How was the first July 4th celebration at the White House? Here’s the answer.
Since July Fourth is Friday, here are a few facts to help celebrate our nation’s 249th birthday.
I’m guessing you’ve seen the famous painting above and you probably don’t know who painted it. The image is synonymous with Americanism and the American Revolution.
The 8’ x 10‘ oil painting was made in Ohio by Archibald McNeal Willard (1836-1918) for our country’s 100th year anniversary. He moved to New York City to study art in 1873. He first painted this work for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876.
When first completed it was known as “Yankee Doodle,” and only later became known as “The Spirit of ’76.”
Critics at the time considered it to be cartoonish but it seized the public imagination and wound up traveling across the country. After the Exposition, it went on tour from Boston to San Francisco, and was admired by sellout crowds wherever it was shown.
The painting’s popularity led Willard to paint an estimated 14 more versions. Two copies are held in Cleveland, one at the Western Reserve Historical Society and the second at Cleveland City Hall. The one you see here is the property of the U.S. State Department and was most likely painted in 1875.
The models were Hugh Moser, a Civil War veteran and friend of Willard’s playing the fife, Henry K. Devereux, son of Gen. John H. Devereux, (who bought one of the paintings) served as the model for the drummer on the left and Willard’s father (Rev. Samuel Willard) as the older drummer.
The words to this song were written as a slap in the face to Americans. “Yankee Doodle” is a famous example of an insult that backfired.
The term Yankee is difficult to nail down but some historians say it is derived from Dutch words that were pronounced “John Cheese” in the 1850s. A “doodle” is a country hick, and a “dandy” is a conceited jerk.
