Although John Adams wanted Independence Day to be celebrated on July 2 because that’s when Congress approved independence from Britain and the majority of delegates signed the Declaration of Independence on August 2, today is America’s birthday…or something. The dates are all screwed up, but everything’s fine as long as you shoot some guns and fireworks between now and the beginning of August. Anyway, I will continue as I have in past years with an America-related museum and/or attraction on July 4th, like the American Freedom Museum and the Miracle of America Museum (yes, such a place exists…and I believe Jesus had nothing to do with it). Oh, and let’s not forget other great American places like “The City of Presidents” and the White House Replica in Atlanta.
And then there is the Liberty Bell of the West, a present given to the Mission of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church of Illinois by King Louis XV of France in 1741. That means this bell is older than the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. But nobody cares, probably because at the time, Illinois was America’s western frontier, you know, kind of like today when coastal people refer to the Midwest as flyover country. The people of Kaskaskia (the former state capitol of Illinois for people who care about those kind of things or like to take State Constitution tests for fun) rang the bell on July 4th 1778 when they were liberated from the British, who occupied the town during the American Revolution, by American Colonel George Rogers Clark. The State of Illinois hung the bell in a special building in 1948, which was the same year a crack first appeared. In 1973 a flood knocked the bell over, widening the crack. But visitors could still touch the bell, and Illinois continued to ring it every July 4th. Then in 1993, another stupid flood made the crack even bigger. So it’s now hands-off, just like that other cracked Liberty Bell, and visitors have to view it from a distance through a barred doorway. Phew…the history lesson has come to an end. Class dismissed.
