Fourth of July
James R. Heintze, ed., Fourth of July Celebrations Database, Washington, DC: 2000.
Frederick Douglass,"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, Rochester, NY, 5 July 1852.
On this day, in
1826, many miles apart but within hours of each other, former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die. On this day, five years later, the last of the founding generation presidents, James Monroe, dies.
1855, Walt Whitman self-publishes a small volume of 12 poems, Leaves of Grass. It sells poorly, but Whitman would revise and republish it repeatedly in the next 37 years. By 1892, it would include almost 400 poems.
1862, during a picnic on the River Thames, the Reverend Charles L. Dodgson tells ten-year-old Alice Liddell what happened to a little girl named Alice when she fell down a rabbit hole. She insists that he must write it down. On this day, three years later, under the name of Lewis Carroll, he publishes the story as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
1951, a reporter for Madison, Wisconsin's Capital-Times seeks signatures on a petition composed of quotations from the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. 111 of 112 people refuse to sign it. Many suspect the reporter of promoting subversion.
1981, nearly blind at 89, Dumas Malone publishes Volume 6, The Sage of Monticello, of his six volume biography, Jefferson and His Times, on the 155th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's death. It had taken over 35 years to complete and won the Pulitzer Prize.
2007, Cliopatria welcomes Informed Comment: Global Affairs to the history blogosphere. A group blog spear-headed by Juan Cole, it includes our colleague, Manan Ahmed.