Every Fifty Years
American Documents: Our Anniversaries
This is a very special edition of American Documents. I’m not running the normal preamble. I’ll keep the focus short and tight.
July 2nd was when the Lee Resolution was received by the Continental Congress, which was the precursor to declaring independence. The discussion was thorough and formal. The Declaration was then adopted on July 4th and signed mostly by the next month, with a couple of outliers. (The video below talks about this.)
First: Read This
Obviously the date is loaded with significance for Americans. In addition to Independence Day, July 4th also marked the deaths of three presidents and the births of one. James Monroe died on July 4th, 1831, and Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4th, 1872.
What’s insane is that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died on July 4th, 1826, exactly 50 years after they voted to adopt the Declaration in Congress. Jefferson died first and Adams died later the same day. This is one of those mythology-caliber events in American history that has always fascinated me.
I worked this into the lore of HEARTLANDERS. The idea is that George Washington discovered an ancient shrine in the American Heartland during his service in the French and Indian War—a sacred site where mortals can commune with the gods, and enter into agreements for protection and prosperity, if they meet certain standards of conduct.
Washington would later relay this information to other Founders, and they used that knowledge during their activities in 1776. I don’t go into the particulars of where and when in the book, only that several Founders (and Washington) entered the Shrine and made such a covenant that year. Adams and Jefferson were included.
The dual deaths of Adams and Jefferson created a fifty-year renewal interval. Every half century on July 4th, the President has to go to the Shrine and renew the covenant between God and America, or else divine protection will be lifted.
The book is set in 2076, twenty years after a cataclysmic solar storm and six days before the 4th of July. Frank Rammage and his team of Kryptonauts have to find the Shrine and escort the President there if they have any hope of getting America back on her feet.
Go read this book. Buy it and read it. Imagine if Michael Crichton wrote at pulp speed and swerved his truck into Dan Brown’s lane and said “Shut up, nerd.” That is HEARTLANDERS.
Second: Watch This
This video just premiered on the TMR YT channel. It’s a full list of who signed the Declaration, where they were from, how old they were, and what they did for a living. Then I give you a list of books to read (fiction and non) as well as movies to watch.
Third: Read These
John Quincy Adams, December 1826
JQ Adams didn’t offer a speech on July 4th, though he attended celebrations. The day was later overshadowed by his father’s death. He broached the subject during a national address later that year.
He opened the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia with these remarks.
He emphasizes the spiritual and religious roots of the Declaration, as any good president should. (You’re sleeping on Coolidge, go read about him.)
He spoke at Independence Hall in Philadelphia and gave the famous line of “a flame to be fed, not ashes to be revered.”
Trump will have remarks this weekend, no doubt. He kicked off the Great American State Fair last week in advance of that.
Why yes, he gives a speech…go read the book…
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