WABI interviews Riordan about history of Independence Day
WABI (Channel 5) spoke with University of Maine history professor Liam Riordan for the report, “Separating Fourth of July fact from fiction.” Riordan said there are some “interesting wrinkles” about when we think about the start of the United States. He said the key vote by the Continental Congress to approve a resolution of independence was made on July 2, and the delegates voted in favor of Thomas Jefferson’s revised draft of the Declaration of Independence on July 4. Riordan also said the signing of the document wasn’t done all at once by the delegates, and that it took weeks, months or possibly years. “I think it’s wonderful that this significant political moment from over two centuries ago remains central to the way we think about our lives as Americans, even if not everyone might not remember that the reason we celebrate July 4, 1776 is because of the Declaration of Independence,” Riordan said.