FunTrivia Facts About the Fourth Quiz

Answer: False

Although the quotation above is, indeed, by Adams, he was referring to the second of July, 1776, not the Fourth. On July 2, 1776, the Lee resolution was formally adopted; this resolution declared the colonies independent from Great Britain and called upon them to form foreign alliances and set forth a plan for confederation. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was officially adopted and 200 broadside copies of it were printed and distributed. Delegates began signing the Declaration on August 2. Ultimately, it became the 4th of July that would be celebrated, in the manner prescribed by Adams, as Independence Day, although it was on July 2nd (my birthday, incidentally!) that independence was actually declared.

Answer: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

1826 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; sadly, the day was marred by the simultaneous passing of two of the primary forces behind the Declaration. The 83 year-old Jefferson had been in declining health, but held on until the fourth. When the day came, the former president inquired from his sickbed "This is the fourth?". When told that it was, he closed his eyes and died in his sleep. The 90 year-old Adams did not hear of his friend's passing, he died a few hours after Jefferson and is reputed to have said "Thomas Jefferson survives...Independence forever." before expiring.

Another U.S. president, James Monroe, passed away on the fourth five years later, in 1831.

Answer: Stephen Foster

Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania on July 4, 1826, the same day John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died. Perhaps no other songwriter in American history so completely captured the spirit of the nation, in all its complexity and diversity; the eminent English impresario Walter Legge said of Foster, "That man wrote himself, and alone, the real folksongs of America." Sadly, Foster never enjoyed the benefits of his life's work; born into an affluent family, he died in 1864 at the age of thirty-seven, a victim of alcoholism and poverty.

In his pocket at the time of his death was a scrap of paper, on which he had written "Dear friends and gentle hearts..." (probably the first line of a song) along with thirty-eight cents. His legacy survives in such songs as "Beautiful Dreamer", "Jeannie With the Light Brown Hair", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home", and "Oh Susannah".

Answer: America (My Country Tis' of Thee)

The lyrics of "America" were penned by Dr. Samuel Francis Smith, a Baptist minister. Smith dashed off the lyrics on a scrap of paper in the space of about a half-hour, to be sung to the melody of the British national anthem "God Save the King/Queen". It was performed by a chorus of schoolchildren at Smith's church on Independence Day, 1832.

Answer: The Washington Monument

Congress had decided to erect a monument to America's first president as early as 1783, however financial and bureaucratic difficulties delayed work on the project until more than sixty years later. The monument was designed by architect Robert Mills, the cornerstone was laid on Independence Day, 1848. Work was halted on the project in 1853 when funding dried up; Mills died two years later and did not live to see the finished structure, which was completed in 1885. One notable feature of the monument is its iron stairway with 897 stone steps.

The steps are made of stones from every state in the Union, along with stones donated by foreign countries and Native American nations.

Answer: The Nat Turner rebellion

In his "Confessions", Turner relates that he had received a sign in the heavens (a solar eclipse) indicating that the time had come for the rebellion: "It was intended by us to have begun the work of death on the 4th of July last [1831]- Many were the plans formed and rejected by us, and it affected my mind to such a degree, that I fell sick, and the time passed without our coming to any determination how to commence - Still forming new schemes and rejecting them, when the sign appeared again [a greenish haze over the sun], which determined me not to wait longer." The Turner rebellion eventually took place on August 21; when it was over, fifty-five whites, including entire families, had been murdered. An equal number of rebels were officially executed for their part in the masacre, including Turner himself, however a series of riots ensued among the whites in the wake of the rebellion which resulted in the deaths of about two-hundred innocent slaves.

After the Turner rebellion, the state of Virginia briefly considered abolishing slavery, but the vote was defeated by a narrow margin and even more repressive policies were enacted. Nonetheless, the Turner rebellion opened the nation's eyes to the degradation and dehumanization of slavery and is believed to have precipitated its ultimate abolition.

Answer: Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth, Vermont. Nominated as vice-president in 1920, he unexpectedly assumed the presidency in 1823 following the sudden and untimely demise of President Warren G. Harding; he was sworn in by his father, a notary public. Coolidge's personal integrity and no-nonsense demeanor helped restore some much needed dignity to the office of the presidency, following the scandal-plagued Harding administration. Famously taciturn, he was nicknamed "Silent Cal".

A female dinner guest once confided to him, "A friend of mine and I have a wager going; she bet me that I wouldn't be able to get more than two words out of you", to which Coolidge famously replied "You lose!" He was not devoid of a sense of humor, and genially permitted himself to be photographed wearing a farmer's overalls and a Native American war bonnet.

Although popular throughout much of his presidency, Coolidge fell from favor in the wake of the stock-market crash of 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression, for which his economic policies are generally held to have been responsible.

He declined to seek a second term, and died in 1933, four years after leaving office.

Answer: George M. Cohan

Born into a show-business family in 1878, Cohan grew up onstage performing with his parents Jerry and Nellie and his older sister Josephine. He won audiences' hearts at the end of each show with the now famous line "Ladies and gentlemen, my mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you, and I thank you!" George eventually became a Tin-Pan-Alley songsmith and both wrote and performed in numerous successful musicals, including "The Governor's Son", "Little Johnny Jones", "George Washington Jr.", "45 Minutes from Broadway", and "Little Nellie Kelly".

Although these shows are largely forgotten today, they included such songs as "Give My Regards to Broadway", "You're A Grand Old Flag", "Mary's a Grand Old Name", and "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy", which are an indelible part of the American musical lexicon. Cohan also penned the stirring "Over There" at the outset of World War I. Cohan's life was the subject of the 1942 movie musical "Yankee Doodle Dandy", starring James Cagney, and the 1968 Broadway musical "George M." He died in 1942.

Answer: Hawaii

Hawaii became the fiftieth state on August 21, 1959, under the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The annexation of Hawaii following the overthrow of the government of Queen Lili'uokalani in 1893 remains rather controversial, and an anti-statehood rally was held there as recently as 1999, on the fortieth anniversary of Hawaii's admission. Officially, Hawaii celebrates "Admission Day" on the third Friday in August as a state holiday.

Answer: Anne Landers and Abigail van Buren

Esther Pauline Friedman (a.k.a Anne Landers) and Pauline Esther Friedman (a.k.a Abigail van Buren, a.k.a. Dear Abby) were born on July 4, 1918 in Sioux City, Iowa. In 1955, Esther began writing an advice column under the name Anne Landers; shortly afterward Pauline began one of her own under the name Abigail van Buren, entitled "Dear Abby". For a while, Landers resented her sister's aping her idea and the two were at odds for about ten years, but eventually reconciled. Landers died of cancer in 2002; van Buren was still alive in 2004, but sadly suffering from Alzheimer's disease and has long since abandoned her, by now, legendary advice column.

Other notable individuals who were born on the fourth include actresses Gertrude Lawrence (the original Anna in "The King and I" on Broadway) and Gina Lollabrigida, and actors George Murphy and Stephen Boyd.