American Bald Eagle vs Turkey and Benjamin Franklin - American History

Talking turkey

Larry West is a freelance writer in the Pacific Northwest and a frequent contributor to MSN.

After much debate among the Founding Fathers, the bald eagle was chosen as the new American symbol and appeared as the centerpiece of the national seal. Benjamin Franklin never really embraced the choice. Writing to his daughter Sally from France in January 1784, Franklin said:
“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.
“With all this Injustice, he is never in good Case but like those among Men who live by Sharping & Robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank Coward . . .”
Franklin told his daughter that he thought the wild turkey would make a much better symbol of the American character:  “For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

4th Of July History

Reporter:Larry West is a freelance writer in the Pacific Northwest and a frequent contributor to MSN.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who had been leaders in the American Revolution and U.S. presidents as well as personal friends and political adversaries throughout much of their long lives, died on the same day, July 4, 1826. Their deaths came exactly 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, which Jefferson had drafted and both men signed.

As Adams was near death on the evening of July 4, 1826, his last words were reported to be, “Thomas Jefferson still survives.” Sadly, Adams was mistaken. Jefferson had died approximately five hours earlier.

The death of James Monroe

Like Adams and Jefferson before him, James Monroe died on Independence Day. Monroe died on July 4, 1831, just five years after Adams and Jefferson, the third U.S. president to die on the nation’s birthday.

Monroe was the fifth president of the United States and was the last U.S. president who was considered one of the nation’s Founding Fathers, because of his service as an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Population explosion

In July 1776, there were approximately 2.5 million people living in the newly independent United States of America, roughly the same number of people who currently live in Brooklyn, New York.

Remembering the 4th of July With HONOR

Larry West is a freelance writer in the Pacific Northwest and a frequent contributor to MSN.

Making it official

The Fourth of July was not a federal holiday until 1941. Although July 4 had long been celebrated as the Independence Day holiday by tradition, and even by congressional decree, it was not officially a federal holiday until Congress agreed to give federal employees the day off with pay—and that didn’t happen until 1941.

It’s a sign

The 56 patriots who signed the Declaration of Independence did not place their names on the document on July 4, 1776, nor did they all sign at the same time. The official signing event was on August 2, 1776, when 50 of the men signed it. The others signed at various times over the next few months.

Patriotism or treason?

The names of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence were not made public right away in an effort to protect the signers in case things went badly for the new nation. If the cause of independence had failed, their signatures on the Declaration would have marked them as traitors to Great Britain. According to British law at the time, that act of treason would have cost them their lives.

Nation building

On July 4, 1848, President James Madison, accompanied by First Lady Dolly Madison and a number of other VIPs, oversaw the laying of the cornerstone of the Washington Monument. Three years later, on July 4, 1851, President Millard Fillmore took part in laying the cornerstone of the new Capitol Building.

Red, white and green?

Red, white and blue have not always been the colors traditionally associated with Independence Day celebrations. In 1778, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where the army was camped, General George Washington directed his soldiers to place “green boughs” in their hats to celebrate the day. He also issued the troops a double allowance of rum and ordered an artillery salute.

Grand old flag

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the design for an American flag. “Resolved: that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
More stars were added to the flag as new states joined the union. Arizona became the 48th star in 1912, and the 48-star flag would continue to wave for 47 years, until Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959. The new flag, with 50 stars, was flown for the first time on July 4 of that year.

Independent states

In 1781, Massachusetts became the first state to make July 4 an official state holiday. This occurred several months before the decisive American victory at Yorktown, Massachusetts, where British General Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army, which effectively brought a triumphant conclusion to the American Revolution.

Independence Day

Americans began celebrating the Fourth of July as the anniversary of their national independence right away, but the term “Independence Day” was not used to describe the holiday until 1791.

Larry West is a freelance writer in the Pacific Northwest and a frequent contributor to MSN.

GERMAN CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

GERMAN CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS
Holiday Ho Ho Hop

http://www.mamabelly.com/2012/12/holiday-ho-ho-hop.html

Today is a special morning in Germany. Nikolaustag!
Children put their shoes out by the door the night of December 5th in the hopes St. Nick will fill them with candy and chocolate coins. I love Nikolaustag and since I am German we celebrate it each year and of course my kids put out their shoes last night:

We also left out some carrots for the donkey that Nikolaus rides on and it seems my kids were good this year!

Bento Bloggers and Friends is having a Ho Ho Hop today and  I made a special Nikolaus Lunch in honor of Nikolaustag!