Sunday, July 4th marked the 245th commemoration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Since then the country has grown from 13 colonies and roughly 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with a population that exceeds 330 million. The economy has swelled to almost $21 trillion and economic output per person has risen by a factor of 30. Advances in public health have cut the child mortality rate from more than 45% to under 1%. More than 200 million people have at least finished high school, compared to 18 million in 1940. We’ve built almost 3 million miles of paved roads and more than 5,000 public airports. In 1800, 95% of the population lived in rural areas; more than 80% now live in urban cities and towns, and minorities represent close to 30% of the population. The 244th year was a tough one, but so far, the American experiment has held strong. 1440, July 2, 2021
The net worth of U.S. households climbed to new heights as 2021 began and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic began to fade. The total balance sheet for households and nonprofits rose to $136.9 trillion in the first quarter. CNBC, June 10, 2021
“History began on July 4th, 1776. Everything before that was a mistake.” Ron Swanson
At a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners, President Kennedy said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” John F. Kennedy, April 29, 1962
From 1789 to 2019, approximately 11,770 measures have been proposed to amend the constitution. Congress sent 33 of the proposed Amendments to the States for ratification. Of those, 27 have been ratified: 11 in the 1700s, 4 in the 1800s, and 12 in the 1900s. Medium, January 28, 2021
The number of Costco memberships reached 105.5 million in 2020, exceeding the number of U.S. households that pay for cable TV. Bloomberg, June 21, 2021
There was a proposal at the Constitutional Convention to limit the standing army for the country to 5,000 men. George Washington sarcastically agreed with this proposal as long as a stipulation was added that no invading army could number more than 3,000 troops! ConstitutionFacts.com
