Independence Day

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 397, 4 July 1928, Page 1

Independence Day

Americans Celebrate 152nd Anniversary INFORMAL RECEPTIONS To-day is the 152nd anniversary of the declaration of the independence of the United States, and Americans all over the world are celebrating it. The Consul in Auckland, Mr. Walter F. Boyle, is holding an informal reception at the Consulate, and this morping

his callers included the Mayor. Mr. G. Baildon, the secretary of the Harbour Board, Mr. H. B. Burnett, the Canadian Trade Commissioner, and several fellow consuls. Congress adopted the declaration of independence in 1776, but it was not acknowledged by Great Britain until 1782, while it was 1783 before peace was concluded. The whole trouble arose over taxation imposed after the Seven Years’ War (1775-1783), the final cause of hostilities being a tea tax, the feeling over which rose so high that a Boston mob attacked British soldiers in the street, and suffered fatalities in return. This was in 1770. and in 1772 and 1773 the burning of a warship and the throwing of 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbour added fuel to a smouldering fire. In 1774 an Act was passed closing Boston Harbour until amends were made for the riotous behaviour, and this, combined with the Quebec Act, placing the whole country under the despotic rule of a military governor in Quebec, led to the war in 1775, which lasted until 1783, and lost the United States to the British Empire.