Independence Day!
Happy Independence Day, America! 229 years ago the Continental Congress declared the creation of the United States of America as a nation independent of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, it's mad King George III, and it's hypocritically tyrannical Parliament. The United States and the United Kingdom have since become great friends, but twenty-three decades ago Whitehall stood as a great obstacle to human freedom, an obstacle the nigh-saintly Founding Fathers were determined to surmount. With the help of the despotic King Louis XVI of France, the Continental Army routed the British at Yorktown, prompting our defeated foes to play the song, "The World Turned Upside Down." Imagine the history of the world over the last two centuries had the British Empire prevailed, had we cowered before their might as did our Canadian cousins.

America has been the greatest force for human freedom the world has ever seen. "The shot heard 'round the world" was fired on April 19, 1775, but the shot that changed human history, that declared forever the inalienable rights of man, was fired on July 4, 1776. Happy birthday, America.