Every four years our presidential candidates engage in the loftiest and least attainable of all political ambitions – validating the present by associating themselves with the past. I suspect even if time travel were possible, I doubt very much that Doctor Franklin and his brothers in insurrection would attempt to bolster their standing amongst their constituents by making a similar connection with the future generations of the American politicians. In fact any suspension of those inherent properties that seem to keep us operating in our own time and space might have caused them to reconsider the merits of rebellion. But this trivial rite of electioneering does serve its purpose. Any gesture that motivates us to better understand the people and events that gave substance to the American experiment strengthens the overall constitution of the republic. During the month of July our correspondents will exercise their rights of peaceful, and on occasion spirited, assemblage by visiting a number of taverns and location that were instrumental to the founding of this nation. And while we may not be able to think like our forefathers, we will make a concerted effort to at least drink like them. The staff and editors of AMERICAN PUBLIC HOUSE REVIEW wish our fellow countrymen a celebratory 4th of July.