This Week in American History

Here is what happened this week in American History.

• July 2. On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress adopts the Lee Resolution. Written by Edmund Pendleton and the Fifth Virginia Convention, it would be proposed to Congress by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. This Resolution for Independence termed the United Colonies, which came to be known as the Thirteen Colonies, as “free and independent states” and separate from the British Empire.

• July 3. In 1943, actor Kurtwood Smith is born in New Lisbon, Wisconsin. He grows up in California and graduates from San Jose State College (now San Jose State University) with a Bachelor of Arts degree and then from Stanford University with a Masters of Fine Arts. Smith has enjoyed tremendous success across a wide genre of movies, television programs, and stage productions. Among his early roles was in the 1987 major hit “Robocop”.

• July 4. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY! Today in 1776, the Second Continental Congress formally adopts the Declaration of Independence from British tyranny. However, the American War of Independence had already started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. King George III had declared the colonies to be in rebellion in Aug. 1775.

• July 5. On this day in 1994, Jeff Bezos begins a company known as “Cadabra”, an online bookstore operated out of his garage in Bellevue, Washington. A few months later and the company name will be changed to “Amazon”.

• July 6. In 2022, the Georgia Guidestones are heavily damaged in a bombing and the remains dismantled. Located in Elbert County, Georgia, the Guidestones were six granite slabs with each standing over 19 feet tall. In 1979, a person named Robert C. Christian commissioned creation of the stones which were to serve as compass, calendar and clock, and be capable of “withstanding catastrophic events”. With different languages on the stones, they were to rival Stonehenge in England. The Guidestones were unveiled in Mar. 1980 and became a regional tourist attraction, also becoming a source for derision. The stones were vandalized over the years and at least one politician called them “satanic”. No one has ever been arrested in connection with the bombing.

• July 7. Today in 1958, Alaska becomes the 49th state in the United States.

• July 8. On this day in 1776, John Nixon, a staunch supporter of the American Revolution, delivered the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence, doing so from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. Church bells – possibly including the famous Liberty Bell – rang when he finished.