Q: What is the inscription on the Liberty Bell? A: It says:
PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND UNTO ALL THE INHABITANTS THEREOF LEV. XXV X. BY ORDER OF THE ASSEMBLY OF THE PROVINCE OF PENSYLVANIA FOR THE STATE HOUSE IN PHILADA
PASS AND STOW
PHILADA
MDCCLIII
The bell was ordered by the Pennsylvania colony in 1751 to be hung in the new State House, now Independence Hall.
It was cast in London, weighs 2,080 pounds and rings in E flat. It is made of 70 percent copper, 25 percent tin, 2 percent lead, 1 percent zinc, 0.25 percent arsenic and 0.20 percent silver, and traces of gold, magnesium, nickel and antimony. It cracked the first time it was rung in Philadelphia in August 1752. Philadelphia founders John Pass and John Stow, "ingenious workmen" whose names are on the bell, were hired to recast it. The crack we see appeared sometime between 1817 and 1846. Despite numerous tales, historians cannot pinpoint when it happened. The bell still belongs to the city of Philadelphia and is on display in the Liberty Bell Center, part of Independence National Historical Park. Liberty Bell Museum, East Hartford, Conn.
Q: So, is there a bell in Independence Hall? A: Yes, and it rings. A wealthy Philadelphian, Henry Seybert, had a bell cast in 1876 for the nation's centennial. Liberty Bell Museum. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Jun/JU/ar_JU_062711.asp?d=062711,2011,Jun,27&c=c_13

Words from Yankee Doodle There is disagreement on the word yankee--might be from an Indian apptempt to prounce English. Macaroni was a dandy or a fop; doodle was a do-little or a simpleton. The hasty pudding story with recipe follows.

Hasty Pudding This pudding recipe was originally brought over from England was called “Indian Pudding” when it was made in Colonial America since cornmeal was cheaper and more readily available. As a British dish, it was a quick pudding to make using a sweetened porridge made from flour, tapioca or oatmeal and milk. Here the recipe was transformed to use local ingredients -- cornmeal, molasses or maple syrup and milk. But because it uses cornmeal, it’s anything but “hasty” since it requires 2 hours to bake. If you want to be truly authentic, serve as an appetizer. Recipe at: http://www.theheartofnewengland.com/food-Hasty-Pudding.html

In July 1701, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and his party landed at a riverbank site chosen because the narrow strait there seemed strategically situated for protecting French fur trading interests in the Great Lakes. The river was called d'Etroit, a French word meaning "strait." Cadillac and his men built Fort Pontchartrain on the site, naming the fort after Comte de Pontchartrain, French King Louis XIV's minister of state; soon a palisaded riverfront village developed nearby. Cadillac named the settlement "ville d'etroit," or city of the strait. Eventually the name was simplified to Detroit. The control of Detroit changed hands three times during the eighteenth century. At the conclusion of the French and Indian War, the resulting treaty specified the surrender of Detroit to Great Britain. Under Henry Hamilton, the settlement's British governor, armies of Native Americans were encouraged to scalp frontier settlers for rewards, earning Hamilton the sobriquet, "Hair Buyer of Detroit." France's tribal allies, led by Ottawa chief Pontiac, plotted to capture Detroit; when the plot failed, they continued their siege of the fort. At the end of the American Revolution, the United States claimed lands west of the Alleghenies by treaty, but the British refused to leave Detroit and other western forts, encouraging allied tribes to attack settlers. It was not until two years after General Anthony Wayne defeated the Native Americans at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1796 that the British finally left Detroit. During the War of 1812, General William Hull turned Detroit's fort over to the British without a fight, thus making Detroit the only major American city ever to be occupied by a foreign power. The United States regained control of the settlement in 1813 following Oliver H. Perry's victory in the Battle of Lake Erie.
http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Midwest/Detroit-History.html

The Detroit River is a 32-mile (51-km) long strait in the Great Lakes system. The name comes from the French Rivière du Détroit, which translates literally as River of the Strait. The Detroit River has served an important role in the history of Detroit and is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The river travels south from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie, and the whole river carries the international border between Canada and the United States. The river divides the major metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario — an area referred to as Detroit-Windsor. The two are connected by the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_River

A strait or straits is a narrow, navigable channel of water that connects two larger navigable bodies of water. It most commonly refers to a channel of water that lies between two land masses, but it may also refer to a navigable channel through a body of water that is otherwise not navigable, for example because it is too shallow, or because it contains an unnavigable reef or archipelago. The terms channel, firth, pass or passage, and sound can be synonymous and used interchangeably with strait, although each is sometimes differentiated with varying senses. Many straits are economically important. Straits can be important shipping routes, and wars have been fought for control of these straits. Numerous artificial channels, called canals, have been constructed to connect two bodies of water over land. Although rivers and canals often provide passage between two large lakes or a lake and a sea, and these seem to suit the formal definition of straits, they are not usually referred to as such. The term strait is typically reserved for much larger, wider features of the marine environment. There are exceptions, with straits being called canals, Pearse Canal, for example. Straits are the converse of isthmi. That is, while straits lie between two land masses and connect two larger bodies of water, isthmi lie between two bodies of water and connect two larger land masses. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait

An unexpected benefit of today's widespread reductions in museum funding is the proliferation of small exhibitions that make austerity an asset. Witness "Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence: Painting With White Border" and "Stella Sounds: The Scarlatti K Series," at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., each a judicious, focused study of a specific aspect of a modern master of abstraction. Despite the differences between the two protagonists—the Russian-born Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was exclusively a painter, while the American Frank Stella (born 1936) has long made wall-mounted constructions that test the boundaries between two- and three-dimensions—the exhibitions are complementary, as their related titles suggest. Kandinsky, a pioneer of abstract painting, is one of Mr. Stella's heroes and, if we look attentively, we discover fascinating affinities between the two artists' work. Read descriptions of the paintings and see pictures at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303936704576397811335368824.html

To boost state coffers, Texas sold a Dallas doctor a "PORSCHE" license plate for $7,500. Then it sold him "AMERICA" for $3,000. Texas has gone a step further. It hired a private company to raise $25 million over the next five years by auctioning off vanity plates. "People like to express themselves, especially in Texas," says a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. This year, at the nation's first such auction, Texas sold 33 plates for $139,400. In the U.S., there's room for vanity to grow. Despite having 9.3 million motor vehicles with vanity plates, the 46 states that charged annual fees for them collectively raised only about $177 million, according to a 2007 study by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. "The potential market is huge," says Stefan Lonce, who conducted the survey and whose own plate is "LCNS2ROM." Many motorists, such as 60-year-old Lee Weaver, are devoted to their plates—even if they may cause trouble. Mr. Weaver lives in Virginia, but he's a hard-core Boston Red Sox fan, whose license plate says "8BOSOX." His Toyota Solara has been scratched "to pieces," he says, and he's endured insults and obscene gestures on the highway—especially when he's driving north on I-95 near New York. Other countries have already mined this vein, with big results. A businessman in Abu Dhabi bought a license plate with "1" at an auction for $14.3 million in 2008. Last year, in England, a retired businessman bought "1 RH"—his initials—for about $400,000. Hong Kong sold a plate that read "STORAGE" for $12,000. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303745304576359910386002034.html?mod=WSJ_newsreel_business

Q: When did the phrase, "The United States of America," originate? A: The first known formal use of the "United States of America" was in the Declaration of Independence.
In February 1776, Thomas Paine wrote of "Free and independent States of America." The terms "United Colonies," "United Colonies of America," "United Colonies of North America," and also "States," were used in 1775 and 1776. U.S. Archives.
Q: How many Americans were living on the first Fourth of July? A: There were about 2.5 million Americans on July 4, 1776. There will be about 311.7 million Americans on July 4, 2011. U.S. Census Bureau.
Q: Can you offer some cities with "patriotic" names? A: There are 31 places with "liberty" in their names. The most populous one is Liberty, Mo., with 29,149 people.
Iowa has more of these places than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.
Eleven places have "independence" in their names. The biggest is Independence, Mo., 116,830. Nine places have "freedom" in their names, including New Freedom, Pa., 4,464. There is one "Patriot," in Indiana, 209. And five places have "America" in their names. The most populous is American Fork, Utah, 26,263. U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2011/Jun/JU/ar_JU_062011.asp?d=062011,2011,Jun,20&c=c_13