This is the month we celebrate the USA’s independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. We love the warm weather, picnics, swimming, barbecues, and evening explosions of fireworks. We’ve probably enjoyed a few chuckles from social media memes reminding the British that they must go to work on July 4.

When Great Britain was battling several countries, mainly France, in the Seven Years’ War, it was taking a toll on their treasury and the country was nearly bankrupt. King George III needed to raise money quickly. Taxes and tariffs became the bane of the colonies.

The Stamp Act of 1765 was:

1. The purchase of a roll of stamps to tax colonists
2. The purchase of inked designs to press on letters and envelopes to tax colonists
3. Magazines and newspapers embossed with a revenue stamp showing paid tax

Who wrote “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania?”

1. Ernest Hemingway
2. John Dickinson
3. Todd Lincoln
4. Geoffrey Chaucer

In 1773 the Tea Act was passed by Parliament. Many colonists were fed up by this time since it wasn’t a new tax on imported tea under the Townshend Act. All it did was establish more control over the colonists.

The Boston Tea Party did not immediately lead to the Declaration of Independence or even the Revolutionary War as it occurred on December 16, 1773.

But do we really understand the history of our independence and the actions that brought us to the signing of the Declaration of Independence?

Where were the “shots first fired” in 1775 that began the American Revolutionary War?

1. Philadelphia, PA
2. Hartford, CT
3. Fredericksburg, MD
4. Lexington, MA

Before Thomas Jefferson’s use of “thirteen united States of America,” in the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, what was the general descriptor used?

1. United Colonies
2. United Regions
3. United Provinces
4. United Territories

Which was the first of the original thirteen colonies?

1. Maryland
2. Pennsylvania
3. Virginia
4. New York

With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the United States formally became an independent nation.

I’ll supply your answers via email at aliciaraic@gmail.com or you can wait until next month’s blog, and I’ll post them.

If you like, you can use the above for trivia for family and friends next Independence Day.

Thanks go out to Travis Hadwin for this info.

I’d like to leave you with this scripture: “Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil;…” 1 Pet 2:16 (NIV)