{"id":3763,"date":"2015-07-03T19:49:50","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T23:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=3763"},"modified":"2015-07-03T22:33:53","modified_gmt":"2015-07-04T02:33:53","slug":"independence-day-in-the-usa-celebrating-the-4th-of-july-and-remembering-that-freedom-is-not-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=3763","title":{"rendered":"Independence Day in the USA – Celebrating the 4th of July and Remembering that Freedom is Not Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/a>\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” – Alexis de Tocqueville<\/strong>*<\/p>\n

July 4th\u00a0each year marks\u00a0a huge celebration in the US\u00a0– a federal holiday with all the trimmings of a perfect summer day. Cookouts, baseball games, flags flying, parades, friends and family, fireworks, backyard fun. If you are new to the USA, these are the elements of this holiday that you will enjoy hopefully through the glad welcome by American friends.\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

There is much more to this holiday, but we’ll start with the familiar through these pictures from some of our 4th of July celebrations:<\/p>\n

\"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a>\"IMAG5657<\/a>\"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>Like Memorial Day, our Independence Day,\u00a0has a more somber side to it. The War of the American Revolution was fought, at great cost, from 1775 to 1783. 13 colonies stood up against Great Britain to win their independence. Our Declaration of Independence wasn’t actually signed on July 4th. It, in fact, was signed over the course of many days, as different representatives of those 13 colonies\u00a0attended to its signing\u00a0during that late summer in 1776. Then the revolution followed in full. \"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a>\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

I am so grateful to be a part of this country and to enjoy the freedoms we have as Americans. I never want to take them for granted. This is another\u00a0July 4th\u00a0to mark what happened to secure the freedoms we have. Happy 239th birthday, America. May we determine to use the blessings God has given us here to always be a blessing to\u00a0the nations.\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Humboldt.edu <\/a><\/p>\n

Postscript: Facebook status of an American\u00a0friend of ours spending July 4th in England:<\/p>\n

“Wondering how one celebrates July 4th in the land we got our independence from…” [and then later] “Nothing like fish ‘n’ chips in front of Wimbledon on a Friday night in Oxford with English friends on July 4th weekend ;))… people, ya gotta love life wherever you find yourself ’cause there are always sweet surprises there.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

*Quotes for Independence Day, 4th of July\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Flag Scene from The Patriot<\/em> (2000, Mel Gibson)<\/a><\/p>\n

5 Facts About Independence Day<\/em> by Joe Carter, Acton Institute<\/a><\/p>\n

Top 10 Revolutionary War Movies<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – John Adams –\u00a0“While I live, let me have a country, a free country!”<\/em>\u00a0(2008, HBO miniseries)<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – John Adams – The Passing of the Declaration of Independence (2008, HBO miniseries)<\/a><\/p>\n

American Declaration of Independence of July 4th, 1776<\/em> by Robert Hole for History Today<\/a><\/p>\n

Happy Birthday, (New) America<\/a><\/p>\n

9 Things You May Not Know About the Declaration of Independence<\/a><\/p>\n

The Story of the 4th of July<\/a><\/p>\n

The History of the 4th of July<\/a><\/p>\n

Declaration of Independence<\/em> – pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

YouTube Video – Tea, Taxes, and The American Revolution: Crash Course World History #28<\/a>\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” – Alexis de Tocqueville* July 4th\u00a0each year marks\u00a0a huge celebration in the US\u00a0– a federal holiday with all the trimmings of a perfect summer day. Cookouts, baseball games, flags flying, parades, friends and family, fireworks, … Continue reading Independence Day in the USA – Celebrating the 4th of July and Remembering that Freedom is Not Free<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[810,1067,794,147,1265,50,825,33,317],"tags":[1543,1544,1540,1541,1546,1548,1545,1549,335,1539,1538,1547,1542],"class_list":["post-3763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-good-gifts","category-cross-cultural","category-faithfulness","category-family-2","category-friends","category-god","category-holidays","category-inspired","category-lessons-learned","tag-13-colonies","tag-america","tag-american","tag-american-revolution","tag-constitution","tag-cookouts","tag-declaration-of-independence","tag-fireworks","tag-great-britain","tag-independence-day","tag-july-4th","tag-parades","tag-revolutionary-war"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pauPAB-YH","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3763"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3802,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3763\/revisions\/3802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}