Sean of the South By Sean Dietrich Fourth of July

► Ashley, 12, “We celebrate this holiday because in 1812, we signed a Treaty of Paris, and it just became a thing.”

And my favorite answer of all comes from Landon, age 8, who answered with the utmost sincerity: “It’s when Diana Ross made our flag.”

So all this got me thinking. Exactly how much do my fellow adults know about the Fourth of July? I posed the same question to grown-ups.

► Pamela, 32, “Well, the Fourth of July is our nation’s literal birthday, when all those guys signed the Constitution.”

► Anders, 63, said, “It’s America’s birthday. Everyone knows that. The Pilgrims and all that.”

► Emily, 21, “It’s the anniversary of our nation, when the big war finally ended in Germany.”

► Robert, 39, “I can’t remember which battle we won. The Revolution, maybe? All I know is that our nation is going to be 230 years old.”

So, we had some work to do.

Because the Fourth of July is not the date of a famous battle. Nor does it mark the beginning of the Revolutionary War, nor the ending. The Revolutionary War started on April 19, 1775, and ended Sept. 3, 1783.

Neither is the Fourth of July the date