The 229th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

I am heading down to Redding, CA with my delightful friend Jamie to hang out with her family for the 4th of July weekend.. I hope you all have plans to have fun, relax, ponder... anyway... here is something else to ponder...

As we celebrate...Here are 10 trivia questions for you (thanks to my friend Tracy and The Dallas Morning News ^ July 3, 2004 The Dallas Morning News Staff):

1. Which three presidents died on July 4?
2. Which president laid the cornerstone for the Washington Monument on July 4, 1850?
3. What was the title of the 1969 Broadway musical, written by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, that told the story of the founding of the United States?
4. What city in the American South fell to Ulysses S. Grant and Union forces on July 4, 1863, after a short siege?
5. What twin advice columnists were born on July 4, 1918?
6. In one of the wildest baseball games of all time, the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves, 16-13, in how many innings on July 4 (and 5), 1985?
7. When was the Stars and Stripes authorized by Congress as the national flag?
8. The flag has 13 stripes. How many of them are red?
9. Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star-Spangled Banner after witnessing what?
10. Where and when was the first 50-star flag flown?



Answers...

1. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams (1826) and James Monroe (1831)
2. Zachary Taylor. He became ill with cholera that night and died five days later.
3. 1776
4. Vicksburg, Miss. It came a day after the Union victory at Gettysburg, marking a turning point in the Civil War
5. Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren (real names: Esther "Eppie" Lederer and Pauline Phillips)
6. 19 innings. The game ended at 3:55 a.m., and the Braves then fired off their Independence Day fireworks, leading many local residents to believe the city was under attack.
7. June 14, 1777. This date is observed as Flag Day.
8. Seven.
9. The bombardment of Fort McHenry
10. Philadelphia, 1960