Let's hear it for The Boys
Like all foundational myths, 'the 4th of July' requires some qualification. The semi-quincentenary of the founding of the United States of America is marked today - a bittersweet occasion, especially under its current President - but the date is somewhat arbitrary. I hate to be pedantic (me?) but, while true that delegates of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies signed off the Declaration of Independence on 4th July 1776, the New York delegation abstained until receiving authorisation from their state capital, Albany, which came on 2nd August 1776. The Declaration proclaimed the Thirteen Colonies "free and independent States", no longer colonies of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and, thus, no longer part of the British Empire. But this was only the beginning of a painfully protracted struggle to break free, not the end. Years of bloody battles and skirmishes followed, with the definitive peace treaty only signed, in Paris, on 3rd September 1783. Even then, this was n...