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Tag Archives: Holiday
The Gentlemen’s Rant: Valentine’s Day
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Loading ...4th of July – Our Independence
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Hyperspectral images of a draft of the Declaration of Independence reveal that it originally used the word ‘subjects’ instead of ‘citizens’ at a critical juncture. After writing “our fellow subjects,” author Thomas Jefferson scrubbed it out and replaced it with the familiar alternative.
To the Library of Congress, whose Preservation Research and Testing Division analyzed the document with the latest high-resolution camera equipment, it illustrates an important moment: “when [Jefferson] reconsidered his choice of words and articulated the recognition that the people of the fledgling United States of America were no longer subjects of any nation, but citizens of an emerging democracy.”
The sensitivites surrounding the revelation are obvious, as is its humor. Perhaps Jefferson simply forgot, in his haste to draft the document that would shape his nation’s future. Or maybe we’re seeing a decisive instant, a decision about that future’s very nature being made in ink.
The Library of Congress often discovers unusual things while examining ancient artifacts. Especially maps and documents, where modern tech sees what the naked eye can’t: corrections, changes, and severely faded or damaged elements.
The correction is in the part of the declaration concerning grievances against King George III.
“It had been a spine-tingling moment when I was processing data late at night and realized there was a word underneath citizens,” said scientist Fenella France, who revealed the correction at the LoC’s labs, in a press release. “Then I began the tough process of extracting the differences between spectrally similar materials to elucidate the lost text.”
According to the Library, the correction was suspected in the past–similar language exists in state constitutions–but not demonstrable until now.
Via boingboing: Draft of Declaration of Independence named subjects, not citizens
More interesting 4th of July political history:
July 4th’s Forgotten Partisan History
The Secret Founding Fathers
I Don’t Think We’re Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto
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Google’s April Fools was a bit of a letdown this year.
The Feast of Saint Anthony
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The festival in San Bartolome de Pinares, Spain coincides every year with the eve of the Feast of Saint Anthony, the patron saint of animals. According to tradition, revelers ride their horses through bonfires placed around the village to purify the animals with fire and smoke after receiving a blessing from a priest.
