July 03, 2019
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Independence Day
Tomorrow we will be celebrating America's 243rd Independence Day. While we can't offer you any hotdogs or fireworks, we can give you a few fun facts about one of our nation's biggest holidays.
We have come a long way since 1776.
In July 1776, the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation was 2.5 million. The nation's estimated population on this July Fourth is over 327 million.
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Today's Random Fact:
John Adams wrote that we actually declared our independence from Britain in Philadelphia on July 2. "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America," Adams wrote on July 3, 1776. "It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
The tablet held by in the Statue of Liberty's left hand bears the date July 4, 1776, but the statue itself was presented to the U.S. by France on July 4, 1884. It was dedicated two years later, on October 28, 1886, by President Grover Cleveland.
The melody for "The Star-Spangled Banner" was taken from "To Anacreon in Heaven," a drinking song of an 18th century London society. Did you also know that the lyrics, written during the British attack on Fort McHenry, was originally titled "Defense of Fort McHenry"?
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Bonus Fact:
The most popular holidays for barbecuing are, in order, July 4th (71 percent), Memorial Day (57 percent), and Labor Day (55 percent).
Technically, to barbecue means to slow-cook meat at a low temperature for a long time over wood or charcoal. What most people do in their back yards is more commonly referred to as grilling.
There is no definitive history about how the word "barbecue" originated - or why it's sometimes used as a noun, verb, or adjective. Some say the Spaniards get the credit for the word, derived from their "barbacoa" which is an American-Indian word for the framework of green wood on which foods were placed for cooking over hot coals. Others think the French were responsible, offering the explanation that when the Caribbean pirates arrived on our Southern shores, they cooked animals on a spit-like devise that ran from "whiskers to tail" or "de barbe a' queue."
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