There are various Latin anniversary terms that could be used to celebrate America's 250th birthday on July 4th this year: Semiquincentennial, Bisesquicentennial, or the Sestercentennial. It seems that the last one, Sestercentennial, is the most proper term, but it has not caught on as much as Semiquincentennial. It comes from: semi- (half) × quin- (5) × centennial (100 years) = 250 years.
Others are using the basic American English terms America250 or the Quarter Millennium.
This event celebrates the initial approval of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress.
Initial approval to seek independence from Great Britain occurred on July 2nd, 1776, and John Adams initially thought that July 2nd would be the big Independence Day holiday. He suggested fireworks yearly to commemorate this date. On July 4th, the Declaration, revised slightly from what Thomas Jefferson presented, was adopted by the Continental Congress.
On August 2nd, 1776, the official copy was signed by 56 delegates. Since we have no August holidays, I lobby for August 2nd to be declared a national holiday, also. John Hancock, with his big old signature, was the first to sign. He said he signed it so large to that "John Bull" (the British equivalent of "Uncle Sam") could read it easily. Some delegates signed after August 2nd, due to logistics, and others never signed it at all.
Interestingly, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the 4th of July in 1826. This was our nation's 50th birthday. Jefferson was 83, and Adams was 90.
The Bicentennial of our nation occurred in 1976. Some readers may remember this time. A train called The Freedom Train rolled through the US during that year. Here are pictures of a souvenir from the Freedom Train.
