{"id":6542,"date":"2014-01-20T00:25:00","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T05:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=6542"},"modified":"2014-01-20T10:25:59","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T15:25:59","slug":"celebrating-january-20th-americas-first-day-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2014\/01\/celebrating-january-20th-americas-first-day-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating January 20th: America\u2019s First Day of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Fireworks in front of the Art Museum, July 4, 2004 by Link Harper. (PhillyHistory.org)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Declaring Independence<\/em>, you have to admit, was Founding Father bluster\u2014a grand and gutsy act of defiance. Before the colonies could actually and truly claim independence, there\u2019d be a whole lot of bloodshed and years of uncertainty.<\/p>\n

So maybe, come the next 4th<\/sup> of July, when folks celebrate the anniversary of this declaration with parades, picnics, concerts and (of course) fireworks, they might<\/em> consider that there\u2019s another day in the American calendar equally worthy of patriotic revelry. That\u2019s the day America could claim the trifecta: independence, liberty and, most important of all, peace.<\/p>\n

Today, January 20th<\/sup>, is that day.<\/p>\n

What? No fireworks?<\/p>\n

For all intents and purposes, the Revolutionary War ended when the British surrendered at Yorktown in 1781. But there\u2019d be no lasting or meaningful peace until the players: Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, as well as the would-be United States of America, agreed<\/em> to all kinds of arrangements, concessions and processes. Until that<\/em> delicate, negotiated moment, Britain withheld recognition of American sovereignty and maintained military forces on American soil.<\/p>\n

In Paris, \u201ctwo months of hard bargaining\u201d by negotiators (including Americans John Jay, Benjamin Franklin, William Temple Franklin, John Adams and Henry Laurens<\/a>) \u201cresulted in preliminary articles of peace in which the British accepted American independence and boundaries.\u201d We\u2019re told by the State Department\u2019s official historian<\/a> that the terms of this agreement also resolved \u201cprewar debts owed British creditors\u2026 restitution of property lost during the war by Americans loyal to the British\u2026and provided for the evacuation of British forces from the thirteen states.\u201d On January 20, 1783, six-and-a-half years after July 4, 1776, Americans could finally stop holding their breath and get on with the job of becoming a free nation. The \u201cDefinitive Treaty of Peace<\/a>\u201d would be signed formally the following September.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Eleazer Oswald’s broadside declaring peace had broken out. (The Library Company of Philadelphia.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Imagine Eleazer Oswald’s relief and excitement upon hearing the news on March 23, 1783, shortly after the Triumph<\/em> docked at the port of Philadelphia. Oswald, a Revolutionary War veteran, had paid his dues as a lieutenant colonel of artillery and, for a time, as prisoner of war. More recently, he had set himself up as a printer above the London Coffee House<\/a> at Front and Market Streets.<\/p>\n

Not only was the war finally and officially over, but the United States was, in the eyes of its former enemies, a free and sovereign nation. No matter that the day was Sunday. As soon as Oswald heard the news, he ran to his print shop and set his headline in the largest font he could find.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeace, Liberty and Independence,\u201d it screamed. Oswald\u2019s broadside hit the streets the following morning, scooping the newspapers. \u201cYesterday arrived, after a passage of 32 days from Cadiz, a French Sloop of War\u2026with the agreeable Intelligence of PEACE.\u201d There was little more to add, other than to list the \u201cparticular Articles respecting this happy and glorious Event\u2026.of January 20, 1783,\u201d which included the long awaited words: \u201cGreat-Britain acknowledges the Sovereignty and Independence of the Thirteen United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

No better a reason to light up the sky over Philadelphia this January 20th<\/sup>. It’s nothing less than the 231st anniversary of the First American Peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Declaring Independence, you have to admit, was Founding Father bluster\u2014a grand and gutsy act of defiance. Before the colonies could actually and truly claim independence, there\u2019d be a whole lot of bloodshed and years of uncertainty. So maybe, come the next 4th of July, when folks celebrate the anniversary of this declaration with parades, picnics, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}