Happy Birthday America

Yes, today is the actual birthday of the USA, not 4 July. That was the date the final draft of the Declaration of Independence was approved. It was on 2 July the 2nd Continental Congress declared independence. The next 2 days were spent on debating & revising the Declaration Jefferson wrote with a few additions/changes by Franklin & Adams.

In the musical 1776 the authors combined the 2 for dramatic purposes. But they did put the final vote on 2 July.


Yes, Caesar Rodney (who was of Italiano descent) did travel from Delaware overnight to vote. & on the day of the vote, John Dickinson did not show up so that the majority of Pennsylvania delgates voted yes. As I said, the changes & rearrangements were made by the for dramatic purposes, but the musical still does give us a better idea of what actually happenned than most people have been taught in school, especially these days.
The events were more like that shown in John Adams, the HBO adaptation of David McCullough's biography of our greatest Founding Father. (More accurate as it was, the series had to take some liberties due to time contsrants, so even it isn't perfectly accurate.)

If you get a chance, watch the movie, preferably the director's cut that restored most of the cuts made when the film was released. Either way, the movie is probably the most faithful adaptation of a Broadway play. & of course, watch Episode 2 from John Adams that covers these events. & the bits from Schoolhouse Rock that also cover these events.