “The Declaration of Independence,” depicts neither signing nor voting, but the presentation of the first draft of this document, which actually took place on June 28.
And the signing itself? It’s complicated. Most of the delegates affixed their John Hancocks a month later, on August 2. But a few stragglers continued to sign through September, October, and November. Except for Founding Fathers like John Dickinson, James Duane, Robert Livingston, and John Jay, who (for various reasons) refused ever to put their names on the document. And yet, they made a nation. And here we are, about to begin a yearlong cycle of celebrations that will mark a quarter of a millennium of the American experiment.
Another often-overlooked aspect of America’s revolutionary history is how much of it was made here, as in Lower Manhattan. (Even two centuries ago, it was obvious to anybody paying the slightest attention which American city was preeminent, leaving Boston and Philadelphia to grumble about their also-ran, wannabe status while desperately overcompensating.)
Starting today and throughout the holiday weekend, the Lower Manhattan Historical Association is sponsoring an impressive set of walking tours, symposia, open houses, exhibitions, family activities, and even a scavenger hunt, recalling how New Yorkers in the 1770s acted locally while thinking globally. See the calendar listings below for events today, July 3, and look for a special Broadsheet holiday weekend calendar in your email inbox this afternoon at 2pm, with everything you need to know about what’s going on this weekend in Lower Manhattan, from where to enjoy the fireworks to details about that scavenger hunt.
Here’s a preview: at 9am tomorrow, Friday, July 4, the tenth annual Independence Day Parade will kick off at Castle Clinton in the Battery with a flag raising and cannon salute to the 50 states. Anyone may join the parade that will wind through the Financial District to Fraunces Tavern, accompanied by the Excelsior Marching Band and a NYPD’s Emerald Society Pipes and Drums.
Keep in mind the words written by Benjamin Franklin a decade before the Revolution to his sister Jane Mecom: “Take one thing with another, and the World is a pretty good sort of a World; and ’tis our Duty to make the best of it and be thankful.”