Spirit of 1776 - Revisited Mystery Cache
Hidden : 6/30/2010
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: regular (regular)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

As typical with puzzle caches, this cache is not actually located at the posted coordinates, but it is nearby. The road is easily accessible by any 2WD.

INSTRUCTIONS: This cache is not actually located at the posted coordinates, but it is located nearby. In order to obtain the correct coordinates, you must first read the following paragraph and then answer the ten questions.

If the answers are more than one digit long, add all of the digits together, and repeat as necessary until you get a single digit answer.

For example 1492 = 1+4+9+2 = 16, then 16 = 1+6 = 7.

After answering the ten questions, use the answers to get the correct location of the geocache, as follows: N 39° ab.cde W 118° fg.hij



Questions:

a. How many signatures are on the Declaration of Independence?

b. How old was the youngest person to sign the document?

c. When did the Continental Congress declare independence (month and day)?

d. How many members on the Committee to Draft the Declaration of Independence?

e. What was the age of the oldest person to sign the document?

f. How many colonies did the signers represent?

g. How many signers eventually became President of the United States?

h. How many grievances against the king are listed in the document?

i. What is the last digit of the year that the Declaration of Independence was signed?

j. When was the “engrossed copy” of the Declaration of Independence signed (mm/dd/yyyy)?

The answers to the above questions are contained in the following paragraphs:

Independence Day or the 4th of July, as it is more commonly known, is a celebration in honor of the birthday of the United States of America. The following is a historical background on the Declaration of Independence and the birth of our nation:

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the 13 Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations between the colonies, Great Britain, and King George III had been deteriorating since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. The war had plunged the British government deep into debt, and so Parliament had levied a series of taxes increase revenue from the colonies. However, since the colonies did not have direct representation in Parliament, several colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. After Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, many colonists saw them as a violation of the British Constitution and thus a threat to the liberties of all of British America. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to coordinate a response. When the Second Continental Congress convened in May 1775, some delegates hoped for eventual independence, but no one yet advocated declaring it. Although some colonists still held out hope for reconciliation, developments in early 1776 further strengthened public support for independence.

Finally on June 7, 1776 the Continental Congress met and Richard Henry Lee introduced an official resolution urging Congress to declare independence from Great Britain. However, since some of the colonial delegations were still not in favor of the resolution, Congress voted to postpone further discussion of Lee's until they reconvened three weeks later. They also appointed a five member committee to draft a declaration of independence in the event that Lee's resolution was approved when it was brought up again in July. The members of the committee were Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The other delegation members went back to their individual colonies to present the resolution and seek guidance for approval or disapproval from their individual assemblies.

When the Continental Congress reconvened on June 28, a “fair copy of the committee draft” of the Declaration of Independence was read. Over the next few days, the document was debated and revised and on July 2, Congress officially declared independence by adopting the Lee Resolution. Debate on the specific wording and subsequent revisions continued until the final version of the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, which became known as Independence Day. Congress also ordered that the Declaration of Independence be printed by Dunlop Broadsides, with the understanding that the official copy would be signed by the members of Congress and then forwarded to the King George III.

The document consisted of five parts: 1. The Introduction stated the purpose of the declaration;

2. The Preamble stated the logical argument that people have rights, that people form governments to secure those rights, and that when a government becomes destructive of those rights, the people have a right and a duty to throw off that government;

3. The Indictment laid out 27 specific grievances against the King concerning the American colonies and how he had abused their rights;

4. The Denunciation announced not only the separation of colonial government from British government, but also colonial people from British people;

5. The Conclusion basically stated that the Declaration of Independence from the King and his British peoples was the only logical conclusion for colonial America.

On July 19, Congress ordered that the Declaration of Independence be engrossed (officially inscribed) and signed by the members. Most of the delegates signed the engrossed copy on, or before August 2, but a handful of 56 total delegates, who were not present at the time, affixed their signatures a short time later. The most prominent signature was that of John Hancock, who supposedly wanted the king to be able to see his signature without putting on his glasses. The youngest person to sign was Edward Rutledge, who was only 26 years old, and the oldest person to sign was Benjamin Franklin, who was 70 years old. Other signers included two future Presidents of the United States, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. As the final sentence of the Declaration of Independence states, these men mutually pledged to each other, “our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

Of course, the American Revolutionary War, which was already well underway, continued over the next seven years. The war officially ended with the signing of The Treaty of Paris on September 3, 1783, by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and John Jay. Under the terms of the treaty, Britain recognized the independent nation of the United States of America. Britain agreed to remove all of its troops from the new nation.

Thus became the birth of the greatest nation on earth, The United States of America. Happy Independence Day!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Lbhe nafjref fubhyq vapyhqr gur sbyybjvat ahzoref (abg va beqre): 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)

Advertising with Us