Happy 236th birthday, USA! Impress your friends and family this week with some Independence Day trivia.

Did you know…?

• …that Benjamin Franklin wanted the national bird to be the turkey? He thought that the bald eagle was a bird of “bad moral character,” whereas the turkey is a “more respectable bird.” Surely that would’ve made Thanksgiving a bit awkward…

• …that when the nation first gained its independence, there were only approximately 2.5 million people living in the USA? As of July 1st of this year, there are an estimated 313.9 million people living in the USA! Now that’s growth.
• …that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson — both vital members of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence — both died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the Declaration’s adoption? Talk about irony.
• …that, contrary to popular belief, the Liberty Bell was rung not on July 4, 1776, but on July 8, 1776, to celebrate the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. It’s distinctive irreparable crack was made in 1846 when it was rung in honor of George Washington’s birthday.

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