Free Republic

Independence Day is celebrated in the United States on July 4, and features parades, ceremonies commemorating the historic event, fireworks, barbecues and the occasional retail store sale. At the center of the observance is the Declaration of Independence, an influential political document that 56 members of the Continental Congress signed in 1776. From the 18th century to the present day, the Declaration of Independence has garnered a lot of attention, as well as a few misconceptions and myths about its origins. Here are five interesting facts about the Declaration of Independence. They include how it originally condemned slavery, how the...

Deeply moved by the power of the Declaration’s words, George Washington ordered copies sent to all generals in the Continental Army.Most Americans celebrating the July 4 holiday today don’t fully realize that the power of ideas in the Declaration of Independence was the critical enabling factor for the Americans to win the War of Independence. Compared to the British professional military, the American colonial army was simply no match—it was undermanned, underfunded, underequipped, inexperienced, and undertrained. At the outset of the war, the British Royal Navy had 270 warships deployed in American waters, while the Continental Navy had seven ships.On...

A woke California school board member is calling for people to boycott the Fourth of July, claiming 'there is no reason to celebrate' America's Independence Day. AnaMarie Avila Farias, a third-generation Contra Costa County resident and member of the county's board of education, shared a fading blue and white image of the United States flag on June 28, along with the words 'BOYCOTT 4TH OF JULY,' on Facebook. 'I haven't celebrated 4th of July since 2016 and I don't think it's a holiday to celebrate' Farias wrote in a Facebook post. 'What do you think?' The elected official's stance on...

“They may take away our lives, but they’ll never take our freedom!” – A fake quote from the movie BraveheartOf course, the fake William Wallace (as played by Mel Gibson) turned out to be incorrect. The Scots were at war with their neighbors on and off ever since Scotland emerged as an independent kingdom up until 1707 when it became part of the United Kingdom. But is that going to change in the near future? Rather than having a wildman on a horse with blue paint on his face riding in to lead his people to independence, we have Scottish...

The defence chiefs of China and the United States held face-to-face talks for the first time on Friday, with both sides standing firm on their opposing views over Taiwan's right to rule itself, Reuters reported. China today said that Beijing will "not hesitate to start a war" if Taiwan declares independence, AFP reported.The warning was issued by China's defence minister during the first face-to-face talks with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin in Singapore. "If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost," Wu Qian quoted defence...

A Pakistani woman separated from her family during the 1947 Partition met her Indian brothers for the first time last month after 75 years. Mumtaz Bibi, who was separated from her Sikh family during the turmoil, met her brothers Gurmukh Singh and Baldev Singh for the first time at the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara in Pakistan in April. "We are so happy that we've been able to meet our sister in our lifetime," Gurmukh Singh said. In 1947, the Partition led to the creation of two independent nations - India and Pakistan. It was the biggest movement of people in history,...

What happened? Only yesterday, the United States was energy independent with low priced, reliable energy supplies, which came from our country thus freeing us from sending our young men to war or making geopolitical decisions because of our need for foreign energy. Today, we are no longer energy independent, we are suffering the highest energy prices ever, the president is going hat-in-hand to foreign energy producers begging for oil, and we are dumping oil out of the strategic petroleum reserve as if we were at war, at which we might soon find ourselves. President Reagan, after the economic disaster that...

During a crippling pandemic. A supply line crisis. And now on the precipice of World War 3, Joe Biden will not return America back to energy independence. At the behest of his overlords in the World Economic Forum and the leftist lunatics controlling his agenda, Biden is hellbent on pushing the American economy into a depression. The lies have been plentiful. And the truth cannot be denied. As millions of Americans plummet into poverty. https://rumble.com/vwymmn-the-engineered-energy-crisis.html

On “CNN Newsroom,” White House National Economic Council Director Brian Deese argued that the situation in Ukraine underscores the need for “true energy independence, and that’s about reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.” And that we have to decrease dependence on oil and gas “so that we and our allies, like those in Europe” aren’t as vulnerable to changes in the global price of oil. Deese stated that the ban on importing Russian oil “will have an impact” on gas prices. And “what we’re focused on is trying to make sure that we can bring — in the short term...

A federal judge on Tuesday approved a plan to restructure Puerto Rico's bond debt, which had plunged the U.S. territory into the country's largest municipal bankruptcy in history. Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled in favor of the Plan of Adjustment that was years in the making, through arduous negotiations between the island's Fiscal Oversight Board, debtors and the government. According to Board officials, the plan will reduce Puerto Rico's debt by 80 percent and save the island more than $50 billion in debt payments. Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said the approval of the plan "represents a great step for...

Another of grandfather Jack Bell's stories. This one is about a 1902 gunfight grandfather was in at the bottom of a mine. Later on he was, at various times, a game warden, Deputy Sheriff of Gunnison County, Colorado and Deputy Sheriff of Verdi, Nevada. The quotes in the story come from testimonials put out to get people to buy stock in his 1906 Jack Bell Gold Mining Company when he started a gold rush in Buckskin, Nevada.

CAMDEN, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina sees the upcoming 250th anniversary of the American Revolution as a chance to remind people that the state played a huge part in winning the nation’s independence, even if it did try later to tear the United States apart in the Civil War. The state has opened a new Revolutionary War center, and released an app for mobile devices that explores some 200 sites of battles and other key events, including remote swamps where patriots and loyalists skirmished in the War of Independence.... ...Congress commissioned the America250 Foundation five years ago to throw the...

This is the full reading of the original rough draft version of the United States Declaration of Independence. It is read directly from the transcript, without the filter of historians trying to control the narrative in one direction or the other.

Which U.S. state that started off as one of the original 13 colonies would our Founding Fathers recognize most clearly aligned with their vision of liberty? If you think none of the 13 states deserve that honor then which states today do? Perhaps this is not a totally fair question since our society has changed (not all for the better) so much since 1776. I'm sure every U.S. state government today has far more bureaucracy than the Founding Fathers would ever have wanted to see. But some states are clearly better than others in their governance.

There are many patriots today working to take back our country from the Socialists and Commies. If there were a modern day Declaration of Independence which signatures belong on it?

At the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams predicted that Independence Day would be “celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forevermore.” Bonfires might violate local fire codes. The president says we don’t need no stinking guns -- because he has all the F-15s...

The 4th of July used to be considered an important national holiday in the Philippines. Not because it was the United States’ birthday, but because it was Philippine Independence Day in 1946. Seventy five years ago, the Philippines was recognized as an independent, sovereign country by the United States, which withdrew its authority over the archipelago as colonizer. PRE-INDEPENDENCE HISTORY OF THE PHILIPPINES The road to July 4, 1946 was long and tenuous. The Philippines had been a Spanish colony since 1565, and since that time numerous revolts broke out challenging Spanish rule. These revolts were disunited, however, until the...

SOMEONE has truly said that every tree in the forest has, under ground, roots which are equal in body to all of its branches above ground. If this is correct, perhaps it can be said with equal truth that the great tree of American Liberty possesses, buried in the remote and distant past, as many roots and rootlets as its beautiful structure of branches exhibits to our admiring gaze. We sometimes think of liberty's roots in the Swiss Mountains where William Tell slew the tyrant Gessler, and we often refer to the English Plains of Runnymede where the Barons compelled...

A large group of protesters wearing uniforms, carrying "Reclaim America" banners and upside-down American flags marched through Old City passing Independence Hall late on the eve of July 4th. They arrived loaded in several Penske trucks in the city.

Burn their eyes out this weekend by flying your US flags from the 3rd through the 5th for the Fourth of July celebration. Have all the cretins of the left squinting and rubbing their eyes because of all the flags being displayed this holiday weekend. Let the commie left display their traitorous indignation at the flag flying across the country.