Posted 6/27/01 A 4th of July message from the Secretary of State To the editor: The 4th marks the 225th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. We have a great history to celebrate! The signing and the patriotsí acts leading up to it are legendary: from Samuel Adams and other Bostonians who dumped crates of tea into Massachusetts Bay in protest of ëtaxation without representation;í to Paul Revere, who rode horseback to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British soldiers were coming to arrest them; to Hancock and 56 others who signed the Declaration of Independence at the risk of being executed. John Adams, a signer of the Declaration, and later president of the United States, wrote that their actions ìought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.î Adams probably would be pleased that, just as the nation has expanded from the east coast across the continent, the celebration has expanded to include all that he envisioned, and more. Independence Day has been observed every year since 1777, when Americans celebrated the freedom and promise offered by the Declaration of Independence. Today, we can revel in the foundersí acts, and we can rally in commitment to making Americaís future even greater through our own acts of good citizenship. We have the privilege of being able to look back and celebrate our foundersí heroic acts; I hope our actions today will give future generations even more to celebrate on Independence Days yet to come! Mary Kiffmeyer Minnesota Secretary of State ©Post Review