Originally posted by dlh Though I admire the technique (both photographic and caloric), I have to observe that the United States was invented thirteen years after Virginia and Massachusetts seceded from Great Britain. The Fourth of July holiday does not celebrate the founding of the United States. Offensive cultural appropriation?
V-A-V the question: What is the correct date of the founding or "start" of the USA? Here's a list of potentials I came up with:
June 9, 1772. Americans burn the British customs ship
HMS Gaspee after she runs aground near Providence, R.I.
Dec. 16, 1773, Boston Tea Party
Sept. 5, 1774, 1st Continental Congress convenes
April 19, 1775, gunfire exchanged between British troops and American "minutemen" at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts
May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convenes. This body acted as the de facto government of the colonies/states for as long as the congress was in session.
June 19, 1775, George Washington appointed commander of the Continental Army. This amounted to a de facto declaration of war on Britain.
May 15, 1776, 5th Virginia Convention declares independence from Britain
June 29, 1776, 5th Virginia Convention ratifies a constitution and elects Patrick Henry as the first governor of the independent Commonwealth of Virginia.
July 2, 1776 Virginia proposes secession from Britain at the 2nd Continental Congress, It is approved by the participants. The Virginia delegate who put forward this proposal was Richard Henry Lee, ancestor of Robert E. Lee.
July 4, 1776, the formal Declaration of Independence is signed by the attending state representatives in Philadelphia
November 16, 1776, the brig Andrew Doria, the American colony's first warship, is given an official salute (=firing of canon in response to canons firing from the brig) at the island of Sint Eustatius in the Dutch West Indies. This is the first acknowledgement of the legitimacy of the United States by a foreign country (the brig was, importantly and symbolically, flying under an American Flag)
November 15, 1777, the Articles of Confederation are adopted by Congress
March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation are Ratified by all 13 states
May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention is convened
Sept 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States is presented to George Washington
December 7, 1787, Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the constitution
June 21, 1788, New Hampshire becomes the ninth state to ratify the Constitution, making it officially adopted.
March 4, 1789, The Constitution of the United States officially becomes the Law of the Land.
April 30, 1789, George Washington officially inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America.
May 29, 1790, Rhode becomes the last of the 13 original colonies to ratify the Constitution. The mystic number 13 is now indelibly linked to the USA (sometime read about how many sets 13 things are in the Great Seal of the USA*). Rhode Island had held out because of a variety of objections and ratified only after being promised that immediately after they did, the Constitution would be amended in response to those objections. That became the Bill of Rights.
*Among numerous other sets of 13, there are 13 letters in "e pluribus unum."
Last edited by WPRESTO; 07-05-2019 at 04:37 AM.