As we all know, the 4th of July is Independence Day in the United States and has been celebrated for the last 242 years! We’re getting close to our 250th!!! Wow, that will certainly be a Star-Bangled party!

Throughout history, there have been so many events that happened in the month of July, far different from our Independence Day!

July 1st, 1862 was the date President Lincoln signed a bill creating the first income tax in the USA. And, guess what? That
same day the Bureau of Internal Revenue was also created!

July 1st is also Canada Day for our friends to the north! Heh?

July 2nd, Thurgood Marshall was born and became the first black American to serve on the Supreme Court.

July 4th, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the U.S. Congress. It was almost July 2nd but some members had travel issues and arrived 2 days late, making the official date July 4th! Just a few days later, on July 8th, the first official public reading of the Declaration of Independence was made to a crowd in Philadelphia.

July 5th, one of the most famous showmen in history was born, P. T. Barnum!

Another July 5th birthday was Cecil J. Rhodes, the diamond mine multimillionaire who created the Rhodes scholarship at Oxford. He also had the country of Rhodesia named after him!

July 12th marked the birthday of Josiah Wedgwood, the inventor of Wedgwood pottery fame.

July 12th for you war buffs also marked the largest land battle involving mechanized tanks between Russia and Germany during WWII. Over 600 tanks took part in the battle.

July 16th, 1945 saw the explosion of the “Fat Boy” experimental atomic bomb in a New Mexico desert. This was the start of the Atomic age.

July 20th, Astronaut Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon and proclaimed, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.

Throughout the history of the USA we have had many inventors of incredible everyday items that make our lives much more productive and simple. We’re happy the US Patent Office first opened its doors on July 31st, 1790.

History is a fun thing to know and, sometimes history happens during your lifetime. Where were you and what were you doing
when these events happened?