We know this holiday is all about the red, white and blue — but there’s more!
Check out this Fourth of July FYI, to discover behind-the-scenes American facts.
July 4, 1776: Continental Congress approves the Declaration of Independence, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom.
2.5M: Estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation in July 1776.
318.4M: The nation's estimated population on this July 4.
56: Number of signers to the Declaration of Independence
First signer: John Hancock, merchant and president of the Second Continental Congress
70: Benjamin Franklin’s age at the signing; he was the oldest to sign.
2: Number of future presidents who signed the Declaration of Independence: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
59: Number of places in America that contain the word "liberty" in their name. Pennsylvania has the most, at 11.
1: Number of places containing the word “patriot:” Patriot, Indiana
Union: The most common patriotic-sounding word used within place names, at 136.
$100B: Dollar value of trade in 2013 between the United States and the United Kingdom, making the British, our adversary in 1776, our seventh-leading trading partner today.
62.9M: Estimated number of hogs and pigs in America as of March 1, 2014. North Carolina has about 8 million.
6.1B pounds: Total estimated production of cattle and calves in Texas in 2013, meaning there’s a good chance the beef on your backyard grill came from the Lone Star State, which accounted for nearly one-sixth of the nation's total production.
Information taken from census.gov
