Fourth of July Break

July the 4th 1902

Loretta & Isabella report:

Monday the 4th of July is Independence Day, the anniversary of the day we Yanks declared our independence from Great Britain, and then had a big fight about it.

Happily, those hostilities are long behind us. Nowadays, our relationship resembles the main image in the Puck illustration. In 1902 Uncle Sam embraced John Bull. More than a century later, we’re still not shooting at each other, but continue to embrace our separated-by-a-common-language friends across the pond.

We in the U.S. will celebrate the anniversary with fireworks. And barbecues. And a lot of flag waving.

The Two Nerdy History Girls will be taking a long weekend to spend time with our families. We’ll return on Tuesday with our regularly scheduled blogging.

To our readers in the U.S. we wish a happy Fourth, complete with glorious fireworks. To our friends elsewhere: If you haven’t anything official to celebrate over the next few days, make something up and have a party.

Image: Puck, July the 4th 1902, courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

Clicking on the image will enlarge it.  Clicking on the caption will take you to the source, where you can learn more and enlarge images as needed.