The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 2,1776 and ratified July 4,1776 .

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple

Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

Thank you Tom. Happy 4th.

Constitution for the United States of America (http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm)

Let's all rally round the flag boys and give a last hoorah

Thank you Tom. Happy 4th.

Constitution for the United States of America (http://www.constitution.org/constit_.htm)
and thanks for posting the Constitution. It reminds us that the strength of the country is not the government ....it is the individual .


Let's all rally round the flag boys and give a last hoorah
and why don't you give us a karaoke version of 'God Save the Queen' ?

a karaoke version of 'God Save the Queen' ?

Please, no. 'The Star Spangled Banner' is bad enough a cappella, and I LIKE it.

International and philosophical differences aside, we should all revel in what Liberty we have.

Here here Cats, though I doubt Clete will ever put another shrimp on the barbie once they taste a few of my bones, brisket, or poke chops....Texas style!

Here here Cats, though I doubt Clete will ever put another shrimp on the barbie once they taste a few of my bones, brisket, or poke chops....Texas style!

Brisket and ribs are good Texas style, but I don't care for poke salad. A little dry rubbed whole pig pickin' isn't bad either.

Love pig roasts, but these babies will make a Cat MEEEEOW!!

http://www.seriouseats.com/images/2016/04/20160415-grilled-pork-chop-vicky-wasik-3.jpg

Not bad, Buddy. We're doing beef chops this weekend, however.

By the way, Cat said meow.

and thanks for posting the Constitution. It reminds us that the strength of the country is not the government ....it is the individual .


and why don't you give us a karaoke version of 'God Save the Queen' ?

We don't sing God save the queen anymore unless it is a regal occasion, Advance Australia Fair sounds good acapella

Here here Cats, though I doubt Clete will ever put another shrimp on the barbie once they taste a few of my bones, brisket, or poke chops....Texas style!

Is that an invitation, if I were there I'd help you celebrate and extend the invitation for an Australia day BBQ with T-bone steak and beef sausages, lashings of BBQ onions and lots of sides. We don't put shrimp on the barbie, that's for yanks, it would ruin them, I like them just peeled myself with a good tartar sauce but some will go for chili

Come on down Clete, eats and fireworks! Sounds like a plan BYOB.

Or my British friends tell me, "Happy Treason Day" you ungrateful colonialists.

Happy Fourth to everyone.

Or my British friends tell me, "Happy Treason Day" you ungrateful colonialists.

Happy Fourth to everyone.
Tell your Brit friends that our independence was the best thing to happen to Great Britain. It helped form the greatest empire ever ,the Anglosphere . Edmund Burke had it right when he said ,
“The temper and character, which prevail in our colonies, are, I am afraid, unalterable by any human art. … An Englishman is the unfittest person on earth to argue another Englishman into slavery.” The values our founders had were bred and nurtured through centuries of British history and experience.

Tell your Brit friends that our independence was the best thing to happen to Great Britain. .

I agree with that sentiment, just think if you hadn't separated what would have happened when you came to BREXIT

Don't know what I ate yesterday, whilst enduring the dilemmas of a dying dog.

I feel sad for your dog Joy, it is hard to loose a friend