Getting in the spirit

Since July Fourth is Friday, here are a few facts to help celebrate our nation’s 249th birthday.

I’m guessing you’ve seen the famous painting above and you probably don’t know who painted it. The image is synonymous with Americanism and the American Revolution.

The 8’ x 10‘ oil painting was made in Ohio by Archibald McNeal Willard (1836-1918) for our country’s 100th year anniversary. He moved to New York City to study art in 1873. He first painted this work for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876.

When first completed it was known as “Yankee Doodle,” and only later became known as “The Spirit of ’76.”

Critics at the time considered it to be cartoonish but it seized the public imagination and wound up traveling across the country. After the Exposition, it went on tour from Boston to San Francisco, and was admired by sellout crowds wherever it was shown.

Hot in Cleveland

The painting’s popularity led Willard to paint an estimated 14 more versions. Two copies are held in Cleveland, one at the Western Reserve Historical Society and the second at Cleveland City Hall. The one you see here is the property of the U.S. State Department and was most likely painted in 1875.

The models were Hugh Moser, a Civil War veteran and friend of Willard’s playing the fife, Henry K. Devereux, son of Gen. John H. Devereux, (who bought one of the paintings) served as the model for the drummer on the left and Willard’s father (Rev. Samuel Willard) as the older drummer.

Yankee Doodle Dandy

The words to this song were written as a slap in the face to Americans. “Yankee Doodle” is a famous example of an insult that backfired.

The term Yankee is difficult to nail down but some historians say it is derived from Dutch words that were pronounced “John Cheese” in the 1850s. A “doodle” is a country hick, and a “dandy” is a conceited jerk.

Riding on a pony is an insult as a proper military commander rides a horse. Stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni is insulting because a macaroni was a pejorative term used to describe a fashionable man with feminine traits of 18th-century Britain.

British troops played the song while marching out of Boston to Lexington and Concord in 1775. The Colonists adopted the lyrics and tune for motivation.

Early Parties

While many parades, bonfires greeted the document’s public readings on July 8, 1776, the first organized July Fourth celebration would take place in 1777 in Philadelphia and Boston.

According to the Pennsylvania Evening Post on July 5, 1777: Yesterday the 4th of July, being the anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America, was celebrated in this city with demonstrations of joy and festivity. About noon all the armed ships and gallies in the river were drawn up before the city, dressed in the gayest manner, with the colors of the United States and streamers displayed. At one o’clock, the yards being properly manned, they began the celebration of the day by a discharge of thirteen cannon from each of the ships, and one from each of the thirteen gallies, in honor of the Thirteen United States.

In Boston, the Sons of Liberty fired off fireworks and shells over Boston Common.

What did we celebrate before July Fourth?

Before the American Revolution, the King George III’s June 4 birthday was a celebration marked with bonfires, speeches and the ringing of bells. But in 1776, as patriotic fervor swept through the colonies, praising birthday celebrations turned to mock funerals for the king.

The Continental Congress voted in favor of American independence on July 2, 1776. On July 4, after making several minor changes to Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence, Congress officially adopted the document. The only man to actually sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776: The president of the Continental Congress, John Hancock. Most of the rest signed on Aug. 2.

A work in progress

The Continental Congress authorized a five-man committee to draft a declaration of independence from England. That committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston.

Jefferson was regarded as the most eloquent of the five, so he did most of the work. The committee — and then the congress — made a total of 86 changes to his first draft.

That draft now resides in the manuscript collection of the Library of Congress.

First Fourth of July Celebration at the White House

Although John Adams was the first president to occupy the Executive Mansion in November 1800, Thomas Jefferson was the first to celebrate the Fourth of July at the White House in 1801. Jefferson opened the house and greeted diplomats, civil and military officers, citizens and Cherokee chiefs in the center of the oval saloon (today’s Blue Room). The Marine Band played in the Entrance Hall while on the north grounds a festival took place — complete with horse races, parades and food and drink. The tradition of an annual reception at the White House continued for much of the 19th century.

The north grounds of the President’s Park — the “common” — came alive at daybreak with the raising of tents and booths, soon followed by crowds of people. A festival took place just for the day. Food and drink and cottage goods of all types were sold. There were horse races and cockfights and parades of the Washington Militia and other military companies. A bare headed Jefferson with his “gray locks waving in the air” watched from the steps of the White House. Then he invited everyone in to partake of his hospitality and his thanksgiving for the preservation of independence.

Sources: Americanrevolution.org, case.edu, National Archives, Whitehouse.gov, Smithsonian, Kennedy-center.org, Mountvernon.org