America and 4th of July Tidbits...

Capital: Washington D.C.
Motto: "In God We Trust"
National Anthem: "The Star Spangled Banner"
National Bird: Bald Eagle
National Flower: Rose



Independence Day commemorates the formal adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
In 1781, Massachusetts was the first legislature to recognize the Fourth of July.
In 1941, the U.S. Congress made Independence Day a federal paid holiday.
The residents of Vicksburg, Mississippi celebrated the Fourth of July in 1941 for the first time in 78 years (since the Siege of Vicksburg ended with a Union victory during the Civil War on July 4, 1863).

In a remarkable series of coincidences, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two founding fathers of the U.S. (and the only two men who signed the Declaration of Independence and became President) died on the same day: July 4, 1826, which was the United States' 50th anniversary.

The "Star-Spangled Banner" is set to the tune of an English drinking song, "To Anacreon in Heaven".

The words "Under God" were added in 1954 to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Betsy Ross sewed it, but Francis Hopkinson, a New Jersey delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, actually designed the first U.S. flag.

The stars on the flag were in a circle so that no one colony would be viewed above another. It is reported that George Washington said, "Let the 13 stars in a circle stand as a new constellation in the heavens."

The flag has 13 stripes representing the original 13 colonies (7 red and 6 white).

Namaste.

The sites with the info listed above:
http://www.geocities.com/starchaser-m/fourthofjuly/funstuff.html
http://encarta.msn.com/list_fourthofjuly/10_Surprising_Facts_About_the_Fourth_of_July.html
http://oldeducator.com/july4factsandtrivia.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Day_(United_States)