By: CHRIS GRAEME
UNITED STATES Ambassador to Portugal Alfred Hoffman Jr and his wife Dawn marked Independence Day on July 4 with a lunchtime garden reception at the ambassador’s residence in Lapa, Lisbon.
The annual event celebrated the moment in 1776 when an independent America’s founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain following the War of Independence over costly local taxation from London.
Throughout the month of June that year the so-called Continental Congress had been meeting in Philadelphia charging one-time ambassador to Paris and inventor Thomas Jefferson with drawing up the draft Declaration, introduced and read on June 28, 1775.
Over the following week, Congress debated and revised the Declaration until finally, on a sunny day on July 4 1775, the measure was passed.
King George III of England (1760-1820), never got over the shock and eventually went mad, going up to trees and introducing himself as if they were foreign princes.
Ironically, the royalist French government of Louis XVI also supported the American independence and bankrupted the already broke country into the bargain, precipitating its own revolution in 1789.
“Now, 231 years later, Independence Day is being celebrated by Americans all over the world, remembering the spirit of liberty that led men from 13 different colonies to gather together in defiance of King George’s government”, said the Ambassador.
Proud
The Ambassador said that today a new generation of Americans had stepped forward to volunteer to defend the ideals of the United States founding.
“Around the world, our brave men and women in uniform are facing danger to protect their fellow citizens and promote the idea of freedom,” he said.
In Afghanistan, US and NATO forces were hunting down Taliban and al Qaeda in helping the Afghan people defend their young democracy, while in Iraq, American, British and Iraqi forces were standing with the nearly 12 million Iraqis who voted for a future of peace.
“I am proud to count Portugal among our allies in this effort to help build and defend democracy around the world,” he said as Mr. Hoffman welcomed some of the Portuguese troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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