Happy Fourth!

On July 4, 1776, the Congress of the United States of America formally adopted the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

But the actual vote for independence had occurred two days earlier, on July 2. This was the day that John Adams predicted "will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival." Instead, we commemorate our declaration of the resolution for independence, not the resolution itself.

Nor is the Fourth the day on which the Declaration of Independence was signed. Although dated July 4, the Declaration would actually be signed a month later, on August second.

The Brits finally got word of it later in August. They were not amused.

February 12, 1809

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."

- Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, 1 December 1862


"We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin."

- Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 1871


Happy 200th to two of the greatest minds ever to benefit humanity!