July 4, 2008 marks 232 years since the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence.  Before the Declaration, 13 colonies existed under the rule of England's King George III.  There had been growing unrest particularly because the King levied taxes on the colonists, who had no political representation to the King or parliament.

In 1774, the colonies sent delegates to Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress, and after trying to work out differences with England, the colonies formed the Second Continental Congress in May of 1776.  The delegates determined that further negotiations with England were hopeless.

On June 28, 1776, Thomas Jefferson presented the first draft of the Declaration of Independence to congress, and on July 4, after various changes, nine colonies voted in favor and approved the Declaration.  Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against it, Delaware was undecided, and new York abstained.  John Hancock, president of Continental Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence.  It is said that he signed his name "with a great flourish" so "King George can read that without spectacles!"

By the 1800's, parades, picnics and fireworks were firmly established as part of American's Independence Day traditions.

Newsletter July 2008 page 3