On Thursday, Americans will celebrate precisely 248 years since a Congress of upstart colonists adopted the Declaration of Independence on Thursday, July 4, 1776.
A Philadelphia newspaper published by a German-American journalist scooped all others in announcing the existence of the Declaration on Friday, July 5. The publisher, Heinrich Miller, previously had produced Lancaster’s first notable paper.
Miller and Samuel Holland published “Die Lancastersche Zietung’’ or “The Lancaster Gazette’’ in 1752. The publication had the backing of Philadelphia publisher Benjamin Franklin.
Printed somewhere on King Street, the “Zeitung’’ printed news in both German and English in side-by-side columns. The paper lasted only a few months and Miller returned to Philadelphia before it folded. In 1762, he began publishing a new paper there.
Miller’s Philadelphia paper, “Heinrich Miller’s Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote” (“Heinrich Miller’s Pennsylvania Courier”), carried the first news of the Declaration.
“Yesterday, the honorable Congress of these Western Lands, declared the United Colonies free and independent states,’’ Miller’s paper reported, as translated from the German.
Miller announced the news story of the century before anyone else because his paper was the only Philadelphia publication printed on Fridays. Other newspapers waited until their day of weekly or semi-weekly publication.
Such restraint is difficult to imagine in a time of incessantly breaking news. The delay also was notable in 1776 because Philadelphia enjoyed six major, primarily English-language, newspapers in a highly competitive market. Miller beat them all.
Born Johann Heinrich Muller in Germany in 1702, Miller worked as a printer before emigrating to Pennsylvania in 1741. He helped Franklin produce the “Pennsylvania Gazette.’’ Eventually, Franklin supported Miller’s publication of the bilingual “Zeitung.”
Although that paper did not last long, Franklin and Miller remained determined to keep German readers as informed as the English population.
Miller’s “Pennsylvanischer Staatsbote,” originally a weekly paper, began publishing twice a week during the Revolution. So the publisher printed news of the Declaration on July 5 and a full German-language translation of the Declaration on July 9.
The British forced Miller to flee Philadelphia when they occupied the city in September 1777. After the British left, he resumed publishing the “Staatsbote” until he retired in 1779. He died in 1782, at age 80.
Fireworks or fireflies?
The night sky this week will be filled with bursts of colored lights and raucous noise as celebrants provide public fireworks extravaganzas or backyard blasts of China-made rockets.
But there’s a more subtle way to enjoy the Fourth of July. Fireflies provide a light show, without the bombast, for free.
Fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, reach their peak in early summer. Last weekend the Scribbler family watched fireflies at twilight in the woods along the Little Conestoga Creek at our home in Manor Township. The magical insects flashed and flickered through the trees and over the water.
While there were plenty of fireflies to keep our eyes busy, the Scribbler seems to remember a greater number flashing along the creek a couple of decades ago. Research supports the Scribbler’s recollection.
Analysts from Penn State and other universities have determined, with the help of human counters and artificial intelligence, that fireflies are, indeed, declining.
Their study, published in the June 15 issue of “Science and the Total Environment,” maintains there are fewer fireflies because the bugs are sensitive to various environmental factors, including short-term weather conditions and long-term climate change. Artificial light at night also is a turn-off.
So do not wait for next summer. Find a park or other quiet, darker place and enjoy the show while it lasts.