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In Congress, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America, 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.
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 to abolish it, and to institute 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. 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.
Shane Confectionery the oldest confectionery shop America, in the Old City district of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, USA.
Since 1863, candy and candy-making materials have been made or sold in the premises at 110 Market Street (originally known as the High Street). The location was part of an active candy-making industry that grew up around the sugar trade. In 1910, Philadelphia was home to as many as 1,200 confectioneries.
Members of the Herring candy-making family operated several properties in the area beginning in the 1840s. Samuel L. Herring opened a wholesale confectionery supply business at 112 Market in the 1850s, expanding to 110 Market Street in 1863. After the American Civil War, his son Benjamin W. Herring took over the business. He eventually went into partnership with one of his father's employees, confectioner Daniel S. Dengler. The partners sold wholesale confectionery goods at 110 Market until Benjamin Herring died.
Daniel S. Dengler and his son, Frank Dengler, continued to operate the business until 1899, when they sold the building to William T. Wescott. In 1910, Wescott moved to New Jersey, selling the business to Edward R. Shane. The family business was taken over by Edward's son Barry Shane in 1983. The Shane family operated the location as a retail business for the next 99 years.
In 2010, the business was bought by brothers Ryan and Eric Berley. They chose to retain the "Shane Confectionery" name. They have restored the building and its contents, including vintage features such as the scales and the cash register. They use restored original machinery and traditional artisanal confectionery recipes to make many of the sweets they sell. For example, their cast-iron buttercream churn was used in the 1920s by Edward Shane. The confectionery store is only a few doors away from their other restored business, a vintage ice-cream shop called the Franklin Fountain.
Shane Confectionery makes traditional specialties including wrapped buttercream chocolates and clear toy candy for Christmas and Easter.
Information Source:
Independence National Historical Park0
400 Block of Library Street
Philadelphia, PA
Copyright 2017, Bob Bruhin. All rights reserved.
A printing press with type set for the Declaration of Independence. It amazing how the spread of information advances the cause of freedom and knowledge.
in Midway, Georgia. The church was founded here in 1752. This building was erected in 1792 to replace the original which was burned by the British in the American Revolutionary War. The church was occupied by General John Kilpatrick's Union Cavalry during Sherman's March to the Sea but was left standing. Two signers of the Declaration of Independence were members: Lyman Hall and Button Gwinnett. Both blacks and whites attended the same services in the church although the blacks sat in the balcony. The church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Taken and originally posted in 2006.
The Old [Massachusetts] State House (1713) at the head of State Street in Boston. The Boston Massacre (1770) occurred in front of this building and the first Boston reading of the Declaration of Independence (1776) was delivered from its balcony.
Small town celebration of Independence Day. The 4th of July commemorates the passage of the Declaration of Independence. "Betsy Ross" and "Uncle Sam" lead the parade.
In March, 1836 59 men elected from municipalities across the territory met in an unfinished frame building in Washington, TX and signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. They declared Texas independent from Mexico; penned a new constitution; and organized an interim government, giving birth to a new nation: the Republic of Texas. The building is a replica of the original Independence hall which was destroyed in a fire. The monument was donated by local school children to memorialize that "Here A Nation Was Born". The site is now part of the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park.
As always, your comments and faves are appreciated. Constructive criticism and suggestions are especially welcome as I believe they help to make me a better photographer. Thank you for taking the time to look at my photos.
© All rights reserved.
What you may not understand is something I find every single time I come back to the United States after I travel abroad: there is no place which guarantees so many people freedom of expression and so many other freedoms which we are too myopic to see ...
As much as I enjoy and exult in experiencing foreign lands, which you have seen on my trips posted, I only feel that we have relative safety within the borders of this country. While it is far from being the best, everything else pales in comparison.
This is one of the few countries in the world where people are literally dying to come in and become citizens. How many of them have been denied the basic rights we Americans take for granted: voting, freedom to practice our religion, freedom to speak, governments which change in an orderly fashion after an election ...
When I see the Statue of Liberty in NY Harbor, I always cry with genuine emotion. I am never ashamed of these tears of gratitude.
This land gave my immigrant family from Eastern Europe a place to be Jews and never has the government oppressed that particular people which has always been persecuted abroad, either in a de facto or de jura fashion. No government soldiers knock on my door in the middle of the night demanding to see my papers, my birth certificate ...
I am proud of my American citizenship and cherish it above all else because I have seen places where there are very restricted ways of living under various foreign regimes.
Overstated? sure, but, after extensive traveling, I know what I have here and I'll damned if I ever give it up!
Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city in 1682 to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia played an instrumental role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress, and the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.
Several other key events occurred in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War including the First Continental Congress, the preservation of the Liberty Bell, the Battle of Germantown, and the Siege of Fort Mifflin. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until being overtaken by New York City in 1790; the city was also one of the nation's capitals during the revolution, serving as temporary U.S. capital while Washington, D.C. was under construction. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Philadelphia became a major industrial centre and a railroad hub.
The city grew due to an influx of European immigrants, most of whom initially came from Ireland and Germany—the two largest reported ancestry groups in the city as of 2015. Later immigrant groups in the 20th century came from Italy (Italian being the third largest European ethnic ancestry currently reported in Philadelphia) and other Southern European and Eastern European countries.
In the early 20th century, Philadelphia became a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration after the Civil War. Puerto Ricans began moving to the city in large numbers in the period between World War I and II, and in even greater numbers in the post-war period. The city's population doubled from one million to two million people between 1890 and 1950.
Philadelphia is the home of many U.S. firsts, including the first library (1731), hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881). Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks and the World Heritage Site of Independence Hall.
Information Source:
Shane Confectionery the oldest confectionery shop America, in the Old City district of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, USA.
Since 1863, candy and candy-making materials have been made or sold in the premises at 110 Market Street (originally known as the High Street). The location was part of an active candy-making industry that grew up around the sugar trade. In 1910, Philadelphia was home to as many as 1,200 confectioneries.
Members of the Herring candy-making family operated several properties in the area beginning in the 1840s. Samuel L. Herring opened a wholesale confectionery supply business at 112 Market in the 1850s, expanding to 110 Market Street in 1863. After the American Civil War, his son Benjamin W. Herring took over the business. He eventually went into partnership with one of his father's employees, confectioner Daniel S. Dengler. The partners sold wholesale confectionery goods at 110 Market until Benjamin Herring died.
Daniel S. Dengler and his son, Frank Dengler, continued to operate the business until 1899, when they sold the building to William T. Wescott. In 1910, Wescott moved to New Jersey, selling the business to Edward R. Shane. The family business was taken over by Edward's son Barry Shane in 1983. The Shane family operated the location as a retail business for the next 99 years.
In 2010, the business was bought by brothers Ryan and Eric Berley. They chose to retain the "Shane Confectionery" name. They have restored the building and its contents, including vintage features such as the scales and the cash register. They use restored original machinery and traditional artisanal confectionery recipes to make many of the sweets they sell. For example, their cast-iron buttercream churn was used in the 1920s by Edward Shane. The confectionery store is only a few doors away from their other restored business, a vintage ice-cream shop called the Franklin Fountain.
Shane Confectionery makes traditional specialties including wrapped buttercream chocolates and clear toy candy for Christmas and Easter.
Information Source:
Philadelphia's Magic Gardens a non-profit organization, folk art environment, and gallery space, in the South Street District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
To date, it is the largest work created by mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar. Spanning spans three city lots and includes indoor galleries and a large outdoor labyrinth. The mosaics are made up of everything from kitchen tiles to bike wheels, Latin-American art to china plates.
Isaiah and his wife Julia moved to South Street in 1968, when the area was being slated for demolition by the city to create the Crosstown Expressway. Due to this proposed construction, the area was desolate and dangerous.
The Zagars were one of the first people to come to this area and begin to turn its image around. They opened the Eyes Gallery on 402 South Street, which was the first property that Isaiah would mosaic. Here they still showcase and sell the art of Latin-American artists.
After the Eyes Gallery, the Zagars went on to purchase and rent out several other buildings, and Isaiah would go on to create several other mosaicked spaces and public murals. He bought the building that currently houses Philadelphia's Magic Gardens in 1994. He fenced off the two vacant lots next door to keep out garbage and vermin, and over the next fourteen years began creating the Magic Gardens.
In 2002 the landowner of the two vacant lots wanted to sell the land due to rising property values on South Street. Together with members of the community, Isaiah was able to purchase the lots. With this purchase "Philadelphia's Magic Gardens" was born, and in 2008 it opened to the public, dedicated to inspiring creativity and community engagement.
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We got to the cemetery a little before opening, talked to the attendant, and she let us in before the other tourists who watched us from "behind bars" ; -)
This is the entrance to Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a cemetery founded in 1719. Benjamin Franklin and other signers of the Declaration of Independence are among the 1400 Colonial and Revolution-era leaders who are the current "occupants" of the cemetery.
Floral fireworks on America's Great Day.
Have a super Dah~lia over there.
Come back any time ... :-)))))
The Eastern State Penitentiary a former American prison and now a museum in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania.
The penitentiary, which was in operation between 1829 and 1971, was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world. Its construction refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment.
Notorious criminals such as Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton were held inside it's innovative wagon wheel design. James Bruno (Big Joe) and several male relatives were incarcerated here between 1936 and 1948 for the alleged murders in the Kelayres massacre of 1934, before they were paroled. At its completion, the building was the largest and most expensive public structure ever erected in the United States, and quickly became a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide.
Today it stands more in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. The prison is currently a U.S. National Historic Landmark, which is open to the public for tours seven days a week, twelve months a year, 10 am to 5 pm.
Information Sources:
Statue of Robert Morris
by Paul Wayland Bartlett
419 Walnut St
Philadelphia, PA
Copyright 2017, Bob Bruhin. All rights reserved.
(prints via bruhin.us/R0)
A monument to John Christian Bullitt in the Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
John Christian Bullitt was a lawyer and civic figure in Philadelphia. He founded the law firm known today as Drinker Biddle & Reath. Erected in 1907 this bronze statue adjacent to City Hall was the work of artist John J. Boyle and was dedicated to his legacy of reforming Philadelphia City government.
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A monument to Joseph Leidy, an American palaeontologist, parasitologist and anatomist, in the Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Leidy was professor of anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania, later becoming a professor of natural history at Swarthmore College and the director of scientific and educational programs at the Wagner Free Institute of Science.
His book Extinct Fauna of Dakota and Nebraska contained many species not previously described and many previously unknown on the North American continent. At the time, scientific investigation was largely the province of wealthy amateurs.
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The ironwork is set in the front of the double staircase ascending from Broad Street above a raised "basement" to the central main entrance of the house itself. The house has been modified several times since it was built around 1760. The staircase and insert can be seen in a Victorian renovation of the late 19th Century. The recess may have originally been a window (a common feature in double staircase facades). As an ornament set in the masonry, it would be highly unusual.
The house was originally build for James Laurens, but it is better known for a later owner, Edward Rutledge, who, among other distinctions, was a governer of South Carolina and the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Wikipedia has a mostly-accurate article on the history of the house: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Rutledge_House.
A memorial for Meriwether Lewis an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator. In the Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
He was best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade with, and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon Country for the United States before European nations.
They also collected scientific data, and information on indigenous nations. President Thomas Jefferson appointed him Governor of Upper Louisiana in 1806. He died of gunshot wounds in what was either a murder or suicide, in 1809.
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On July 4th, 1986, the 100th anniversary of France gifting us the Statue of Liberty, President Ronald Reagan boarded the USS John F. Kennedy in New York Harbor to discuss the importance of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the inherent bravery of all 56 men who signed it. The President spoke at 9:50 p.m. on board the ship where he also attended a USO show as well as a reenlistment & military promotion ceremony for members of the crew. The following is exerts from his speech:
"My remarks tonight will be brief, but it's worth remembering that all the celebration of this day is rooted in history. It's recorded that shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia celebrations took place throughout the land, and many of the former Colonists -- they were just starting to call themselves Americans -- set off cannons and marched in fife and drum parades. What a contrast with the sober scene that had taken place a short time earlier in Independence Hall. Fifty-six men came forward to sign the parchment. It was noted at the time that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And that was more than rhetoric; each of those men knew the penalty for high treason to the Crown. ``We must all hang together,'' Benjamin Franklin said, ``or, assuredly, we will all hang separately.'' And John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in large script so King George could see it without his spectacles. They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition that every man, woman, and child had a right to a future of freedom.
. . .
All through our history, our Presidents and leaders have spoken of national unity and warned us that the real obstacle to moving forward the boundaries of freedom, the only permanent danger to the hope that is America, comes from within. It's easy enough to dismiss this as a kind of familiar exhortation. Yet the truth is that even two of our greatest Founding Fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, once learned this lesson late in life. They'd worked so closely together in Philadelphia for independence. But once that was gained and a government was formed, something called partisan politics began to get in the way. After a bitter and divisive campaign, Jefferson defeated Adams for the Presidency in 1800. And the night before Jefferson's inauguration, Adams slipped away to Boston, disappointed, brokenhearted, and bitter. For years their estrangement lasted. But then when both had retired, Adams at 76 to Quincy & Jefferson at 68 to Monticello, they began through their letters to speak again to each other. Letters that discussed almost every conceivable subject: gardening, horseback riding, even sneezing as a cure for hiccups; but other subjects as well: the loss of loved ones, the mystery of grief and sorrow, the importance of religion, and of course the last thoughts, the final hopes of two old men, two great patriarchs, for the country that they had helped to found and loved so deeply. ``It carries me back,'' Jefferson wrote about correspondence with his cosigner of the Declaration of Independence, ``to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right to self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us and yet passing harmless...we rowed through the storm with heart and hand....''It was their last gift to us, this lesson in brotherhood, in tolerance for each other, this insight into America's strength as a nation. And when both died on the same day within hours of each other, that date was July 4th, 50 years exactly after that first gift to us, the Declaration of Independence.
My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith with them and all the great Americans of our past. Believe me, if there's one impression I carry with me after the privilege of holding for 5\1/2\ years the office held by Adams and Jefferson and Lincoln, it is this: that the things that unite us -- America's past of which we're so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country -- these things far outweigh what little divides us. And so tonight we reaffirm that Jew and gentile, we are one nation under God; that black and white, we are one nation indivisible; that Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world."
-- President Ronald Reagan (7/4/1986)
And, today, as we celebrate this Independence Day or 4th of July, these words, spoken by one of the greatest American Presidents to ever serve, are more true than ever before. And, as a proud American, I pray that these warnings will be heard and heeded by all...Happy 4th of July!
-- Technical Information (or Nerdy Stuff) --
‧ Camera - Nikon D7200 (handheld)
‧ Lens – Nikkor 18-300mm Zoom
‧ ISO – 2000
‧ Aperture – f/9
‧ Exposure – 1/40 second
‧ Focal Length – 300mm
The original RAW file was processed with Adobe Camera Raw and final adjustments were made with Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/
Please, do not copy or download my photographs to a blog, website or any type of publication without my permission. nevasphotos@yahoo.com
it.youtube.com/watch?v=R_nO0F4ugss
I took this pic on a submarine, the USS DRUM, that is docked next to the USS ALABAMA in Mobile, Alabama. And, look at that bird just sitting there. I was lucky that day. I also toured both the ship and sub. I like military planes, ships, equipment, etc...
To learn more about U.S.A.'s 4th of July holiday go to
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)
To learn more about the USS ALABAMA and the USS DRUM go to:
The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag reads as follows:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
To learn more about our Pledge go to:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance
Our National Anthem: Star Spangle Banner Lyrics
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
The principal author of this document was the eminent scholar, Thomas Jeffferson, these are his words of wisdom:
(This is much less than half of his eloquent discourse, even though he was the author of this document his signature is hard to find. He signed it as Th Jefferson in the row well below John Hancock)
One interesting fact is that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both signers of this Declaration died on July 4th, 1826
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.
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 to abolish it, and to institute 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
30th Street Station in Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
The Pennsylvania Railroad, which was headquartered in Philadelphia, acquired tunnel rights from the Schuylkill River to 15th Street from the city of Philadelphia in return for land that the city needed to construct the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. This allowed the company to build both Suburban Station and the 30th Street Station.
The Chicago architectural firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White, the successor to D.H. Burnham & Company, designed the structure, originally known as Pennsylvania Station–30th Street in accord with the naming style of other Pennsylvania Stations.
Its design was influenced by the Northeast Corridor electrification that allowed trains to pass beneath the station without exposing passengers to soot as steam engines of earlier times had. The station had several innovative features, including a pneumatic tube system, an electronic intercom, and a reinforced roof with space for small aircraft to land, and contained a mortuary, a chapel and more than 3,000 square feet of hospital space.
The vast waiting room is faced with travertine and the coffered ceiling is painted gold, red and cream. The building's exterior has columned porte-cocheres on the west and east facade and shows a balance between classical and modern architectural styles.
Until 1958, 30th Street Station was one of two major intercity stations in Philadelphia, the other being the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's station on Chestnut Street. However, when the B&O ended all service north of Baltimore in 1958, 30th Street became the major intercity terminal in the Delaware Valley.
In the 1970s, Amtrak installed a Solari board in the main waiting room to display train departure information. In 2018 officials announced that the board — by then, the railroad's last remaining Solari device — would be replaced with a digital board. A minor public outcry followed, and within days, Rep. Brendan Boyle urged Amtrak CEO Richard H. Anderson to reconsider.
In 2019, Amtrak sent the board to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, reserving the right to reclaim it if it could be worked into the station's planned renovation. The Museum placed the Solari board on static display in July 2019; its ultimate fate remains undecided.
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I had the best weekend! See the previous photo for more information on that.
Once fireworks started at the Stadium of Fire, the display did not disappoint! The fireworks were the best I've seen in my life, and were amazing. Here are a few of my favorites.
EXIF:
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure: 8 sec
Aperture: f/9.0
Focal Length: 10.5 mm (fisheye)
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: +1 EV (it was dark, and I meant to set it to -1.0 actually!)
For those of you carrying around $100 bills (and really, who isn't these days?) you'll recognize this building from the back of the bill. It was built between 1732 and 1753 and was originally intended as a meeting place for the Pennsylvania colonial legislature but is most well known as the location where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and signed.
While I was there (and while I look at this photo now), I marveled at the amazing history this building was part of. This building witnessed two of the most important events and documents in United States history.
The building on the right by the way is Congress Hall which was occupied by the United States Congress from December 6, 1790 to May 14, 1800 (compare the size of it to the Capital Building in Washington DC where Congress sits today).
ABOUT THE SERIES
In June 2010 Michelle and I traveled to Philadelphia (and surrounding areas) for a summer vacation and to visit her extended family. I'd been to Philadelphia twice before, once in eighth grade and once during college but I only remember bits and pieces of each previous trip. The trip during college was during the 2010 Republican National Convention (I wasn't there for the convention) and I remember the entire city resembling a police state with police everywhere due to all the protests.
Anyway, it was great to return to the city and see some of the surrounding areas I hadn't explored before. We visited during a heatwave (90 degree heat with intense humidity which apparently is a little unusual in June but typical in August) but it was well worth the trip.
A sculpture of Major General George McClellan designed in 1891 by Henry Jackson Elliott, in the Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
A graduate of West Point, McClellan served with distinction during the Mexican–American War, and later left the Army to serve as an executive and engineer on railroads until the outbreak of the American Civil War.
Early in the conflict McClellan was appointed to the rank of major general and played an important role in raising a well-trained and disciplined soldier. He served a brief period (November 1861 to March 1862) as Commanding General of the United States Army.
Later McClellan and President Abraham Lincoln developed a mutual distrust, and McClellan was privately derisive of Lincoln. McClellan was removed from command in November, in the aftermath of the 1862 midterm elections.
He never received another field command and went on to become the unsuccessful Democratic Party nominee in the 1864 presidential election against the Republican Lincoln.
The effectiveness of his campaign was damaged when he repudiated his party's platform, which promised an end to the war and negotiations with the Confederacy. He served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881; he eventually became a writer, and vigorously defended his Civil War conduct.
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Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city in 1682 to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia played an instrumental role in the American Revolution as a meeting place for the Founding Fathers of the United States, who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 at the Second Continental Congress, and the Constitution at the Philadelphia Convention of 1787.
Several other key events occurred in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War including the First Continental Congress, the preservation of the Liberty Bell, the Battle of Germantown, and the Siege of Fort Mifflin. Philadelphia remained the nation's largest city until being overtaken by New York City in 1790; the city was also one of the nation's capitals during the revolution, serving as temporary U.S. capital while Washington, D.C. was under construction. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Philadelphia became a major industrial centre and a railroad hub.
The city grew due to an influx of European immigrants, most of whom initially came from Ireland and Germany—the two largest reported ancestry groups in the city as of 2015. Later immigrant groups in the 20th century came from Italy (Italian being the third largest European ethnic ancestry currently reported in Philadelphia) and other Southern European and Eastern European countries.
In the early 20th century, Philadelphia became a prime destination for African Americans during the Great Migration after the Civil War. Puerto Ricans began moving to the city in large numbers in the period between World War I and II, and in even greater numbers in the post-war period. The city's population doubled from one million to two million people between 1890 and 1950.
Philadelphia is the home of many U.S. firsts, including the first library (1731), hospital (1751), medical school (1765), national capital (1774), stock exchange (1790), zoo (1874), and business school (1881). Philadelphia contains 67 National Historic Landmarks and the World Heritage Site of Independence Hall.
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After the fire department received a call that a rocket was being launched, they came to make sure that all the precautions were being done. After inspecting the launch pad, they recommended moving the rocket another 30 feet away from the house. "What goes up must come down," the Fire Chief said. Good advice when shooting off any fireworks!
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USA Independence Day Is July 4
Independence Day, also known as the Fourth of July, or July 4th, takes place on the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It celebrates the United States and its independence from Great Britain. It is a patriotic holiday extolling the positive aspects of America, and themes such as freedom and liberty.
The Revolutionary War began in April 1775, at a time when many still did not want complete independence from Britain. This sentiment was changing by mid-1776, fueled by things such as the publication of Thomas Paine's Common Sense. On June 7, the Continental Congress met at the Pennsylvania State House—a building now known as Independence Hall. Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, introduced a motion calling for independence for the colonies. It was contentiously debated, and a vote on the matter was postponed. A committee was appointed to write a statement outlining the reasons why a break from Great Britain was necessary. The committee consisted of John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson—who became its main author.
On July 2, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Henry Lee's resolution for independence. Two days later, on July 4, the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Although this was not the actual day of the vote for independence, it became celebrated as Independence Day. The first public reading of the Declaration of Independence took place on July 8, and the document began being signed on August 2. It is interesting to note that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4, 1826, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.
How to Celebrate Independence Day?
Celebrate by remembering our country’s history and the many men and women who fought for our independence and gave their lives for the cause of freedom. Fly your American flag with pride, knowing how to properly display “Old Glory”. If you use fireworks, do so with safety in mind, being careful not to catch any surrounding buildings or material on fire. If extremely dry conditions exist, it may be advisable not to use any fireworks. If you do your grilling, be sure to watch your food and flame so you can enjoy your meal. And drive safe and sober, do not use a cellphone while driving, and observe all local laws regarding the use of fireworks.
Constructed between 1732 and 1756 as the State House of the Province of Pennsylvania, it is considered a fine example of Georgian architecture. From 1775 to 1783 (except for the winter of 1777 - 1778 when Philadelphia was occupied by the British Army) this was the meeting place for the Second Continental Congress. It was in the Assembly Room of this building that George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. In the same room the design of the American flag was agreed upon in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were adopted in 1781, and the U. S. Constitution was drafted in 1787. The building, inside and out, has been restored whenever possible to its original late-18th century appearance. Most of the furnishing are period pieces. The "rising sun" chair used by George Washington as he presided over the Constitutional Convention is original.
www.nps.gov/inde/independence-hall-1.htm
Taken in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA
The Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Commonly abbreviated to Ben Franklin Parkway and colloquially called the Parkway, is a boulevard that runs through the cultural heart of Philadelphia. Named for Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father, the mile-long Parkway cuts diagonally across the grid plan pattern of Centre City's northwest quadrant. It starts at Philadelphia City Hall, curves around Logan Circle, and ends before the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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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.
The most quoted sentence from the Declaration of Independence; we are still having trouble deciding what certain unalienable Rights are and should be preserved.
The decision to declare independence from the English King George was mad in this building on July 2, 1776 and the Declaration of Independence was approved on July 4, 1776 and the first signatures were made on that day. This room is a recreation of the room. This building was the Pennsylvania State House and was remodeled several times since this historic meeting. The actual revolt against the King began in 1975.
The Eastern State Penitentiary a former American prison and now a museum in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania.
The penitentiary, which was in operation between 1829 and 1971, was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world. Its construction refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment.
Notorious criminals such as Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton were held inside it's innovative wagon wheel design. James Bruno (Big Joe) and several male relatives were incarcerated here between 1936 and 1948 for the alleged murders in the Kelayres massacre of 1934, before they were paroled. At its completion, the building was the largest and most expensive public structure ever erected in the United States, and quickly became a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide.
Today it stands more in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. The prison is currently a U.S. National Historic Landmark, which is open to the public for tours seven days a week, twelve months a year, 10 am to 5 pm.
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I bought a pint glass with a saying supposedly by Benjamin Franklin at the Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia. It was also for sale at City Hall. Wise man, that Ben!
The coaster you see under the glass I bought across the street, at the US Mint. It is made of porous stone, which does not stick to a wet glass. Unfortunately, they chose a non-porous blue paint to put the "Treasury - US Mint" logo on it, so the glass does stick to it..😣
I would have loved to pour into it one of Yards Brewery’s ales, since I took a tour of the brewery last summer, but I cannot get their beers here. The White Hawk IPA from Mendocino Brewing Company in California that I did pour in was very tasty, though, as always. Support Your Local IPA!...🍺
Edit: Mendecino Brewing Company ceased operations in 2018...😞