Happy Fourth!

[bamachile]

Happy Independence Day, everyone! Just remember, he that comes forth with a fifth on the fourth, does not come forth on the fifth.

And a related greeting from our English cousins across the waves:

 

[seebell]

 

[seebell]

 

[Tidewater]

To secure these rights (Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness), Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Happy Secession Day.

 

[jthomas666]

 

[Tidewater]

If you love your country's independence, hug an Irishman (or maybe just buy him a drink).

Examination of Joseph Galloway (a Pennsylvanian loyal to the Crown), testified before Parliament in 1779. When the colonies were enlisting troops, the authorities wrote down their place of origin.

Question.—That part of the rebel army that enlisted in the service of the Congress, were they chiefly composed of the natives of America, or were the greatest part of them English, Scotch and Irish?
Answer.—The names and places of their nativity being taken down, I can answer the question with precision. There were scarcely one-fourth natives of America—about one-half Irish—the other fourth were English and Scotch."

John Brown Dillon, Notes on Historical Evidence in Reference to Adverse Theories of the Origin and Nature of the Government of the United States of America, (New York: S. W. Green, 1871), 56.