Today is July 4, Independence Day in the United States. But do you know precisely what happened on July 4, 1776 ? Three proposals:
1. On July 4, 1776, the English general Cornwallis was besieged by the American insurgents in the coastal town of Yorktown, while the French navy sent by Louis XVI pylon the fortifications, after having sunk the English fleet. Cornwallis capitulates after dark : it is the end of the War of Independence.
2. On July 4, 1776, George Washington became the first President of the Free United States. It is in his homage that the capital of the country will bear his name several years later.
3. On July 4, 1776, the representatives of the 13 English colonies in America vote for the declaration of independence, by which they no longer recognize the authority of King George, with the now famous phrase “no taxation without representation”.
The correct answer is answer 3! Indeed, Cornwallis was not besieged in Yorktown in 1776, but in 1781! After five years of fratricidal war. As for George Washington, it was on April 30, 1789 that he became the first President of the United States. Thus, July 4th, otherwise called “Independance Day”, does not celebrate a battle, a victory, but indeed the vote of the declaration of independence by the representatives of the colonies assembled in Philadelphia.
A date not totally fair
In reality, many consider that the choice of the date of July 4 is arbitrary, because from June 4, 1776, the representatives of the settlers already vote on a motion approving the principle of independence of these colonies vis-à-vis the United Kingdom. Another declaration of independence was passed on July 2, unanimously, but in the greatest secrecy.
What is celebrated on July 4, in reality, is the vote of a text more elaborate than the previous ones, a text which was written for long hours by a few settlers, whose most famous of them will become the 3rd President of the United States, the 2nd Vice President of the United States, and the First Secretary of State: Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson who is no stranger to us French, since he was also United States Ambassador to France, from 1785 to 1789, and much later, it was he who would buy Louisiana from France from the Emperor Napoleon!
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