Trying times
Thomas Paine was the man whose words convinced Americans that their cause was not just worthy but destiny. “These are the times,” he wrote, “that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” So how is it that there were 20,000 mourners at Franklin’s funeral and six at Paine’s? Via The New Yorker.
Great inventor
Ben Franklin: The man who turned “American” from an insult into a compliment. Via The London Review of Books.
False truths
Five things that didn’t happen on July 4th (including one that did, just not the way the story is ever told). So we start with the fact that the Liberty Bell didn’t ring. Via The Washington Post.
Advanced placement
So you think you know about a revolution … Buzzfeed offers up what it calls a really tough American revolution quiz. And it is. Like, how many times did Washington cross the Delaware?
Strange facts
Gail Collins offers up a funnier 4th of July quiz on our present-day answer to the Founding Fathers, like, which GOP candidate says he once participated in an exorcism (or did he?). Via The New York Times.
Bleeding heart
Was it principle or pragmatism at the heart of the American revolution? And how did equality, or tar and feathering, enter into it? (Just FYI, Franklin and Washington both opposed the Tea Party, the original.) Via The New Yorker.
Imagining failure
An alternative history: What if the American colonies had lost the revolution? Via The Atlantic.
Infectious holiday
The Fourth of July was always meant to be a raucous and even dangerous holiday. But then there were the years when it became really dangerous, the early 20th century when Independence Day became Tetanus Day. Via The National Journal.
Play ball
Five things to know about baseball and the 4th of July, starting with the most famous speech ever made on an American athletic field. Via Yahoo.
Photo credit: lisa cee (Lisa Campeau), Creative Commons, Flickr.