View allAll Photos Tagged declarationofindependence
The Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution were both debated and signed inside this building.
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.
It also has educational programming, performances, tours, and mosaic workshops, all of which are open to the public. Zagar continues to create mosaic murals on the streets of Philadelphia, hundreds of which can be seen in or around the South Street area.
The space is open for public view, from 11:00-18:00 Wednesday through Monday and closed on Tuesdays.
Information Source:
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, dit «La Fayette»
né le 6 septembre 1757 au château de Chavaniac, paroisse de Saint-Georges-d'Aurac (province d'Auvergne, actuellement Chavaniac-Lafayette dans la Haute-Loire) et mort le 20 mai 1834 à Paris (ancien 1er arrondissement), est un noble d'orientation libérale, officier et homme politique français. Nommé général par George Washington, Lafayette a joué un rôle décisif aux côtés des Américains dans leur Guerre d'indépendance contre le pouvoir colonial britannique et en particulier lors de la victoire de Yorktown le 19 octobre 1781. Lafayette a aussi oeuvré à l'émergence en France d'un pouvoir royal moderne, avant de devenir une personnalité de la Révolution française jusqu'à son émigration, son arrestation et sa mise en prison pour cinq ans en 1792. Lafayette fut aussi un acteur politique majeur des débuts de la monarchie de Juillet. Surnommé le «héros des deux mondes», il est l'un des huit citoyens d'honneur des États-Unis d'Amérique.
Après la révolution de 1789, La Fayette décide de signer tous ses courriers d'un «Lafayette» en un seul mot, en réaction contre le système nobiliaire. C'est aussi la graphie utilisée par ses contemporains jusqu'à sa mort.
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, known as «La Fayette»
was born on 6 September 1757 at the château of Chavaniac, parish of Saint-Georges-d'Aurac (province of Auvergne, now Chavaniac-Lafayette in the Haute-Loire) and died on 20 May 1834 in Paris (former 1st district), is a liberal-minded nobleman, French officer and politician. Named a general by George Washington, Lafayette played a decisive role alongside the Americans in their War of Independence against British colonial power and particularly during the victory at Yorktown on 19 October 1781. Lafayette also worked for the emergence of a modern royal power in France, before becoming a personality of the French Revolution until his emigration, arrest and imprisonment for five years in 1792. Lafayette was also a major political player in the early days of the July monarchy. Nicknamed the «hero of two worlds», he is one of the eight honorary citizens of the United States of America.
After the 1789 revolution, La Fayette decided to sign all his letters with a single word, in reaction against the nobiliary system. It is also the script used by his contemporaries until his death.
The Old State House, the oldest surviving public building in Boston, was built in 1713 to house the government offices of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. It stands on the site of Boston's first Town House of 1657-8, which burned in 1711. On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first proclaimed from the balcony on this side of the building, to the jubilant citizens of Boston. I had almost no time for pictures but I took this from a bus window during the snowstorm we had on Jan. 18.
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.
It also has educational programming, performances, tours, and mosaic workshops, all of which are open to the public. Zagar continues to create mosaic murals on the streets of Philadelphia, hundreds of which can be seen in or around the South Street area.
The space is open for public view, from 11:00-18:00 Wednesday through Monday and closed on Tuesdays.
Information Source:
Came across this shot in my catalog and figured it would make an appropriate upload given the date.
This was taken during a late night, rainy, World Showcase tour with Cory Disbrow, Don Sullivan and Ryan Pastorino. We took cover from the rain in front of the American Adventure Pavilion where a bored castmember invited us inside and handed us a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
I'm not sure what happened to mine after this shot, so there is a very good chance I left it sitting in this very spot on the second floor handrail in the pavilion. If anyone stops by, can you check for me if it's still there :)
In other news, I became an uncle again (for the fourth time) early this morning. That makes one more nephew I'm eager to bring to WDW at some point.
Have a great 4th everyone! See you on the flipside
-Alan
Canon EOS 7D
1/30 sec at f/3.2 | ISO 1600
EF24mm f/1.4L II USM
"The Library 2.0 has been working with the Library of Congress on a Declaration of Independence display that was officially announced and which opened yesterday on Info Island in Second Life. The exhibit includes dioramas, streamed audio, text in the form of larger-than-life documents and SL notecards, information kiosks and even period furniture."
Read about it here, and visit it here.
Walking among larger-than-life photo scans of the documents, listening to them being read aloud, browsing the text, and sitting in the period furniture...there's something special about the immersiveness of this exhibit.
WHAT IF...?
What if...
King George III had tear gas and pepper spray and rubber bullets and unmarked cars, and camouflage suits instead of red coats?
And his soldiers moved across the country in armored cars and tanks and airplanes and military helicopters,
Even faster than Paul Revere?
What if...
The King said because they worked for him, they could do anything they wanted and no laws would be broken.
And they could beat and assault people and crack their skulls, and choke them, and detain them for whatever bullshit reason they wanted,
And there would be no mention of Miranda or Constitutional rights?
What if...
People weren't allowed to get together and protest peacefully and make the powers that be aware of how pissed off they were...
And what if the King... wait-- now I'm mixing things up.
Yeah.
See how that could happen?
B. Kite -- 7/28/2020
Philadelphia Museum of Art on Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
It was originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Eakins Oval.
The museum administers collections containing over 240,000 objects including major holdings of European, American, and Asian origin. The various classes of artwork include sculpture, paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, armour, and decorative arts.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art administers several annexes including the Rodin Museum, also located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, which is located across the street just north of the main building. The Perelman Building, which opened in 2007, houses more than 150,000 prints, drawings, and photographs, along with 30,000 costume and textile pieces, and over 1,000 modern and contemporary design objects including furniture, ceramics, and glasswork.
It also administers the historic colonial-era houses of Mount Pleasant and Cedar Grove, both located in Fairmount Park. The main museum building and its annexes are owned by the City of Philadelphia and administered by a registered non-profit corporation.
Several special exhibitions are held in the museum every year, including touring exhibitions arranged with other museums in the United States and abroad. The museum had 437,348 visitors in 2021, making it the 65th most-visited art museum worldwide.
Information Source:
Elfreth's Alley in the Old City district of Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, USA.
Dating to 1703 the street has 32 houses, built between then and 1836. The Elfreth's Alley Museum is located at 124 and 126.
It is named after Jeremiah Elfreth, an 18th-century blacksmith and property owner. Among the alley's residents were tradesmen and their families, including shipwrights, silver and pewter smiths, glassblowers, and furniture builders. During the 1770s, one-third of the households were headed by women.
The Georgian and Federal-style houses and cobblestone pavement of the alley were common in Philadelphia during this time. The houses are typically small, and many are uniquely Philadelphian Trinity houses.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, industry began to change the street. Eventually, factories surrounded Elfreth's Alley. The city's waterfront was only a few blocks away. Industry changed more than the architecture; successive waves of immigrants, lured by the nearby jobs, moved onto the street.
In 1934, the Elfreth's Alley Association was founded to preserve the alley's historic structures while interpreting the street's history. They helped save the street from demolition.
Elfreth's Alley is today the product of cycles of urban renewal and decay, and historic preservation efforts. The alley is a tourist attraction and a Being a rare surviving example of 18th-century working-class housing stock it stands in sharp contrast to the more frequently preserved grand mansion houses of Philadelphia's Society Hill neighbourhood.
Information Source:
Roxie: "Vive la Revolution!"
Me: "Dollface, that's *not* a revolutionary dress you're wearing..."
Roxie: "What? You're kidding, right? I gathered all my friends and we're fighting for our right!"
Me: "And what rights might that be...?"
Roxie: "DUH! Our right to PAAAARRTTTYYY!!!"
I should have known... ;) The dress is really vintage Skipper, it's the 'Bicentennial' dress from 1976 (loooove the dress!). I looked up because I wanted to know. That year the Americans celebrated the two-hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Happy Fourth of July, Celebrating Independence Day with family and friends and remembering what this day is all about, our freedoms. " 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."
Engraving of The Declaration of Independence with an engraving of the signing with text and pictures of signers. Border of engraving is surrounding by small circular images of some signers and State seals. Formally entered into copyright 1841 by the Franklin Print Co. Engraved by D. Kimberly, lettered by J.B. Bolton. Frame is pine painted to imitate rose wood. Wood backing has a handwritten message in cursive by Elizabeth S. Platt, reading, "1922 This engraving was thrown out with waste papers from the attic of Mrs. Artiseme Skinner-Spencer - Guilford CT. Was rescued by Elizabeth Skinner Platt - Madison, CT. The frame was given by: Mr. Edgar G. Nalins - East River CT - and the framed engraving placed in the Madison Historical Society. July 1922, E.S.P."
; H: 11 7/8" W: 9 7/8" (sight) H: 15 1/8" W: 13 1/8" in frame.
ACC# 22.1
See other portraits in the MHS collection at flic.kr/s/aHskvjoPKR. (Photo credit Bob Gundersen www.flickr.com/photos/bobphoto51/albums)
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.
The Declaration House, located on the southwest corner of 7th and Market Streets, was reconstructed in 1975. The exhibit is open year round, though hours vary by season.The house was originally built in 1775 by Philadelphia bricklayer Jacob Graff, Jr. During the summer of 1776 Thomas Jefferson, a 33-year-old delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress, rented the two second-floor rooms and there drafted the Declaration of Independence. The first floor contains exhibits and a short film on the drafting of the Declaration. On the second floor, the bedroom and parlor that Jefferson occupied have been recreated and contain period furnishings. Also included are reproductions of Jefferson's swivel chair and the lap desk he used when he wrote the Declaration.
This is a shot of the USS Missouri, The USS Arizona Memorial, and the the United States Flag. Whin I shot this near Pearl Harbor I didnt then relise the juxtaposition would be so profound.
USS Missouri (BB-63) "Mighty Mo" or "Big Mo" is a U.S. Navy Iowa-class battleship, and was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named in honor of the U.S. state of Missouri. Missouri was the last battleship built by the United States, and was the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan which ended World War II.
Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944. In the Pacific Theater of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands, and she fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953. She was decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets (the "Mothball Fleet"), but reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and fought in the 1991 Gulf War.
Missouri received a total of eleven battle stars for service in World War II, Korea, and the Persian Gulf, and was finally decommissioned on 31 March 1992, but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in January 1995. In 1998 she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The USS Arizona Memorial, located at Pearl Harbor, Hawaiʻi, marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the island of Oʻahu was the action that led to United States involvement in World War II.
The memorial, dedicated in 1962 and visited by more than one million persons annually,[1] spans the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it. Since it opened in 1980, the National Park Service has operated the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center associated with the memorial. Historical information about the attack, boat access to the memorial, and general visitor services are available at the center. The sunken remains of the battleship were declared a National Historic Landmark on May 5, 1989
The flag of the United States is one of the nation's widely recognized and used symbols. Within the U.S. it is frequently displayed, not only on public buildings, but on private residences, as well as iconically in forms such as decals for car windows, and clothing ornaments such as badges and lapel pins. Throughout the world it is used in public discourse to refer to the U.S., both as a nation state, government, and set of policies, but also as an ideology and set of ideas.
Many understand the flag to represent the freedoms and rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights and perhaps most of all to be a symbol of individual and personal liberty as set forth in the Declaration of Independence. The flag is a complex and contentious symbol, around which emotions run high.
Apart from the numbers of stars and stripes representing the number of current and original states, respectively, and the union with its stars representing a constellation, there is no legally defined symbolism to the colors and shapes on the flag. However, folk theories and traditions abound; for example, that the stripes refer to rays of sunlight and that the stars refer to the heavens, the highest place that a person could aim to reach. Tradition holds that George Washington proclaimed: "We take the stars from Heaven, the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing Liberty.
The flag of the United States of America consists of 13 equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing 50 small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars (top and bottom) alternating with rows of five stars. The 50 stars on the flag represent the 50 U.S. states and the 13 stripes represent the original Thirteen Colonies that rebelled against the British Crown and became the first states in the Union. Nicknames for the flag include the stars and stripes, Old Glory, the American flag, and the star-spangled banner (also the name of the country's official national anthem).
Founding father Thomas Jefferson looking out from his memorial. He died July 4th, 1826 - exactly 50 years after the Declaration of Independence (Several of the sentences from the Declaration of Independence are behind him.) was approved by the Second Continental Congress.
Thomas Jefferson (designer), construction by unrecorded enslaved craftsmen, Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1770–1806
Time to dedicate myself to this beautiful diary of life for one whole year. I plan to unload my life before your eyes. Take it, good and bad. Watching the progression of my insanity should be fun for all to see....As I learn more about my camera, which I feel I have failed to do in the past. I look forward to this year. It's gonna be the best I have had in years. I can just feel it...See you tomorrow!
Independence National Historical Park
5th and Walnut Streets
Philadelphia, PA
Copyright 2017, Bob Bruhin. All rights reserved.
(prints via bruhin.us/Rc)
It was a cold and rainy day, but Monticello was still an impressive sight in the fog. Located in Charlottesville, Virginia, Jefferson's home is less than five miles from the home of James Monroe and less than thirty-five miles from James Madison's home.
Granary Burying Ground is the oldest historic sites in Boston. Famous, infamous and unknown Bostonians are buried here. Men, Women, children, Puritans, Anglicans, Catholics, English, French, Africans, patriots, Tories, printers, goldsmiths, merchants, and scavengers were all laid to rest in Granary.
Established in 1660, the Granary Burying Ground is named for the 12,000 bushel grain storage building that was next door, the historic cemetery has 2,345 markers. Some say as a many as 8,000 people were buried here.
17th century puritans John Endecott and Samuel Sewall rest here, as do revolutionaries Samuel Adams, John Hancock, James Otis, Paul Revere and the victims of Boston Massacre.
In Granary rest nine Massachusetts governors, three signers of the Declaration of Independence, and many Revolutionary War veterans.
It was originally part of the Boston Common at the very edge of the 17th century Boston where the land rose steeply to three towering hills or "trimountain".
Source: www.cityofboston.gov, www.wikipedia.org
September 7, 2012, Freedom Trail, Boston, Massachusetts, taken here.
Wednesday January 20, 2021
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris inaugurated.
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.
After a good flight to Philly, we decided to tour a few historic sites around downtown. A copy of the Declaration.
Independence Square
599 Market St
Philadelphia, PA
Copyright 2017, Bob Bruhin. All rights reserved.
(prints via bruhin.us/QN)
GOD Bless the USA ~ Happy 4th of July ~ Celebrate with Coconut Cupcakes
Recipe on my blog, Baking is my Zen.
bakingismyzen.wordpress.com/2013/07/04/god-bless-the-usa-...
GOD Bless the USA ~ Artist-Lee Greenwood ~ Music Video by Carmen Ortiz
The Washington Monument located at the end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The monument was commissioned and designed by sculptor Rudolf Siemering. The sculpture was dedicated in 1897 at the Green Street entrance to Fairmount Park. It was moved in 1928 to its present location after construction on the parkway was completed. In 1997, work to restore the statue began under the direction of Margo Berg of the Philadelphia Art Commission. Over the years, the sculpture had come loose from its base, and the fountain had ceased to function properly. The restoration was completed in June of the same year, 100 years after it was dedicated.
The bronze and granite sculpture features a uniformed George Washington mounted on a horse. Washington and his horse are poised on top of the fountain, facing southeast down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway towards Philadelphia City Hall. The face of the sculpture was made from an impression of the former president made while he was still alive. The body was of a Prussian General. The lowest level of the monument features Native Americans and animals that are native to the United States.
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Thomas Jefferson (designer), construction by unrecorded enslaved craftsmen, Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1770–1806
As we (in the United States) celebrate our Independence Day, let us commit to using our freedom for good. However, in the past few days, ISIS has conducted a series of violent attacks across several countries as Muslims everywhere celebrate their holy month of Ramadan.
To our brothers and...
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:
The City Hall in the Centre City District in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
It is the seat of the municipal government of the City of Philadelphia. Built in the ornate Second Empire style, City Hall houses the chambers of the Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor of Philadelphia.
This building is also a courthouse, serving as the seat of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. It houses the Civil Trial and Orphans' Court Divisions of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. It also houses the Philadelphia facilities for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Built using brick, white marble and limestone, Philadelphia City Hall is the world's largest free-standing masonry building and was the world's tallest habitable building upon its completion in 1894. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976; in 2006, it was also named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Independence Hall, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was constructed between 1732 and 1756; the Assembly Room was the site of several significant events in U.S. history: (1775) George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army; (1776) the Declaration of Independence was signed; and (1787) the U.S. Constitution was drafted in this room.
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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Washington, D.C. (est. 1790, pop. ~690,000)
• the “Seven Buildings,” now the Mexican Embassy • among the city’s earliest residential structures • originally 6 privately-owned blogs., 7th added later [photo] • housed the Navy Department • after the White House was burned in the War of 1812, housed 4th U.S. President James Madison (1751-1836) & his wife, Dolley Todd (1768-1849) • also housed Vice President, Martin Van Buren (1782–1862) & his wife, Hannah Hoes (1783-1819) • most of the bldgs. demolished, 1959 • facades of remaining 2 incorporated into the Embassy of Mexico, 1986 —Wikipedia
The Seven Buildings were a row of houses built in the late 1790s at No. 1901-1913 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. The largest, No. 1901, on the corner of 19th Street, was also the most historic -- used for the original State Department, under John Marshall; later as the home of President James Madison and his wife Dolley, after the Executive Mansion was burned in the War of 1812; as the residence of Vice President Martin Van Buren; and as offices for Generals George McClellan and M. D. Hardin during the Civil War.
Much later, commercial occupants in No. 1901 included the Nichols Pharmacy from 1895 until 1927 [photo], and by the original Peoples Drug Store (from 1927 to 1958) -- which was included in the high-rise office building that was soon built on the site. By then only two of the "seven" original buildings remained -- No. 1909 and No.1911; That at No. 1911 was long occupied by the Marrocco Restaurant, until 1983; later in the 1980s, the Mexican Embassy occupied a new large office complex that had been built on the two sites -- with only the facades (with moved door locations) and roof lines of the two old houses maintained. (See James Goode's “Capital Losses") —DC History Center
Plaque:
“The Embassy of Mexico incorporates the two surviving facades of a set of seven row houses known as “The Seven Buildings”. This complex has an intimate relationship with American history, and the government of Mexico is proud to honor and preserve this landmark’s legacy.
“At the dawn of the 1800s, this complex housed the Declaration of Independence. Later, it was one of the early homes of the Department of State. Most famously, the Seven Buildings housed President James Madison and his wife Dolly between 1815 and 1817, while the White House was being rebuilt in the aftermath of the War of 1812. As a testament to the strength and depth of the ties that bind our two countries and peoples, Mexico commemorates the bicentennial of its independence and the centennial of its revolution with this plaque for the people of Washington, DC, and of the United States of America.”
The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is a large memorial in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is located in the centre of Ba Dinh Square, which is the place where Vietminh leader Ho Chi Minh read the Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1945, establishing the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
Construction work began on September 2, 1973, and the structure was formally inaugurated on August 29, 1975. The mausoleum was inspired by Lenin's Mausoleum in Moscow but incorporates distinct Vietnamese architectural elements, such as the sloping roof. The exterior is made of gray granite, while the interior is gray, black, and red polished stone. The mausoleum's portico has the words "Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh" (Chairman Ho Chi Minh) inscribed across it.
The embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh is preserved in the cooled, central hall of the mausoleum, which is protected by a military honour guard. The body lies in a glass case with dim lights. The mausoleum is closed occasionally while work is done to restore and preserve the body but is normally open daily from 9:00 am to noon to the public. Lines of visitors, including visiting foreign dignitaries, pay their respects at the mausoleum.
Rules regarding dress and behavior are strictly enforced by staff and guards. Legs must be covered (no shorts or miniskirts). Visitors must be silent, and walk in two lines. Hands must not be in pockets, nor arms crossed. Smoking, photography, and video taping are also not permitted anywhere inside the mausoleum.
Nicki and I visited the site of the mausoleum, but never actually went inside. I can vouch for the rules being strictly enforced though as there is a white line before the pavement in front of the building, with signs saying "do not cross". I lost count the number of times the guards blew their whistles as visitors ignored the signs in order to get that little bit closer to take a photo of the mausoleum!
1/200 | F5.3 | 62mm | ISO 200
© All rights reserved. Darren Faulkner Photos 2012.
Please do not use my images without my permission.
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: