UNITED STATES: INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE AND A FEW FACTS

United States of America is the longest functioning democracy in the world. July 4, 1776 represents

 the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States of America as an independent

nation. According to the Declaration of Independence, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"

are the "unalienable rights" of the people of the country. Independence day, commonly known as

fourth of July is a federal holiday celebrated with fireworks, parades, barbecues, carnivals, fairs,

 games, picnics, concerts reunions, speeches and ceremonies.

United States is the fourth largest country by area and third largest by population. The country

has an extremely diverse geography and climatic condition. The term "United States", when used in

the geographical sense, means the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and

 the U.S. Virgin Islands. Forty-eight of the states are situated in the single region between Canada and

Mexico known as Contiguous United States or the Lower 48. Alaska is situated in the northwestern

end of North America and the State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.

America is a land of immigrants and still receives more immigrants than any other country in the

world. Millions of immigrants came to the United States through Ellis Island, known as the historical

 gateway of immigrants. Located in Upper New York Bay, Ellis Island served as the nation's busiest

 immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. Almost half of the ancestors of the present day
Americans  came through this island .

The oldest DNA evidence of human habitation in North America, dated back to 14,300 years ago,

was found in the Paisley Caves in south-central Oregon . Dated back to 3500 BC, the multiple mound

 complex of Watson Brake, situated in the state of Louisiana is the oldest archaeological site in the

 United States. As early as 6500 BCE, people in the Lower Mississippi Valley at the Monte Sano site

 built complex earthwork mounds to express their religious ceremonies and cosmology.

At the beginning of 10th century AD, Vikings, the Germanic Norse seafarers from Scandinavian
countries explored and settled areas of the North Atlantic including the northeastern fringes of North
America. Leif Erikson a Viking explorer is believed to be the first recorded Nordic person to have
visited North America. Leif Erikson Day is an annual American observance occurs on October 9.

Colonization or the period of exploration sponsored by major European nations started when Queen

 Isabella 1 of Spain financed the expedition of Christopher Columbus to discover India, famed for its

  riches of gold, pearls and spices. In 1492, Columbus landed in a New World which he believed to

 be India and called the native people of the newly discovered land as "Indians", a name still used to

 refer the natives in United States.

The Americas, or America, also known as the New World, is the combined continental landmasses of

 North America and South America in the Western Hemisphere. America, derived its name from
Amerigo Vespucci an Italian explorer and cartographer who proved that the land found by Columbus
 was not India . In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on
which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America".

Christopher Columbus discovery led to the first lasting European contact with the America .It

inaugurated a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for several

centuries. Spain was the first European power to settle and colonize a major portion of North

America. Though colonization of the continent started from 1492 onwards, Spain and Portugal were

 the only significant colonial powers till 1600. In the following century, along with the

Dutch, England and France succeeded in establishing permanent colonies in the land.

Queen Elizabeth of England  intended  to establish a colony in North America to loot the riches from

 the New World. Britain made several attempts to colonize America which were all failures including

 the  Lost  colony of Roanoke. The  Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first

successful  permanent English  settlement in the Americas. From 1616 to1699,Jamestown served

 as the capital of the colony for a period of 83 years. Virginia Dare a prominent figure in American
 myth and folklore, was originally the first child born  in the New World to English parents.

From 1754 to 1763, England and France fought a war over their land in America called the Seven

Years' War or the French and Indian War. English won this war and made their thirteen colonies in
 America. This thirteen colonies were Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia,
Maryland ,Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, New York,
 and Rhode Island.

After this war, the colonists began to think that they were not getting their "rights as freeborn

Englishman. Britain started imposing new taxes on the colonies and made it pay for the war. The

major taxes imposed by British included the Sugar Act (1764), Stamp Act (1765), Townshend Duties

(1767), and Tea Act (1773). Americans called this "No taxation without representation", meaning that

 the colonists should not have to pay taxes unless they had votes in the British Parliament .

In 1770, colonists in Boston known as the Sons of Liberty got in a fight with the British soldiers. In

this  struggle five colonists were shot killed by the British army, widely known as the Boston

 Massacre. After the Tea Act, in 1773 the Sons of Liberty dumped hundreds of boxes of tea in a

 river  , famously known as Boston Tea Party .After this event, delegates from thirteen colonies

 formed a group known as continental congress. Important delegates included were Benjamin

Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Roger Sherman and John Jay.

George Washington was the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American

Revolutionary War. American victory at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781, led by George Washington

made Britain to decide to stop fighting and give up the colonies. Thirteen American Colonies rejected

 the British monarchy and aristocracy, and fought to overthrew the authority of Britain with the help

 of France, Spain, Vermont, Netherlands, and the French allied Sultanate of Mysore.

The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783 against
the British rule. On July 4, 1776, people from 13 colonies agreed to the United States Declaration of
Independence and claimed themselves as free and independent states, and were not part of England
 any more. The Battle of Saratoga is considered as the turning point of the American Revolution. The

 victory of this battle against Britain made France and Spain joining the war on the side of the Americans.

On 3rd September 1783,The Treaty of Paris was signed in Paris by representatives of King George III
 of Britain and representatives of the United States of America which ended the American
evolutionary War. The significant result of the revolution was the creation of a democratically-
elected representative government responsible to the will of the people . The treaty also defined the
territories and enlarged the boundaries of United States. The Jay Treaty of 1795, solved many
issues left over from the Revolution, and opened ten years of peaceful trade between Britain and United States.

Articles of Confederation is the  first governing document  or the first written constitution of
the United States of America. The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation on
November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did
 not occur until March 1, 1781.The final form consist of a preamble and thirteen articles.. The
article  of confederation was weak as it left most of the  powers in the hands of the states .

The Articles of Confederation did little to enhance the United States' ability to defend its
sovereignty as an independent nation. A new Constitution was written and signed in 1787 , which

replaced the Article of Confederation. This constitution stands as the supreme law of the country.

It provide a strong  framework for Federal Government and  its relationship to the States and its

citizens. The United States Constitution is the shortest written constitution in the world.

Largely to the efforts of James Madison, The Bill of Rights or the first ten amendments  were added

 to the Constitution in December 1791. It was the result of fears raised by the  Anti-Federalists during
 the ratification of the Constitution that the Constitution did not provide sufficient protection against
 abuses of power by the federal government. Bill of Rights ensure freedoms of speech and religion,

the right to bear arms, the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and  protect

individual rights against government intrusion.

After independence United States has expanded its territory through major acquisitions and
purchases. The important among them are the purchase of Florida, Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines

and Cuba from Spain, of which Philippines and Cuba became independent nations. Another major

purchase was the purchase of Alaska from Russia. The US also annexed the territories of Oregon,

 Texas,  Hawaii  and Mexico.

When Thomas Jefferson became president he  doubled the size of the US  in 1803 ,with the
purchase of  Louisiana Territory from France. The Louisiana territory comprised of 828,000 square
miles and included  land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The territory
contained land that now forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, and
 areas of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas, Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and Louisiana including the city of New Orleans, west of the Mississippi River.

Another major crisis faced by United States was the civil war fought between 1861 to 1865 . The
 American Civil War had its origin in the issue of slavery. Chattel slavery, also called traditional
slavery, was practiced in the country , were people are treated as the chattel (personal property) of an
 owner and are bought and sold as if they were commodities. After the American revolution, northern
 States abolished slavery (known as free states) while the southern states continued it (known as slave
 states). Among the 34 states as of January 1861, seven Southern slave states individually declared
their secession from the United States and formed the "Confederacy".

After four years of combat between the Union and the Confederate states, Confederacy was
collapsed which determined the survival of the Union .The result of the war include the abolition of
slavery, preservation of territorial integrity, dissolution of the confederacy, beginning of
reconstruction era and the processes of restoring national unity. The country also has a meteoritic rise
 in global importance since its independence and civil war.

The national flag of the United States consist of thirteen stripes, which represents the thirteen
 colonies, that declared independence from the Britain  and became the first states in the country.
 The blue rectangle in the canton referred to specifically as the "union" and bear 50 small white five
pointed  stars representing the  fifty states of the country.  Nicknames for the flag include the "Stars
and Stripes", "Old Glory" and "The Star-Spangled Banner". June 14 of each year is  celebrated as the
 flag day which commemorates the adoption of the flag of the United States in 1777.

The Six National symbols of United States are the Liberty Bell, the U.S. flag, the Bald eagle, the
 National Anthem, Uncle Sam, and the Statue of Liberty. Though American English is the
defacto national language of United States, there is no official language declared at the federal level.
 After English,Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the country.

Republicanism is the guiding philosophy of United States which represent more than a
particular  form of government. It is a way of life, a core ideology and a major part of American civic
 thought since its formation . It is an uncompromising commitment to liberty and stresses unalienable
 rights as  central values ,vilifies corruption and a total rejection of  aristocracy and inherited political
 power . It make the people as a whole sovereign and emphasize the civic duties of citizens.

 

 

 

Event: Independence Day Parade

Venue: Constitutional Avenue,Washington DC

Camera Used: Canon Power Shot A490