Independence!

INDEPENDENCE...It's meaning applies to math (the unprovability of a' sentence' from other 'sentences') and probability (two events are independent intuitively as the occurrence of one event is neither more nor less probable than the occurrence of the other), grammar (the independent clause in a complex sentence has at least a subject and a verb) and politics (self-government of a nation or country). Independence is the capability of standing alone; self direction without interference; having sufficient means for a comfortable life. Independence is freedom and one of the best things in the world to be grateful for.

July 4th represents the successful ending of the American Revolution and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It signified freedom from the Kingdom of Great Britain and George III; the Union of 13 Colonies as the United States of America. What began as a protest to Taxation without Representation in Parliament led to the First Continental Congress and war. That Battle of Concord signaled the official beginning of the quest for Independence, with Paul Revere's alarm:" The British are coming, the British are coming." John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence "with a great flourish, so King George could read it without spectacles". Its first public reading occurred in Philadelphia's Independence Square on July 8, 1776, where it was read to cheering crowds twice that day as the Bell tolled in Independence Hall.

With 2.5 million people living in the new nation, the first Independence Day Celebration took place in 1777, with Bristol, RI initiating the tradition of the 13 Gun Salute, once in the morning and again as evening fell. Today a salute of one gun for each state in the U.S. - called a Salute to the Union - is fired at noon by capable military bases across the nation, which is currently home to 307 million Americans. Marked by patriotic displays and pomp, fireworks are often accompanied by songs such as the Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, Stars and Stripes Forever, Yankee Doodle (Northern States), and Dixie (Southern States). Independence Day is barbecues and ice cream, it is parades, it is simply...GREAT! Enjoy and be safe.

"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All The Land Unto All The Inhabitants Thereof."

(inscription on the Liberty Bell)