On this day in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, starting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.

Patriotic-Sounding Places

30
Number of places nationwide with "liberty" in their name. The most populous one is Liberty, Mo. (26,232). Iowa has more of these places than any other state: four (Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty).

• Eleven places have "independence" in their name. The most populous of these is Independence, Mo., with 113,288 residents.
  


• Five places adopted the name "freedom." Freedom, Calif., with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.
  


• There is one place named "patriot" — Patriot, Ind., with a population of 202.
  


• And what could be more fitting than spending the day in a place called "America"? There are five such places in the country, with the most populous being American Fork, Utah, with 21,941 residents. <http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet>

The Fourth of July Cookout

As with many holidays, the 4^th of July celebration includes food, drink and the realization of how fortunate we are as a nation.

More than 66 million

Number of Americans who said they have taken part in a barbecue during the previous year. It's probably safe to assume a large number of these events took place on the Fourth.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-32.html>

Although we do not have a fixed menu for the celebration of the Fourth, you can almost count on traditional favorites such as hamburgers and hot dogs, chicken, ribs, garden salads, potato salad, chips and watermelon. Following is a summary of where these foods come from:

• There's a 1-in-6 chance the beef on your backyard grill came from Texas. The Lone Star State was the leader in the production of cattle and calves, accounting for 7.2 billion pounds of the nation's total production of 42.2 billion pounds last year.
  


• There's a 1-in-4 chance your hot dogs and ribs originated in Iowa. The Hawkeye State had a total inventory of 14.9 million hogs and pigs as of March 1, 2003 — about one-fourth of the nation's total.
  


• The chicken on your barbecue grill probably came from one of the top broiler-producing states: Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina and Mississippi. The value of production in each of these states exceeded $1 billion in 2002. These states combined for well over half of the nation's broiler production.
  


• The lettuce in your salad or on your hamburger probably was grown in California, which accounted for nearly three-quarters of lettuce production in 2002.
  


• The fresh tomatoes in your salad most likely came from Florida or California, which, combined, produced more than two-thirds of U.S. tomatoes in 2002. The ketchup on your hamburger or hot dog probably came from California, which accounted for 95 percent of processed tomato production last year.
  


• There's a 1-in-3 chance the beans in your side dish of baked beans or pork and beans came from North Dakota, which produced more than one-third of the dry, edible beans in 2002.
  


• As to potato salad or potato chips or fries, Idaho and Washington produced about one-half of the nation's spuds in 2002.
  


• For dessert, six states — California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona and Indiana — combined to produce about 80 percent of watermelons last year. <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>

Fireworks

$128.8 million
The value of fireworks imported from China, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imports ($135.6 million) in 2002. U.S. exports of fireworks, by comparison, amounted to $13.5 million, with Germany purchasing more than any other single country ($5.0 million). <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>

Flags

$7.9 million
The dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags in 2002; more than half of this amount ($5.2 million) was for U.S. flags made in China. This was down from the 2001 dollar value of U.S. flag imports ($51.7 million), but still considerably higher than the total for 2000 ($747,800). That was the last full year prior to Sept. 11. <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>

$646,452
Dollar value of exports of U.S. flags in 2002. Japan was the leading customer, purchasing $86,189 worth. <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>

125,000
Number of U.S. flags flown over the U.S. Capitol last year at the request of House and Senate members. On July 4 alone, 1,200 were flown at our nation's capitol. (From the U.S. Capitol Flag Room.)

$272 million
Annual dollar value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems by the nation's manufacturers, according to the latest economic census (1997) for which there is published data. <http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/97m3149e.pdf>

Coming to America

32.5 million
The number of foreign-born residents in the United States in 2002; they accounted for 11.5 percent of the nation's total population. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-42.html>

• More than 1-in-3 foreign-born residents were naturalized U.S. citizens.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-42.html>


• Six states had estimated foreign-born populations of 1 million or more: California
(8.8 million), New York (3.6 million), Florida (2.8 million), Texas (2.4 million), New Jersey (1.2 million) and Illinois (1.2 million). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/cb02-18.html>


• Among the foreign-born population, 52 percent were born in Latin America, 26 percent in Asia, 14 percent in Europe and the remaining 8 percent in other regions of the world, such as Africa and Oceania. <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-42.html>

Parks

66 million
Number of visits in a recent year to our national parks — a particularly scenic locale for a July 4^th picnic. There were 766 million visits in a recent year to another popular picnic venue — state parks or recreation areas. Those in California (80 million), Ohio (59 million), New York (56 million), Washington (48 million) and Illinois (44 million) recorded the highest number of visits.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-32.html>

You may or may not be able to picnic there, but a visit to a national historical site is a particularly fitting way to celebrate our nation's heritage on its 227^th birthday. In a recent year, about 72 million people flocked to national historical sites and 24 million to national monuments.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-32.html>

The British are Coming!

"The British are coming! The British are coming!" These days, this cry applies to tourists rather than "redcoats." Nearly 5 million tourists from the United Kingdom visited the United States in a recent year, more than from any other country except Japan.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2003/cb03-32.html>

$74 billion
Dollar volume of trade last year between the United States and the United Kingdom, making the U.K., our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading trading partner today. <http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>