Tacky Raccoons

On 9 November 1781, British General Cornwallis formally surrendered 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a French and American force at Yorktown, Virginia, bringing the American Revolution to a close.

The United States Constitution was ratified eight years later in 1789, and a New Nation was born, conceived in Liberty. The US Constitution is the world’s oldest written constitution still in effect.

The flag in the painting is the 1st adopted flag of the United States of America as approved by the Continental Congress of 1777. It postdates the ones sewn by Betsy Ross and others, and predates the defeat of the British.

The irony that’s not taught in schools is that the Founding Fathers were British and The American Revolution was fought by the British against the British. TRUE.

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That’s the first known recording of John Philip Sousa‘s “The Stars And Stripes Forever March.” It was recorded by Kendle’s First Regiment Band on 29 December 1901 and published by Victor Records [source]. Sousa wrote in his autobiography that he composed the march on Christmas Day, 1896, while crossing the Atlantic, after he learned of the death of his band’s manager.

In 1987, an Act of Congress declared the song to be the Official National March of the United States of America.

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[Top image from here. More Independence Day posts here. Don’t miss this.]

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P.S. For the under-educated Kaepernick types who believe that this Great Nation was founded upon slavery:

Name one other nation in history (at the formation of This  Great Nation) that did not practice and condone slavery.

Name one other nation in history that blockaded slave ships within 18 years of its founding.

Name one other nation in history that made slavery illegal within 75 years of its founding.

Don’t bother. You can’t.

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