![\"img\"](\"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/images\/indpen.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Pictured are statues of Betsy Ross and George Washington, a\u00a0replica Independence Hall and Liberty Bell<\/a>, free to see at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.<\/p>\n Although visitors can visit the grounds of one of California’s top theme parks to\u00a0see an attraction documenting America’s 1776 formation and the reason we celebrate the 4th of July as Independence Day,\u00a0the momentous event going on\u00a0in Philadelphia\u00a0was distant & remote — it\u00a0had\u00a0no immediate repercussions to what is now America’s West Coast. Californians would indirectly contribute to the independence of the United States eventually; but\u00a0in 1776, they had their own problems to resolve far from the turmoil of the Atlantic seaboard. More and more of the vast lands of the Californias were becoming part of the Spanish empire.<\/p>\n A de facto administration\u00a0under the commandants of the presidios faced\u00a0high debt, mounting costs and few ships available for supplies to Alta California, plus the exaggerated threat of Russian and English encroachment. A\u00a0revolt by\u00a0800 American Indians at the first establishment, Mission San Diego, resulted in the building being burned down and its leader, Fray Luis Jayme, being massacred. The mission was rebuilt\u00a0and the Californias were on the threshold of a new era\u00a0in 1776. With\u00a07 of 21 missions <\/a>\u00a0constructed and\u00a0Father Junipero Serra<\/a>\u00a0(father of California missions) nearing the end, Felipe de Neve was ordered to establish a new capital in Monterey for Alta California.\u00a0The events on the East Coast seemed a world away on July 4, 1776.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pictured are statues of Betsy Ross and George Washington, a\u00a0replica Independence Hall and Liberty Bell, free to see at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park. Although visitors can visit the grounds of one of California’s top theme parks to\u00a0see an attraction documenting America’s 1776 formation and the reason we celebrate the 4th of July as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20641"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.seecalifornia.com\/traveltips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}