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America Celebrates 230 Years of Independence

July 4, 2006 marks the 230th birthday of the United States of America. A lot has happened in American and world history since the day the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Declaration of America`s Independence from Great Britain was one of the most significant events in modern human history, and since then the original Thirteen Colonies based on the East Coast of the North American continent have grown into a continent-spanning superpower of Fifty States, the District of Columbia, and various territories. A milestone America will mark will be when the population reaches 300 million people by this October.

The Bicentennial Celebrations in 1976 occurred in the wake of the disastrous end to the Vietnam conflict, and long before the fall of the Soviet Union. The 230th birthday of America occurs in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., as American troops serve in the hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S.S.R. is no more, and the European Union has admitted several former members of the Soviet Bloc.

For several years now, every July 4 is cause for the Old Navy retail clothing store to offer specialized ?Independence Day? shirts, usually showing the American flag and some motto or other. Independence Day is marked in the United States with barbeques, family gatherings, and in the evening, fireworks. Among the more popular destinations for Americans during the Fourth of July holiday are New York City, the first capital of the U.S.A., and Washington, D.C.