10 Facts About the United States You Might Have Wrong

Get your facts right, old man! Fact-checking a friend’s facts. How well do you rate?

Yesterday I was talking to a friend, and we started debating about the history of the United States. When we finished, I decided to send him a simple list of ten facts that many people have wrong.

If you want to check it, here is the list of curious facts about the United States; you might like to find out if you have them right. And in the process, save yourself some searching time and probably adjust your “Factometer.”

1 — Washington was not the first president. There were 14 more Continental Presidents, 1. Peyton Randolph, 2. Arthur Henry Middleton, 3. John Hancock, 4. Henry Laurens, 5. John Jay, 6. Samuel Huntington, 7. Thomas McKean, 8. John Hanson, 9. Elias Boudinot, 10. Thomas Mifflin, 11. Richard Henry Lee, 12. Nathaniel Gorham, 13. Arthur Saint Clair, 14. Cyrus Griffin.

George Washington was elected the first President after the Constitution. Also, Presidents' Day is supposedly celebrated on the third Monday of February to commemorate his birthday. But he was born on February 11, 1732, not on the third Monday of February, so Presidents’ Day never falls on his or any other American president’s birthday. And by the way, he didn’t use wooden teeth.

2 — The Declaration of Independence was not signed on the 4th of July. Officially, Congress declared its freedom from Great Britain on July 2, 1776. Then a Draft was ordered to be written by John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson on July 4 and sent to a printer named John Dunlap. They printed about 200 copies of the Dunlap Broadside. On August 2, 1776, John Hancock’s famous signature was placed in the middle. Therefore, the document signed on July 4th was only a draft.

3 — Not all presidents were born in the US. Since the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain was signed in 1776, eight of the first presidents were born before the United States existed. They were originally from British America, which technically makes them British.

4 — Lincoln did not write the Gettysburg Address on the train while traveling to Pennsylvania. Though long-running popular legend holds that he wrote the speech on the train while traveling to Pennsylvania, he probably wrote about half of it before leaving the White House on November 18. He completed writing and revising it that night after talking with Secretary of State William H. Seward, who had accompanied him to Gettysburg.

5 — Paul Revere did not ride alone. Paul Revere rode with William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, on the famous midnight of April 18, 1775, from Boston to Concord, Massachusetts. Two of them ran into a British cavalry patrol. Revere was captured and left free. Only Prescott made it to Concord.

6 — The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t end slavery. President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”. But it took two more years till Congress passed it on January 31, 1865, and ratified the 13th amendment on December 6, 1865, abolishing slavery in the United States.

7 — The Battle of the Alamo wasn’t fought in the United States but in Mexico. Contrary to people’s beliefs, Mexico did not invade the United States to fight at the Alamo.

The Texas Revolution, also called the War of Texas Independence, was fought from October 1835 to April 1836 between Mexico and Texan colonists. It resulted in Texas’s independence from Mexico and the Republic of Texas's founding on March 2, 1836.

More than five years later, John Tyler, with the support of President-elect Polk, managed to get a resolution passed on March 1, 1845, and Texas was annexed by the United States on December 29, 1845, and was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on that day.

And if you “Remember the Alamo,” the Battle was on February 23, 1836, when Texas was technically part of Mexico and the Republic of Texas didn’t exist.

8 — The Star-Spangled Banner melody was based on a drinking song. No matter where you are from, you’ve probably heard the United States Hymn more than once. But did you know that while the lyrics were written in the U.S. by the poet Francis Scott Key, the melody was originally an old 18th-century British drinking song called “To Anacreon in Heav’n,”? Composed by John Smith Stanford and used at a men’s social club called the Anacreontic Society, where there was a lot of booze and fiddle playing.

To ANACREON in Heav’n, where he sat in full glee. A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition. That He their Inspire and Patron would be; When this answer arrived from the JOLLY OLD GRECIAN. Voice, Fiddle, and Flute, No longer be mute; I’ll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot. And, besides, I’ll instruct you like me, to entwine, The Myrtle of VENUS with BACCHUS’s Vine.

9 — Some Geography facts:

• West Virginia is not West of Virginia. West Virginia was born out of sectional differences during the Civil War because Virginia approved slavery and joined the Confederacy in April 1861. The west part decided to split, remaining loyal to the Union, and began the separation process, but if you see a map, you’ll find out that it is mostly north of Virginia and not west. Also, did you know that they were thinking of calling the state Kanawha or Westsylvania?
• Alaska is not only the westernmost state but also the easternmost. And while you're checking your map, you probably see that Alaska is in the western part of the United States and Maine in the East. But since Alaska's territory extends to the west past the 180th meridian considered the Western and Eastern Hemisphere division, some parts of Alaska’s the Aleutian Islands are beyond that meridian.
• The Statue of Liberty is not in New York. One of the most popular attractions in the Big Apple is Lady Liberty, but it stands on an island within New Jersey’s limits. “While Liberty Island is closer to the Garden State, the National Park Service says it is “located within the territorial jurisdiction of the State of New York. As per a pact between the two states ratified by Congress in 1834. But as in any competitive divorce, the French-born lady chose his wealthiest parent, and while she lives in Jersey, she still says she’s a New Yorker. Figures”.

10 —Other random facts:

• Little state, big name. Rhode Island is the smallest state but had the longest name, “Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” until November last year when the people voted to erase the “Plantations” part and is just called Rhode Island.
• Who have you worked for? One in eight people in the United States has been employed by McDonald’s. It is not only the most popular fast-food restaurant but the place where most Americans have worked.
• Kentucky has more Bourbon than people. Kentucky stores about 4.7 million barrels filled with Bourbon., but it only has 4.3 million residents, so there is at least one barrel of Bourbon for each Kentuckian.
• Talk about QAnon conspiracy. The letter Q is the only one that does not appear in any State Name.
• No Red Slippers for Dorothy. In the original book “The Wizard of Oz” by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy’s magic slippers are silver; but for the movie, they changed them to ruby red to show the wonders of Technicolor.

© Copyright Jose Luis Ontanon, 2022