Getting the story straight - Just When SHOULD we celebrate our independence?

Originally published 7/2/07, 10:53 PM, Eastern Daylight Time.
NB: Even Canadians can learn a bit about history from this post...

I received the following e-mail from a Scholar of American History named Philip Trumbull Adams. [PTA] He and I were discussing history versus original intentions and how things get morphed over the years, until events are twisted out of their original form.

PTA permitted me to clip bits and pieces of our e-mail correspondence for your reading pleasure...

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Is celebrating the 4th of July philologically correct or a symptom of giving in to the regnant culture?

Q: What was the prime agitator for American independence?
A: Why it was the feisty John Adams of Massachusetts

Q: What was HIS original comments on the proper celebration of American
independence
A: *Independence Day will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."*

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Certainly my ancestor John Adams was Prescient! He foresaw the great hoopla that would accompany the annual celebration of American Freedom.

But the quote above is misleading. Just look at the original intent of great-great-great-grandpa and get HIS philology here.

The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. . . . It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."*
--John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776*

The momentous decision of the Continental Congress to sever its ties to Great Britain came on July 2, 1776, which is the date that John Adams thought should be celebrated by future generations. The Declaration of Independence, drafted mostly by Thomas Jefferson, and edited by his colleagues in the Continental Congress, was adopted 2 days later.

The Declaration was a stirring call to throw off the bonds of tyranny. This revolutionary document expressed an abiding faith in humanity and political ideals to which this nation still aspires. The Declaration of Independence has been called the birth certificate of the United States, and it is its adoption that Americans celebrate each year with fireworks on the Fourth of
July.

We see below two close-up views of a resolution, adopted July 2, 1776, in which the Continental Congress affirmed their independence from Great Britain. The words of the resolution, originally proposed by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee, are echoed in the Declaration of Independence.
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So, it is the SECOND of July that my prescient forefather foresaw as the anniversary of that momentous date. The original philological date has been corrupted by the Regnant Culture to use the FOURTH of July instead of the fundamentally correct SECOND of JULY!

We must abolish all subsequent history and restore Independence Day to its correct original date! It is the revisionists who have betrayed us! ] I propose, dear Rabbi Wolpoe, the establishment of the:

The Boldly & Uniformly Loyal Laborers of the ....[acronym deleted]
about the Second of July In order to Restore its rightful place in our society!

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While I questioned the acronym implicit in the first line of the title, nevertheless, I must say that PT Adams is right on. Maybe we should undo all this corny stuff about the 4th of July and Yankee Doodle Dandy and go back to the good old days of the good old ways and get it right! Hail to the 2nd of July.

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KT,
RRW