Celebrate 4th of July: Discover American Independence and Exciting Historical Moments

Fourth of July is a day like any other for the Czechs. For children, school is over, for adults, it’s the beginning of holiday and went to the sea, those who stayed at home are looking forward to the next two free days on 5 and 6 July. But overseas, there are massive celebrations, fireworks, picnics and barbecues: it’s Independence Day, the biggest holiday of the year for Americans. And to make it clear to everyone when it happened, it’s much more commonly referred to as Fourth of July, i.e. The Fourth of July. At least no one has to think about when to schedule time off. But how and why did US Independence Day come about?

1776 and the Declaration of Independence

Independence Day commemorates July 4, 1776, the day the Second Continental Congress adopted Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. It is a day of similar significance for the U.S. as it is for us October 28: the then thirteen British colonies in North America declared independence from Great Britain by declaring fundamental human rights and listing grievances against the British Empire. The founding states of the United States were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina a Rhode Island.

Declaration signed by 56 representatives of these states, including Benjamin Franklin (at 70, the oldest signer) and two future presidents, Thomas Jefferson a John Adams. With their signatures, they were all putting their lives on the line: attending the Second Continental Congress was an act of rebellion, a betrayal of the English king, and there was even a bounty on the leaders’ capture.

Czech Fourth of July echoes

Independence Day is, of course, also celebrated at the US Embassy in Prague; prominent figures of cultural and political life are invited to the reception; during the communist era, Czech dissidents were not absent among the invitees. In the archives Czech Television you can, for example, watch President Václav Havel’s televised Independence Day greeting to the American people. He recalled both his visit to the USA and how great a model the American concept of freedom and democracy was for Czechoslovakia.

July 4, 1776 may have been the inspiration for T. G. Masaryk more than a century later when 4 July 1915 published his conception of the dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy a Czechoslovak independence.

Fourth of July in Czech history

Date 4th of July also accompanies other milestones of Czech history. In 1204, for example, the Sázava abbot Prokop was declared a saint, and on July 4, 1947, the Czechoslovak government decided to annex the republic to the so-called Marshall Plan economic reconstruction of war-damaged European countries, and a year later, television viewers could watch the first live broadcast of the XI All-Sokol Meeting in Prague’s Strahov. On July 4, 1956, the Moravian Karst Protected Landscape Area was declared and on July 4, 1987, Martina Navrátilová won her sixth Wimbledon title in a row by defeating Steffi Graf.

Interesting anniversaries accompany 4th of July also in the world. Did you know, for example, that in 1862 he took Lewis Carroll on a trip down the Thames by the daughters of his friends, and in the process invented the basis of a story which was published – what a coincidence – three years later on July 4, 1865, under the title Alice in Wonderland?

S the theme of freedom and independence is related to July 4, 1950, when the Radio Free EuropeOn July 4, also celebrated the birthday of the legendary giant Drasal or Josef Drásal, allegedly the tallest man in the Czech Republic (1841-1886), director, actor and screenwriter Oldřich Lipský (1924-1986), Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) or Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida (*1927).the world’s first radon baths, or the painter and writer Ondřej Sekora (1899-1967), author Ferdy Ant.

What you may not know about the Declaration of Independence

• • A strange coincidence accompanied Thomas Jefferson a John Adams: both died on the very anniversary of Independence Day, July 4, 1826: Adams as a ninety-year-old, Jefferson was eighty-three.

• • The original was written on parchment, a specially treated animal skin measuring 61.6 x 75.5 centimetres. It is housed in a bulletproof display case at the National Archives of the United States, Washington, D.C.

• • Independence Day became an official federal holiday in 1941. Americans celebrate the establishment of a free United States with all-day picnics, sports games, contests, parades, concerts, and fireworks at the end of the day.