Why We Celebrate Independence Day

Ever Vigilant,Ever Ready

Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day, the day the 13 American colonies declared independence from Britain.  Most folks know this is a national holiday, but many don't know what or why we celebrate.  There was a time in this country when learning about the Revolutionary War and independence from Britain was required.  Today, sadly, it's not.  In fact, most of the top colleges don't require any more than three or four credit hours of American history for history majors.  And a recent poll shows that many people on the street haven't any idea of what we're celebrating on this day.  "It's about burgers and beer and fireworks, man."  Right.  So because the man on the street is ignorant of his birthright of freedom, it's easy for a tyrannical government to flourish. 

So to help folks understand the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and thereafter to the adaptation of the American Constitution in 1787, that magnificent document that recognizes and guarantees freedom for all men from government oppression, I've provided a timeline of events below.  Thanks to the British Library for this concise and informative timeline.

1760s

1763 10 February	Signing of the Treaty of Paris Ending the Seven Year’s War, also known as the French and Indian War in North America.  France ceded all mainland North American territories, except New Orleans, in order to retain her Caribbean sugar islands. Britain gained all territory east of the Mississippi River; Spain kept territory west of the Mississippi, but exchanged East and West Florida for Cuba.
1763 7 October	Proclamation of 1763 Wary of the cost of defending the colonies, George III prohibited all settlement west of the Appalachian mountains without guarantees of security from local Native American nations. The intervention in colonial affairs offended the thirteen colonies' claim to the exclusive right to govern lands to their west.
1764 5 April	Sugar Act The first attempt to finance the defense of the colonies by the British Government. In order to deter smuggling and to encourage the production of British rum, taxes on molasses were dropped; a levy was placed on foreign Madeira wine and colonial exports of iron, lumber and other goods had to pass first through Britain and British customs. The Act established a Vice-Admiralty Court in Halifax, Nova Scotia to hear smuggling cases without jury and with the presumption of guilt. These measures led to widespread protest.
1765 22 March	Stamp Act Seeking to defray some of the costs of garrisoning the colonies, Parliament required all legal documents, newspapers and pamphlets required to use watermarked, or 'stamped' paper on which a levy was placed.
1765 15 May	Quartering Act Colonial assemblies required to pay for supplies to British garrisons. The New York assembly argued that it could not be forced to comply.
1765 30 May	Virginian Resolution The Virginian assembly refused to comply with the Stamp Act.
1765 7-25 October	Stamp Act Congress Representatives from nine of the thirteen colonies declare the Stamp Act unconstitutional as it was a tax levied without their consent.
1766 18 March	Declaratory Act Parliament finalises the repeal of the Stamp Act, but declares that it has the right to tax colonies
1767 29 June	Townshend Revenue Act (Townshend Duties) Duties on tea, glass, lead, paper and paint to help pay for the administration of the colonies, named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. John Dickinson publishes Letter from a Philadelphian Farmer in protest. Colonial assemblies condemn taxation without representation.
1768 1 October	British troops arrive in Boston in response to political unrest.
1770s
1770 5 March	Boston Massacre Angered by the presence of troops and Britain's colonial policy, a crowd began harassing a group of soldiers guarding the customs house; a soldier was knocked down by a snowball and discharged his musket, sparking a volley into the crowd which kills five civilians.
1770 12 April	Repeal of the Townshend Revenue Act
1772 10 June	Burning of the Gaspee The revenue schooner Gaspee ran aground near Providence, Rhode Island and was burnt by locals angered by the enforcement of trade legislation.
1773 July	Publication of Thomas Hutchinson letters In these letters, Hutchinson, the Massachusetts governor, advocated a 'great restraint of natural liberty', convincing many colonists of a planned British clamp-down on their freedoms.
1773 10 May	Tea Act In an effort to support the ailing East India Company, Parliament exempted its tea from import duties and allowed the Company to sell its tea directly to the colonies. Americans resented what they saw as an indirect tax subsidizing a British company.
1773 16 December	Boston Tea Party Angered by the Tea Acts, American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians dump £9,000 of East India Company tea into the Boston harbour.
1774 May to June	Intolerable Acts Four measures which stripped Massachusetts of self-government and judicial independence following the Boston Tea Party. The colonies responded with a general boycott of British goods.
1774 September	Continental Congress Colonial delegates meet to organize opposition to the Intolerable Acts.
1775 19 April	Battles of Lexington and Concord First engagements of the Revolutionary War between British troops and the Minutemen, who had been warned of the attack by Paul Revere.
1775 16 June	Continental Congress appoints George Washington commander-in-chief of Continental Army; issued $2 million bills of credit to fund the army.
1775 17 June	Battle of Bunker Hill The first major battle of the War of Independence. Sir William Howe dislodged William Prescott's forces overlooking Boston at a cost of 1054 British casualties to the Americans' 367.
1775 5 July	Olive-Branch Petition Congress endorses a proposal asking for recognition of American rights, the ending of the Intolerable Acts in exchange for a cease fire. George III rejected the proposal and on 23 August 1775 declared the colonies to be in open rebellion.
1776 9 January	Thomas Paine's Common Sense published anonymously in Philadelphia
1776 2 May	France provides covert aid to the Americans
1776 4 July	Continental Congress issues the Declaration of Independence
1775-1776 Winter	Invasion of Canada by Benedict Arnold
1776 August - December	Battles of Long Island and White Plains British forces occupy New York after American defeats.
1776 26 December	Battle of Trenton, New Jersey, providing a boast to American morale.
1777 2-3 January	Battle of Princeton, New Jersey. General Washington broke camp at Trenton to avoid a British advance, attacking the British rearguard and train near Princeton and then withdrawing to Morristown.
1777 13 October	British surrender of 5,700 troops at Saratoga. Lacking supplies, 5,700 British, German and loyalist forces under Major General John Burgoyne surrender to Major General Horatio Gates in a turning point in the Revolutionary War.
1778 6 February	France recognizes US Independence.
1780s
1780 16 August	US Defeat at battle of Camden
1781 1 March	Ratification of the Articles of Confederation
1781 5 September	Battle of the Capes, denying British reinforcements or evacuation.
1781 18 October	Surrender of British forces under Cornwallis at Yorktown.
1782 5 March	British Government authorizes peace negotiations.
1783 3 September	Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Revolutionary War
1786-1787	Shays’s Rebellion Massachusetts rebellion led by the Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays against high taxes.
1787 25 May	Constitutional Convention
1787	Adoption of the American Constitution

Astute readers will recognize many similarities in the events above with current events taking place today. Most notable are the oppressive tactics of tyrannical governments concerning confiscatory taxes, unreasonable invasion of privacy, and dictatorial and arbitrary repressive edicts.

It gives one pause:  perhaps events from 2008 through 2016 and beyond are the lead in to another declaration of independence.  Perhaps.  We'll know by January.  Maybe we'll have the fortitude to do what our forebears did at considerable cost:  Take our country and our freedom back.