The Fourth Of July - A Day To Remember For Many Reasons

We all know that July 4th is the day that we celebrate our 1776 Declaration of Independence. However, do you know about any other historical connections to this day? For example, three of the Founding Father Presidents died on July 4th. The French people gave the Statue of Liberty to the United States on this day. General Pershing visited the Marquis de La Fayette's tomb in Paris on July 4, 1917. Lastly, right here in Orangetown, residents published The Orangetown Resolutions, an important predecessor to the declaration of freedom and right to self rule later published by the colonies.

The fact that three of the Founding Fathers passed away on this day is startling. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Monroe all died on the Fourth of July. Even more astonishing is the detail that Jefferson and Adams did so on the VERY same day, within hours of each other in 1826, on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Monroe died five years later.

It was on July 4, 1884, in a ceremony in Paris, that the French officially presented the completed Statue of Liberty to the American ambassador. The gift was in commemoration of the friendship of the French and American people during the Revolutionary War.

Earlier this year, France sent a 10 foot bronze replica of the statue to New York, again to honor the friendship between our two countries. It will be on display from July 1 - July 5 at Ellis Island. Then, it will be transported to Washington, D. C., to the French ambassador's residence, in time for France's national holiday, Bastille Day, on July 14.

Just three months after entering World War I, on July 4, 1917, General Pershing and his aide de camp, Colonel Stanton, attended a memorial ceremony in Paris for the Marquis de La Fayette, a hero of both the American and French Revolutions. Stanton ended his speech with the words "La Fayette, nous voilà" (La Fayette, we are here). The quote became a rallying cry for American troops stationed in Europe during the war.

Lastly, but of particular interest to the Piermont and Nyack residents of Orangetown, on July 4, 1774, a group of residents published The Orangetown Resolutions. At that time, Orangetown included all of today's Rockland County. This document, while still claiming loyalty to the British king, protested the unfair taxation of the Intolerable Acts and the occupation of Boston Harbor. It proposed that all trade between the colonies, Great Britain, and the West Indies be halted as a means to hasten the repeal of the hated taxes. It was a harbinger of the break with British rule later stated in the Declaration of Independence.

So during this weekend's independence celebrations, perhaps we should stop a minute and think about the other important events that have occurred on July 4th--a day of historical significance for both yesterday's and tomorrow's generations.