Check out the stunning red curtains above and read from
The Writer's Almanac below:
"Today is Independence Day. On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, and the United States officially broke from the rule of England. The Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson in a little second floor room on Market Street in Philadelphiaon a little lap desk that he designed himself. The Congress had wanted Benjamin Franklin to write it, but he declined, and then John Adams declined because he said Jefferson was ten times a better writer than he was.
Benjamin Franklin made a few new changes. Jefferson had written, "We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable." Franklin changed that to, "We hold these truths to be self-evident."
The Congress cut out an entire paragraph in which Jefferson had attacked the king for perpetuating the slave trade. They cut about 480 words out of his draft, leaving 1,337. Jefferson found the whole process rather painful.
The 4th of July became a big holiday after the war of 1812 and out on the American frontier, it was the one time of the year when everyone gathered in town from all over the countryside for parades and speeches, and the prettiest girl would be named the Goddess of Liberty, and politicians would get up and denounce the king and men would get drunk and insult each other, call each other Englishmen, and get into fights.
George Washington was quite the home decorator and frequently sent Martha sketches and ideas for Mt. Vernon from the battlefield. I've heard one historian call him the "Martha Stewart of his day."
In that era, men were in charge of decorating the gracious home. They sent to Europe for coordinated fabrics and everything.
I got this factoid from Myra Kaye's _There's a Bed in the Piano_, a lovely history of furniture that includes (clearly!) relevant material on convertible furniture for small spaces.
is " martha stewart of the day" - deceitful, liar or the "martha stewart of the day" who teaches how to fold socks of the day - which way?
George Washington needs a better analogy