Most citizens of nations have some pride in the uniqueness, the singular nature, of the place of their birth.
People love their country.
It seems to have been more than a coincidence that the United States of America was born with advantages bestowed by Providence—to use a label our Founding Fathers loved. Of course, they were referring to the Creator.
If it’s possible for God to have given our nation a peculiar trait, He seems to have blessed us with moxie. That’s the grit that a person needs to overcome huge obstacles. Perseverance.
And it seems that the Fourth of July has always been ours alone.
The special date of our independence has also seen some interesting little details and scenarios that have landed on that date.
In the pivotal year of 1944, America was hip-deep in a world war fought on two fronts: wintry offensives in Europe and sauna-like conditions in the Pacific. It was July 4 that year that some good old American moxie showed up. To celebrate our independence in the face of threats to it, U.S. First Army chief, General Omar Bradley, ordered his troops to open fire on the Germans at exactly noon. Some units used smoke shells of red, white, and blue!
Farther back in time, July 4, 1863 proved to be a watershed moment for our country. For three days in the Pennsylvania countryside, July 1-3, the combined northern and southern armies—locked in a brutal civil war—wrote an epic national chapter in red. Nearly 200,000 troops, under the commands of George Meade and Robert E. Lee, slugged it out in the woods and open pastures. By the time the smoke cleared, fully 50,000 were killed or wounded. Brothers and cousins fought savagely. It was a necessary confrontation that would bind the nation together. That Independence Day turned us toward unity forever.
On Independence Day, 1945, America celebrated the defeat of the Nazis in Europe, and were days away from the War in the Pacific coming to a close. President Truman invoked the name of Almighty God in "humility for the guidance that has been given us by God in serving His will as a leader of freedom for the world.” American presidents did that kind of thing, then.
In the 1st World War, on July 4, Paris celebrated the first U.S. troops, of the Allied Expeditionary Force, arriving to join the fight. Thousands of French citizens were delirious with happiness, because the Yanks would now stand between them and a powerful German army. Eighteen months later, the AEF stood at the front of the winners.
But back to that odd, almost sanctification of the date, July 4, in our national consciousness.
Before the signing of the Declaration in Philadelphia—a full year before—General George Washington issued his first general orders. The tall, universally respected Virginian signed the orders on July 4, 1775. His purpose was to mold a loosely-trained militia into a fighting force that could take on the most powerful military in the world.
The British had no idea what awaited them.
In part, Washington’s orders read like this:
“The Continental Congress having now taken all the Troops of the several Colonies, which have been raised, or which may be hereafter raised for the support and defence of the Liberties of America; into their Pay and Service. They are now the Troops of the UNITED PROVINCES of North America; and it is hoped that all Distinctions of Colonies will be laid aside; so that one and the same Spirit may animate the whole, and the only Contest be, who shall render, on this great and trying occasion, the most essential service to the Great and common cause in which we are all engaged.”
And there you have it. God had ordained that our first national defense began on July 4, 1775. Exactly a year later, the fledgling country was officially born. A certain kind of moxie was born, too. Her flag went before the men that would defeat an empire.
Long may she wave.