TIME FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT THE 4TH

***FOUR FOURTH OF JULY MYTHS***

Saturday is the Fourth of July, when people everywhere drink, eat hot dogs, and try to make it to July 5th with all ten fingers intact.

But Independence Day is really about history. Do you know yours?

Here are four myths about the Fourth of July . . .

#1.) IT'S THE DAY WE DECLARED INDEPENDENCE. Actually, Congress declared independence on July SECOND . . . today . . . not July fourth. On the FOURTH of July, they formally adopted the Declaration of Independence.

--In fact, Benjamin Franklin wrote his wife on July THIRD and predicted that Americans would celebrate the SECOND of July for years to come.

#2.) THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WAS SIGNED ON JULY 4TH. No. Most of the delegates signed it on August 2nd. And regardless of what you learned in school, there was never ONE SINGLE DAY when everyone lined up to sign.

#3.) BETSY ROSS SEWED THE FIRST FLAG. Everyone knows this one is true . . . except . . . IT'S NOT. A guy named Frances Hopkinson DESIGNED the first flag, but no one knows who SEWED it.

--Betsy Ross WAS a seamstress in the 1700's, and she may have made flags for the government . . . but her family descendents pretty much made up the rest of the story.

#4.) THE LIBERTY BELL RANG-IN OUR INDEPENDENCE. Actually, that's true. But it wasn't on July 4th, 1776. It was on July EIGHTH . . . the day the Declaration was read in Philadelphia . . . and the day Americans first celebrated their independence.

--There weren't any fireworks though. That tradition didn't catch on until 1777. (The Complete Sheet)