History doesn't tell us what the weather was like in Philadelphia on July 4th, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress adopted the final draft of the Declaration of Independence.
But it's hard to imagine there weren't blue skies and hot sunshine as nearly every Fourth of July had in Massachusetts when I was growing up. Ideal weather for the traditional cookout, as we Yanks call a barbecue - hot dogs, hamburgers, green and potato salads all piled onto a plate, with a slice of ice-cold watermelon for dessert.
Better yet were the fireworks at night, the only fireworks we saw back in the 1950s, and set off late enough at night that we had to go to bed first, to be wakened near midnight and bundled, still half-asleep, into our old black Ford for the five-mile drive to some huge field, and the pyrotechnical magic that followed.
History does tell us, however, that the final vote on the motion of independence from Britain in fact occurred on July 2nd, 1776. What's more, in a letter the following day to his wife Abigail, John Adams, one of the 54 signatories to the Declaration of Independence, and later US President, confidently predicted that future Americans would celebrate July 2nd as their "Day of Deliverance", which "ought to be solemnised with Pomp and Parade, with Shows, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations".
Adams got the celebrations right, but it turned out that we fête the Fourth of July instead, that day on which the declaration of the previously accepted motion of independence was signed off, starting with John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, who penned his name with gusto so that "King George can read that without spectacles!"
I don't doubt King George could, and even now in America, a car salesman or delivery man might yet invite you "to put your John Hancock" on the dotted line of a contract or receipt.
As kids on the Fourth, we didn't reflect much on those original patriots or their deeds, being more interested in the grub, in the Red Sox baseball double-header traditionally scheduled for that day, or in making sure Old Glory didn't touch the ground when we took it down from our flagpole at nightfall. What's more, I'd warrant that any thought given to patriotism would have seemed more straightforward then, our love for America more a black-and-white affair midst all that red, white and blue bunting.
The Vietnam War changed all that, however, and by the early 1970s, the American flag itself had been hijacked to be pasted as a decal on car windows by those who supported the war in South-east Asia, and somehow no longer seeming to belong to all Americans.
Just how it would feel to be in America this July 4th week is, for this Yank, something to ponder. For patriotism itself has been arguably hijacked by an administration which, ever since September 11th 2001, appears to question any American's right to question government policy - be it waging war on Afghanistan or Iraq, or suspending civil liberties for those whom it incarcerates, be they Americans or foreign nationals, whether in Guantanamo Bay or in federal prisons.
As part of that pondering, I looked this week at the Declaration of Independence for the first time since grade school. What I found was instructive, not to say timely: all those references to a King George and his "long train of abuses and usurpations", "the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States", his attempts "to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power", and his "abolishing our most valuable laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Government".
There is mention also of "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind" - something clearly lacking in the contempt shown to the UN by the US in its march to war last March - as well as a reference to the need to provide for "future security", though not by waging war at will, then failing to win the peace. Rather, the Declaration of Independence suggests that such security is best realised by citizens who carry out their right (and duty) to throw off any Government "with a design to reduce them under absolute despotism".
In short, this year's Fourth of July has reminded me of the need for Americans to get back to basics. Sure, pass the hot dogs and potato salad, but also begin to recapture the flag and rekindle the spirit of informed rebellion that sent King George III packing - and just might see off King George IV in 2004.
As for that problematic word "patriotism ", we could do worse than recall the American pamphleteer Thomas Paine, who declared, "My country is the world. My countrymen are mankind", and who held "patriots" to be those who resist imperial rule. Or we could heed Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts who, earlier this year, dared to suggest: "Regime change begins at home."