THE USA IS 245 YEARS OLD

The oldest person in the world today is Kane Tanaka at the age of 118 years.  That's her when 20 in 1923. The USA is more than twice as old, for today we celebrate our 245th birthday.  Mind you, this is not particularly elderly, for the top six are:

• #1  Egypt  8000 years old
• #2  India  5300
• #3  Afghanistan  5000
• #4  China 4091
• #5  Georgia  3700
• #6  Ethiopia  3000  (their monarchy lasted more than 700 hundred years until 1974 when Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974)
• the British monarchy is going strong at 1200 years
• so is the one in Japan for 2700 years

The USA is also not the first democracy.  Five thousand years ago Mesopotamia invented written language and had a primitive form of democracy.  Some say that around 3000 years ago India actually formed republics which practiced democracy.  Greece had that Athens versus Sparta rivalry 2600 years ago, where the story is that democratic Athens lost to war-like Sparta.  Turns out that Sparta might actually have been more democratic than Athens, as the latter blessed slavery.

Back in the USA, I hated history when I went to grade school, but I'm obligated to synthesize another regurgitation of how democracy came to be in the 1700's:

• There were 13 separate colonies and Great Britain kept laying on draconian taxes, so much so that in 1764 came the phrase "taxation with representation" as the rallying cry of outrage.
• In 1773, colonists disguised as Mohican Indians raided a British ship and dumped all the tea overboard to avoid paying taxes as the Boston Tea Party.
• At that time, if a ballot was held, the few extremists would have soundly lost the vote.

• 
  However, efforts like Thomas Paine's Common Sense began to intensify hostility towards the British.
• On the night of 18April1775, British troops marched to seize an arms cache in Concord, Massachusetts.  This is when Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm.
• Finally on 19April1775 battles erupted in Lexington and Concord, in the shot heard round the world, starting the Revolutionary War.

• 
  On 7June1775 the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and Robert Livingston of New were appointed to draft a formal defection statement.

• On 4July1776 the assemblage adopted the Declaration of Independence, which was largely written by Jefferson.
• One of the drafters was prescient:

John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that July 2 “will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival” and that the celebration should include “Pomp and Parade…Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other.”

• 1777 saw the British winning the war, but by the end of the year, the Battle of Saratoga turned the tide.
• France had been secretly aiding the American rebels and officially joined the Americans in 1778.

• 
  European officers Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette were instrumental leaders, but General Benedict Arnold defected to the British, and there was serious mutiny on the American side.
• Lord Cornwallis was particularly effective in crushing British victories in 1979 and 1980.

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  But the French helped with 36 warships, and the revolutionists won the Battle of Yorktown, forcing Cornwallis to surrender in 1981.
• More fighting, but in the Treaty of Paris on 3September1783, Great Britain formally recognized the independence of the United States, bringing an end to eight years of fighting.

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  Interestingly enough, the only two signatories to become president, Jefferson and Adams, both died on the same day, 4July1826, on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
• The U.S. remained neutral in the Napoleonic War, with the defeat of Napoleon by Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 ending Napoleon's rule.  I still play Beethoven's Wellington's Victory whenever I have a major victory.
• 

  Yet, France gave the Statue of Liberty to the U.S. in 1885, to mostly recognize the end of slavery.  It took 21 years from conception to christening.  The 151-foot tall statue cost $250,000, paid for by the French.  The Pedestal at 154 feet, cost $270,000, and was covered by American sources.  The plaque of the poem by Emma Lazarus was added in 1903:

Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!’ cries she

With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

• 
  Why are the national colors red, white and blue?  There is no consensus of how our first flag came to be, but most of the early history gave some credit to Betsy Ross, and the colors were red, white and blue.  Thus those colors, and a later enhancement of red for valor and bravery, white symbolizing purity and innocence, and blue signifying vigilance, perseverance and justice.

So what will you do today to celebrate our 244th birthday?  Me?  15 Craigside has a BBQ event and I'm co-grill master.  Then there is television:

• On PBS from 8-9:30PM EDT, the Capitol Fourth 2021 Concert and Fireworks Show.
• Hosted by Vanessa Williams.
• Featuring Jimmy Buffett, Renee Fleming, Gladys Knight, Pentatonix and others.
• 45th Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show
• Jonas Brothers, Blake Shelton, Coldplay, Reba McEntire and others.
• 8-10PM EDT on NBC.
• Boston Pops Spectacular Concert will stream on Bloomberg TV from 8-11PM EDT.
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  CNN's Fourth in American Special, from 7PM to Midnight EDT
• Beachboys, Billy Ray Cyrus, Black Eyed Peas, Brad Paisley, Chicago, Flo Rida, Foreigner, Kool & the Gang, REO Speedwagon, Trisha Yearwood, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, all military bands, San Francisco Symphony and much more.
• Will highlight fireworks from coast to coast.

• 
  1000 guests have been invited to the White House.  
• President Joe Biden might address the matter of missing the 70% one-vaccination goal.  
• Turns out that this figure is 67%.  Not bad, actually.  
• 18 states (all voted for Biden) met the goal, with Vermont, Hawaii and Massachusetts at over 80%.  
• The worst is Mississippi at 46%.  
• Trump states missed.

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