Category: Today

General George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be read alout to the troops of the Continental Army in New York, for the first time, on July 9, 1776. In 1793 on this date, Upper Canada passed the Act Against Slavery, prohibiting important of slaves into Lower Canada. In 1816, Argentina declared independence from Spain. In 1876, the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

On July 9, 1896, William Jennings Bryan fans the flame of inflationism with his famous “Cross of Gold” speech.

On July 7, 1863, the United States begins its first military draft, allowing individuals an exemption at the price of $300. For the wealthy who can afford it, the exemption, not the draft, may be said to be “neater than sliced bread” — a product first sold on this date in 1928 by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri.

In 1958, President Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act, allowing Alaska to join the union as the 49th state early in 1959. In 1978 the Solomon Islands become independent of the United Kingdom.

Science fiction writer Robert Heinlein [pictured, above] — author of “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” and other classics — is born on July 7, 1907. Thomas Hooker, Puritan founder of the colony of Connecticut — a major advocate of religious toleration — died on this date in 1647.

July 6 marks some horrific attacks upon individual liberty — indeed, on individuals’ lives. In 1415, Jan Hus is burned at the stake. In 1535, King Henry VIII of England has Sir Thomas More executed for treason. In 1939, the Nazis close the last remaining Jewish enterprises in Germany. Exactly three years later, Anne Frank and her family go into hiding. 

On July 5, 1687, Isaac Newton publishes the work for which he is most honored, the Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. In 1811 on the same date, Venezuela declares independence from Spain. In 1819, Admiral William Cornwallis dies. In 1937, Hormel introduces SPAM, the canned “meat” product, which helps America win World War II. In 1945, U.S. declares the Philippines liberated. In 1947, Larry Doby joins the Cleveland Indians, becoming the American League’s first black player. In 1971 on this date, President Richard Nixon signs the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, lowering the voting age to 18 years.

The most important document in American history is titled this way, in five lines: “In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776./ A DECLARATION /​ By the REPRESENTATIVES of the
/​ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, /​ In GENERAL CONGRESS assembled.” This “Declaration of Independence” begins with one of the best preambles ever: “WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.” 

And it then goes on to assert a vital philosophical position: “We hold these Truths to be self-​evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness — -That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

It was a document that changed American history — and the world’s. But it wasn’t the only one to do so: The United States’ Constitution followed in 1787. But some documents can’t be fit onto a broadside. In a Saturday Review article published on July 4, 1953, historian Eric F. Goldman identified 13 “Books That Changed America.” These books were Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, The Federalist Papers, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Herbert Spencer’s The Study of Sociology, Henry George’s Progress and Poverty, Charles Sheldon’s In His Steps, Sigmund Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams, Charles Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution, John Maynard Keynes’s The Economic Consequences of the Peace, John Dewey’s Human Nature and Conduct, Sinclair Lewis’s Babbitt, Lincoln Steffens’s Autobiography, and Wendell L. Willkie’s One World.

In New York City, July 3, 1819, the Bank of Savings is opened — the first of its kind in the country. In 1848, slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies on July 3. In 1890 on this date, Idaho becomes the 43rd state of the union. July 3 births include:

• Leoš Janáček, Czech composer, 1854
• Ralph Barton Perry, American philosopher, 1876
• Alfred Korzybski, Polish linguist, 1879
• Franz Kafka, Czech-​German author of “Metamorphosis,” 1883
• Ruth Crawford Seeger, American avant-​garde composer and mother of Pete Singer, 1901
• Dave Barry, American humorist

Happy Birthday, Dave!