Happy Independence day. The fourth of July 2020. Today marks the 150th official celebration of what was a politically important day. Yes, that's correct. It was in 1870 that the federal government officially declared July the fourth as a national holiday. It had been celebrated in previous years but now it is official. The political importance of the date was what was being stressed in the early days. It was the day we " declared " our intentions to the crown! We would be free! No longer would we colonialists obey the orders from the crown. We will act independently! Yes, that is what was being declared, an act of defiance that the signers of that document were well aware of the possible consequences. They stated that clearly when they said, " and for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. " It was a revolt! It wasn't a protest, protests had been lodged with the crown, repeatedly, and without satisfaction. The time for action had come and there was no turning back. That was signed on July the fourth in 1776, as we all know. It wasn't until seven years later, in September of 1783 that the British signed the Treaty of Paris ending the revolutionary war. It took another 87 years for that day to be declared a national holiday.
1870 wasn't just the year the 4th became an official holiday. Another event took place on that date in 1870, my great grandfather Christian Reichart was born in Greenport, Long Island. He was the first Reichart of my line to be born in America. His father, also named Christian, had emigrated to this land in 1856. He had arrived aboard the William V Moses at Castle Garden in New York. Taking a bride, he had served in the civil war and earned his citizenship. His son Christian was born an American! Yes indeed, born on the fourth of July. A mere 83 years later, well 83 years and 16 days to be exact, I would be born just 23 miles east of his final resting place. I am the fourth generation of Reicharts' to be born an American. That's on the paternal side of my ancestry. On the maternal side I would have to travel back to 1653 when old Samuel Bennett married Nancy Gann. They had settled in Northwest, a section of the town of East Hampton. That was long before their was a New York. Samuel had come from Maidstone in England, in search of land and freedom. His story is mostly lost to history but that I am descended from that line is without question. Somewhat ironically my most distant ancestor in America was never an American! Does that make us all immigrants? No, as there was no nation here at that time to immigrate to. We would have to be called migrants. We migrated across the ocean to an unknown land. The rest is all history, as they say.
Today we celebrate a victory. We gained our independence. Originally we remembered and recognized the political implications of that declaration. We had embarked upon a mission. That mission was to establish a new country, a new nation. We declared certain truths to be self evident! We offered a clear and concise explanation for this decision. That explanation began with these words, " 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 for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." It took seven years of hardship and toil to achieve that goal. In 1909 President Grover Cleveland made this remark, " A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil. " I'd say he was correct and that is what it took to gain our independence, to secure the freedom that is America. Grover also pointed out another fact, " though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. " It's my feeling a whole of Americans don't recognize or understand that statement! Freedom isn't free. God Bless America. Happy fourth of July.
1870 wasn't just the year the 4th became an official holiday. Another event took place on that date in 1870, my great grandfather Christian Reichart was born in Greenport, Long Island. He was the first Reichart of my line to be born in America. His father, also named Christian, had emigrated to this land in 1856. He had arrived aboard the William V Moses at Castle Garden in New York. Taking a bride, he had served in the civil war and earned his citizenship. His son Christian was born an American! Yes indeed, born on the fourth of July. A mere 83 years later, well 83 years and 16 days to be exact, I would be born just 23 miles east of his final resting place. I am the fourth generation of Reicharts' to be born an American. That's on the paternal side of my ancestry. On the maternal side I would have to travel back to 1653 when old Samuel Bennett married Nancy Gann. They had settled in Northwest, a section of the town of East Hampton. That was long before their was a New York. Samuel had come from Maidstone in England, in search of land and freedom. His story is mostly lost to history but that I am descended from that line is without question. Somewhat ironically my most distant ancestor in America was never an American! Does that make us all immigrants? No, as there was no nation here at that time to immigrate to. We would have to be called migrants. We migrated across the ocean to an unknown land. The rest is all history, as they say.
Today we celebrate a victory. We gained our independence. Originally we remembered and recognized the political implications of that declaration. We had embarked upon a mission. That mission was to establish a new country, a new nation. We declared certain truths to be self evident! We offered a clear and concise explanation for this decision. That explanation began with these words, " 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 for the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." It took seven years of hardship and toil to achieve that goal. In 1909 President Grover Cleveland made this remark, " A truly American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor and the fact that honor lies in honest toil. " I'd say he was correct and that is what it took to gain our independence, to secure the freedom that is America. Grover also pointed out another fact, " though the people support the government, the government should not support the people. " It's my feeling a whole of Americans don't recognize or understand that statement! Freedom isn't free. God Bless America. Happy fourth of July.
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