Fireworks and celebrations mark the 4th of July across the country. My interest in US history made me collect some facts about American Independence Day. Here are some of them.
I am sure you were not born to view this patriotic trailer shown in theaters prior to the 4th of July 1940. View the trailer.
In 1775, people in New England began fighting the British for their independence. On July 2, 1776, the Congress secretly voted for independence from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was first published two days later on July 4, 1776. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence was on July 8, 1776. Delegates began to sign the Declaration of Independence on August 2, 1776. In 1870, Independence Day was made an unpaid holiday for federal employees. In 1941, it became a paid holiday for them.
Most Patriotic-Sounding Place Names
Thirty-one towns in the U.S. have the word liberty in their names. The most populous one as of April 1, 2010, was Liberty, MO, and Iowa has more of these places than any other state (Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty).
Thirty-five towns have the word eagle in their names. Of those, the most populated is Eagle Pass, Texas.
Eleven places have the word independence in their names. The most populous one is Independence, MO.
Nine towns have the word freedom in their names, with the most populous one being New Freedom, PA.
Only one place in the whole country has the word patriot in its name— Patriot, IN.
Five towns have the word America in their names. The most populous is American Fork, Utah.
Cookouts on Fourth of July
More than 1 in 4 chances are that the hot dogs and pork sausages consumed on the Fourth of July originated in Iowa. The Hawkeye State was home to 19.0 million hogs and pigs on March 1, 2011. This estimate represents more than one-fourth of the nation's estimated total. North Carolina (8.6 million) and Minnesota (7.6 million) were also homes to large numbers of pigs.
6.8 billion pounds is the total production of cattle and calves in Texas in 2010, which accounted for about one-sixth of the nation's total production. And if the beef did not come from Texas, it very well may have come from Nebraska (4.6 billion pounds) or Kansas (4.1 billion pounds).
Georgia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi or Texas — is the source of your barbecued chicken with production of $1 billion or greater between December 2009 and November 2010.
Over 1 in 3 odds is that your side dish of baked beans originated from North Dakota, which produced 36 percent of the nation's dry, edible beans in 2010. Another popular Fourth of July side dish is corn on the cob. Florida, California, Georgia, Washington and New York together accounted for 68 percent of the fresh market sweet corn produced nationally in 2010.
Potato salad and potato chips are popular food items at Fourth of July barbecues. Approximately half of the nation's spuds were produced in Idaho or Washington State in 2010.
More than three-fourths, of the nation's head lettuce production in 2010 that came from California.
Florida is the state that led the nation in watermelon production last year (750 million pounds). Other leading producers of this popular fruit included California, Georgia and Texas each had an estimate of more than 600 million pounds.
"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves."
- Abraham Lincoln
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