NewMexiKen

July 4th Wednesday [Clark]

ussered in the day by a discharge of one shot from our Bow piece, proceeded on, passed the mouth of a (1) Bayeau lading from a large Lake on the S. S. which has the apperance of being once the bed of the river & reaches parrelel for Several Miles Came to on the L. S. to refresh ourselves &. Jos: Fields got bit by a Snake, which was quickly doctered with Bark by Cap Lewis. (2) Passed a Creek 12 yds. wide on L. S. comeing out of an extensive Prarie reching within 200 yards of the river, as this Creek has no name, and this being the we Din[e] (on corn) the 4th of July the day of the independance of the U. S. call it 4th of July 1804 Creek, Capt. Lewis walked on Shore above this Creek and discovered a high moun from the top of which he had an extensive view, 3 paths Concentering at the moun Saw great numbers of Goslings to day which Were nearly grown, the before mentioned Lake is clear and Contain great quantities of fish an Gees & Goslings, The great quantity of those fowl in this Lake induce me to Call it the Gosling Lake, a Small Creek & Several Springs run in to the Lake on the East Side from the hills the land on that Side verry good— (3) We came to and camped in the lower edge of a Plain where 2d old Kanzas village formerly Stood, above the mouth of a Creek 20 yds wide this Creek we call Creek Independence as we approached this place the Praree had a most butifull appearance Hills & Valies interspsd with Coops [copses] of Timber gave a pleasing deversity to the Senery. the right fork of Creek Independence Meandering thro: the middle of the Plain a point of high Land near the river givs an allivated Situation. at this place the Kanzas Indians formerley lived. this Town appears to have covd. a large Space, the nation must have been noumerous at the time they lived here, the Cause of their moveing to the Kanzas River, I have never heard, nor Can I learn; war with their neghbors must have reduced this nation and Compelled them to retire to a Situation in the plains better Calculated for their defence and one where they may make use of their horses with good effect, in persueing their enemey, we Closed the [day] by a Discharge from our bow piece, an extra Gill of whiskey.

Source: Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Online June 7, 1804

Franklin biographer Walter Isaacson has a nice op-ed piece on the Declaration in The New York Times.

NewMexiKen would be amiss not to remember that wonderful coincidence of history — that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on this date in 1826, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was adopted. Jefferson was the primary author of that document; Adams, along with Benjamin Franklin, was also key in its evolution.

Adams and Jefferson were colleagues during Revolution, but fell apart over political differences during their terms as president (Adams 1797-1801, Jefferson 1801-1809). After Jefferson left office they resumed a remarkable correspondence that lasted until their deaths.

How times have changed. As historian Joseph J. Ellis has noted, “It’s difficult to comprehend Bill Clinton developing a correspondence with George W. Bush.”

Details and images of the Declaration of Independence from its custodian, the National Archives of the United States.

entered the Union as the 43rd state on this date in 1890.

assassinated President James A. Garfield on this date in 1881. Garfield was the second president assassinated. According to the Library of Congress:

Charles J. Guiteau shot and fatally wounded the new President James A. Garfield in the lobby of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Depot in Washington, D.C. as he yelled, “I am a [Republican] stalwart and [Vice President] Arthur is President now!” Guiteau, a lawyer with a history of mental illness, blamed the president for not selecting him for a job at the U.S. Consulate in Paris.

Afflicted with religious delusions, the factionalism of the election of 1880 had given Guiteau’s paranoia a political focus. He expressed several times the conviction that he had been commissioned by God to murder Garfield, and was surprised to discover that his action was deplored by Garfield’s political opponents and supporters alike. In spite of Guiteau’s manifest insanity at his trial, his attorneys were unable to gain an acquittal on that basis.

President Garfield did not die immediately, but lingered for 11 weeks, during which time surgeons attempted to find the bullet which had lodged in his back. In spite of Joseph Lister’s discoveries on the use of antiseptics in surgery, the practice of sterilization had not caught on, and Garfield’s wound was probed by the unwashed fingers of many physicians. The infection which ensued in his wound caused his death.

On September 6, Garfield was sent to the New Jersey shore in an attempt to aid his recovery. Despite initial signs of improvement, he died two weeks later of an infection in his back and an abdominal hemorrhage. Charles J. Guiteau was hanged on June 30, 1882.