Tag: Continental Congress

Madeira Mondays: How John Adams predicted your 4th of July party

Leave a comment

We’re coming up on the 4th of July which is my favorite holiday to explain to my friends here in Scotland. Most of them know that it’s a big celebration in the US but they’re a little bit fuzzy on the ‘why’. If I’m honest, I think some folks in the US are also a little bit unclear about why we celebrate it. Or maybe they remember the general gist of it, but not too many of the particulars.

To put it simply: July 4th, 1776 was the day that the American colonies formally declared their independence from Great Britain. And they declared their independence by signing a document titled, conveniently, ‘The Declaration of Independence.’ This document was mailed to the King who was, understandably, not too happy about it. But who is ‘they’? Who signed this world-changing document?

Continue reading →

Madeira Mondays: The best songs from ‘1776’

1 Comment

Before there was Hamilton, there was 1776.

I honestly can’t believe that I’ve been posting on this blog regularly for about a year and a half and I’ve never once dedicated a whole post to the musical 1776. This makes no sense to me. Surely I’ve written about this before? But I looked back at my records and while I’ve definitely mentioned 1776 (for example in this post about queer activism and Grace and Frankie), I haven’t done a whole post about it. It’s time for that to change! Especially since this is one of my favorite films and 100% falls into the ‘Madeira Mondays’ remit (it’s historical fiction AND it’s about one of the most significant political events of the 18th century: the signing of the Declaration of Independence in America).

Continue reading →