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“10 THINGS ABOUT JULY 4TH THAT MOST AMERICANS DON'T KNOW”

It's the 250th. Here are 10 things most Americans don't know about July 4th, 1776:

1. The vote for independence was actually taken on July 2nd, 1776. John Adams predicted that date would be celebrated forever. He was wrong.

2. Only 56 men signed the Declaration, but it represented 2.5 million colonists who had no vote in the matter.

3. Benjamin Franklin was 70 years old when he signed. The youngest signer, Edward Rutledge, was 26.

4. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, rivals, then friends, both died on July 4th, 1826. Exactly 50 years after the Declaration.

5. The word “democracy” does not appear once in the Declaration of Independence.

6. The original parchment copy was not signed on July 4th, most delegates signed on August 2nd, 1776.

7. At the time of signing, one-third of American colonists were still loyal to the British Crown.

8. Thomas Jefferson owned over 600 enslaved people while writing that "all men are created equal." The contradiction was known. And debated. At the convention.

9. The Liberty Bell cracked, historians dispute exactly when, but it was NOT rung on July 4th, 1776.

10. The Declaration was first publicly read aloud on July 8th, 1776, to crowds in Philadelphia. Four days after the date we celebrate.

The truth is always more interesting than the myth.

That's why we built IQ News Daily.

Get the full story on every issue: iqnewsdaily.substack.com

#250thAnniversary #July4th #AmericanHistory #IQNewsDaily

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