On July 2, 1776, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."
It turns out he was off by two days, although it's easy to forgive his enthusiasm for the 2nd. It was on July 2, 1776 that Virginia's resolution on Independence was adopted by a vote of 12-0 with one abstention (New York). The actual vote was not as unanimous as it would appear. Just a day earlier, the 2nd Continental Congress was in session as a "Committee of the Whole," voting on whether or not to put the issue of independence up for a vote by the entire Congress. In that session, both Pennsylvania and South Carolina voted against it. By a vote of 10-2 with one abstention, the issue was put to the final vote on the 2nd. Because of Pennsylvania's resolution on unanimity, only a single nay vote would sink Virginia's resolution. Why John Dickinson and Robert Morris abstained is not recorded, but that allowed Pennsylvania to vote Aye in the final tally. It's also not clear why Edward Rutledge of South Carolina changed his vote to Aye in the final tally, although it's been speculated - with some merit - that he had cut a deal to strike the slavery clause from the Declaration in exchange for his vote. In any case, the true birth of the United States of America was on this date. What we celebrate on the 4th is actually the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, not the passage of the resolution that in fact separated us from Great Britain.
Post processing started with a detail light filter in Topaz Adjust. Back in PSE, I really wanted this to be a faded and aged looking photo, so I adjusted the levels a bit for contrast, and then drew the saturation down significantly. I then added a sepia filter on top of it. The original was just too bright and cheerful, and that's really not the feeling I was going for.
