Tag: 250th Anniversary

America’s First Constitution

On June 26, 2026

The Articles of Confederation: Birth, Failures, and Legacy

The United States Constitution, ratified in 1788 and implemented in 1789, is often treated as the nation’s true founding framework. Yet before it, there existed another governing document, one far less celebrated but no less essential to understanding the early republic. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union served as America’s first constitution from their adoption by the Continental Congress in 1777 to their replacement just over a decade later. Imperfect, fragile, and ultimately unsustainable, the Articles nevertheless provided the institutional bridge between revolution and nationhood.

To understand why the Articles were structured as they were—and why they ultimately failed we need to step back into the mindset of the revolutionary generation. The men who drafted them were not political theorists operating in calm conditions; they were wartime leaders grappling with uncertainty, scarcity, and deep suspicion of centralized authority. They had just rebelled against British tyranny, and they were determined not to allow such power on American soil. The result was a system deliberately designed to restrain national authority, even at the cost of efficiency. The Articles represented both a solution to immediate wartime needs and a reflection of deeply held ideological fears. Their story is not merely one of failure, but of experimentation, adaptation, and political learning.

Revolutionary Context and the Need for Union

The intellectual origins of the Articles stretch back well before independence. Colonial leaders had long recognized the potential benefits of intercolonial cooperation. Benjamin Franklin’s Albany Plan of Union in 1754 proposed a centralized colonial government capable of coordinating defense and managing relations with Native nations. Though ultimately rejected by the colonies, the plan foreshadowed later efforts at union by raising the fundamental question of how semi-autonomous political entities might cooperate without surrendering their independence.

That question became urgent during the American Revolution. When the Second Continental Congress convened in 1775, it functioned as a provisional government, but its authority was ambiguous and largely dependent on voluntary compliance. As the war intensified, it became increasingly clear that thirteen separate colonies could not effectively wage a coordinated struggle against the British Empire without some formal political structure. Congress needed legitimacy—not merely as a gathering of delegates, but as a governing body with recognized authority over military, diplomatic, and financial matters.

On June 11, 1776, Congress appointed a committee to draft a plan of confederation, even as another committee worked on the Declaration of Independence. The parallel timing was no coincidence. Independence required not only separation from Britain but also the creation of a new political order. The Articles were intended to provide that order, a framework through which the states could act collectively while preserving their individual sovereignty.

Drafting Under Pressure

The drafting process unfolded under extraordinary circumstances. John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, a respected lawyer and political thinker, chaired the committee and produced the initial draft in July 1776. Debate over its provisions, however, proved slow and contentious. Congress was simultaneously managing a war, and immediate military concerns often took precedence over constitutional deliberation.

Disagreements over representation, taxation, and western land claims delayed progress for more than a year. It was not until November 15, 1777, while Congress was in exile in York, Pennsylvania, following the British capture of Philadelphia, that the Articles were finally approved. Even then, the document was widely understood as a compromise rather than an ideal solution.

Ratification presented an additional challenge. Because the Articles required unanimous consent, any single state could delay their implementation. The principal obstacle came from disputes over western lands. States with expansive territorial claims, such as Virginia, were reluctant to relinquish them, while smaller states like Maryland insisted that such lands should be held in common for the benefit of the union. Only after Virginia agreed to cede its claims did Maryland ratify the Articles on March 1, 1781, bringing them into full effect.

Structure and Principles

The Articles of Confederation established a national government that was intentionally limited in scope. At its core was a unicameral Congress in which each state, regardless of size or population, held a single vote. This arrangement reflected the primacy of state sovereignty: the union was conceived not as a single nation but as a “league of friendship” among independent states.

The national government possessed certain powers, including the authority to declare war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and manage relations with Native nations. However, these powers were constrained by critical limitations. Congress could not levy taxes directly, regulate interstate commerce, or enforce its decisions upon the states. Instead, it relied on requisitions, little more than requests for funds, which states frequently ignored or, at best, only partially fulfilled.

Equally significant was the absence of both an executive branch and a national judiciary. There was no president to enforce laws or coordinate policy, and no federal court system to interpret them. Administrative functions were handled by committees and departments accountable to Congress, resulting in a diffuse and often ineffective system of governance.

Amending the Articles required unanimous consent, a provision that made meaningful reform nearly impossible. While intended to protect state sovereignty, this requirement ensured that structural weaknesses could not be easily corrected.

Achievements Under the Articles

Despite their limitations, the Articles of Confederation were not without success. Most importantly, they provided a legal framework that enabled the colonies to prosecute and ultimately win the Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress, operating under the authority of the Articles, secured crucial alliances, most notably with France, and negotiated the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which formally ended the conflict and recognized American independence.

The Confederation government also achieved lasting success in western land policy. The Land Ordinances of 1784 and 1785, followed by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, established a systematic process for surveying, selling, and governing western territories. These measures ensured that new states would enter the union on equal footing with the original thirteen and prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territory. This framework not only facilitated orderly expansion but also set important precedents for federal authority over territories.

The Articles also fostered a sense of national identity, however fragile. They affirmed the name “United States of America” and maintained a formal union during a period when regional differences might easily have led to fragmentation.

Structural Weaknesses and Growing Crisis

The weaknesses of the Articles, however, became increasingly apparent in the postwar period. Financial instability was among the most pressing issues. Without the power to tax, Congress struggled to pay war debts, fund the military, or support basic governmental functions. Inflation, currency devaluation, and economic dislocation further compounded these difficulties.

Interstate economic conflict added another layer of instability. In the absence of federal regulation, states imposed tariffs and trade barriers against one another, undermining economic cohesion. Competing currencies and inconsistent policies created an environment of uncertainty that hindered recovery and growth.

The lack of enforcement mechanisms proved equally problematic. Congress could pass laws and enter into treaties, but it had no means of compelling compliance. States frequently ignored national directives, and often violated provisions of the Treaty of Paris, particularly regarding the treatment of loyalists and British creditors. This inability to enforce national policy damaged American credibility abroad.

These structural deficiencies reflected the underlying philosophy of the Articles: a deep distrust of centralized power. By the mid-1780s, it was becoming clear that excessive decentralization carried its own dangers.

Shays’ Rebellion and the Turning Point

The crisis reached a breaking point with Shays’ Rebellion in 1786–1787. Economic hardship, particularly among farmers in western Massachusetts, led to widespread unrest. Burdened by debt and high taxes, many farmers faced foreclosure and imprisonment. When legal and political remedies failed, they turned to direct action, closing courts and attempting to seize the federal arsenal at Springfield.

The Confederation government was effectively powerless to respond. Lacking both funds and military authority, Congress could offer no assistance. The rebellion was ultimately suppressed by a state militia supported by private funds, underscoring the inability of the national government to maintain order.

The implications were profound. For many leaders, including George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, Shays’ Rebellion demonstrated that the existing system was untenable. A government that could not enforce laws or ensure domestic tranquility was doomed to collapse.

Toward a New Constitution

Efforts to address these problems began modestly. The Annapolis Convention of 1786, initially convened to discuss trade issues, concluded that broader reforms were necessary and called for a general convention in Philadelphia. In February 1787, Congress endorsed this proposal, though officially only to revise the Articles.

The Philadelphia Convention, however, quickly moved beyond revision. Delegates recognized that the Articles’ fundamental structure, particularly the reliance on voluntary state compliance, could not support an effective national government. The solution was to become an entirely new framework: the United States Constitution.

Ratified in 1788 and implemented the following year, the Constitution addressed the central weaknesses of the Articles by establishing a stronger federal government with the power to tax, regulate commerce, enforce laws, and operate through separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

Legacy and Historical Significance

It is tempting to view the Articles of Confederation solely as a failure, a flawed experiment quickly discarded in favor of a superior system. Such a perspective, however, overlooks their broader significance. The Articles represented a necessary first step in the creation of the American republic. They reflected the political realities and ideological commitments of their time, particularly the pervasive fear of centralized authority.

Their shortcomings provided invaluable lessons. The Constitution did not emerge in a vacuum; it was shaped directly by the experience of governing under the Articles. The framers understood, from hard experience, the dangers of both excessive centralization and excessive decentralization. The resulting system sought to balance these concerns, creating a government strong enough to function yet constrained enough to preserve liberty.

The Articles also demonstrated that political systems can evolve. They were not the final word on American governance, but an early chapter in an ongoing process of constitutional development. Their legacy lies not only in what they achieved, but in what they revealed about the challenges of building a nation.

In this sense, the Articles of Confederation were not a failure so much as an experiment, one conducted under extraordinary pressure, with limited precedent, and with stakes that could scarcely have been higher. They held the union together long enough for a more durable system to emerge. That alone secures their place in the story of American constitutional history.

Image generated by author using ChatGPT.

Sources

National Archives: Articles of Confederation (1777) — Primary Document

Library of Congress: Articles of Confederation — John Dickinson (1778)

HISTORY.com: Articles of Confederation — Weaknesses, Definition, Date

George Washington’s Mount Vernon: The Articles of Confederation

U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian: Articles of Confederation, 1777–1781

Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia: Articles of Confederation

Encyclopaedia Britannica: John Dickinson

Wikipedia: John Dickinson

Historical Society of Pennsylvania (via Panorama/SHEAR): The John Dickinson Draft of the Articles of Confederation

National Archives: John Dickinson Writings

University of Delaware Library: John Dickinson — Penman of the Revolution

EBSCO Research Starters: Analysis — Articles of Confederation

Wikipedia: Articles of Confederation

Wikipedia: Shays’s Rebellion

National Constitution Center: Summary of Shays’ Rebellion

American History Central: Articles of Confederation

SLCC Press / Attenuated Democracy: Chapter 12 — Articles of Confederation, Shays’ Rebellion and the Road to the Constitution

GovFacts.org: Why the Articles of Confederation Failed

Cracked But Not Broken: The Facts and Fictions of the Liberty Bell

By John Turley

On June 15, 2026

In History

There it sits in a climate-controlled room in Philadelphia, drawing roughly 1.5 million visitors a year — a 2,080-pound bronze bell with a crack running through it that everyone recognizes and almost no one fully understands. The Liberty Bell is arguably the most mythologized object in American history, which is saying something in a country that has turned its founding era into something close to civic religion.

But here’s the thing: the myths aren’t just harmless embellishments. Many of the most beloved stories about the Liberty Bell — when it rang, why it cracked, how it got its name — turn out to be products of 19th-century fiction writers, political activists, and the particular American genius for turning complicated history into a clean, inspirational tale about how a relatively obscure object became one of the most powerful symbols in American culture.

Before It Was the Liberty Bell

Let’s start with a basic fact that surprises most people: the bell wasn’t originally called the Liberty Bell at all. For the better part of a century, it went by the rather mundane name of the State House Bell, because that’s exactly what it was, the bell that hung in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall.

The bell was commissioned in 1751 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly to mark the 50th anniversary of William Penn’s 1701 Charter of Privileges, Pennsylvania’s founding constitutional document. It was cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry in London and arrived in Philadelphia in 1752. The inscription it carried — “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof” — comes from Leviticus 25:10, a biblical passage about the Jubilee Year, during which debts were forgiven and slaves were freed. It was selected by Quaker Isaac Norris, speaker of the Assembly, as a fitting tribute to Penn’s legacy of religious tolerance.

The bell didn’t become the Liberty Bell until the 1830s, when anti-slavery activists seized on that Leviticus inscription as a powerful rallying cry. It first appeared as the “Liberty Bell” in an 1835 abolitionist publication, and the name was subsequently popularized through William Lloyd Garrison’s The Liberator. Ironically, the object that Americans associate most with the founding of a free nation earned its famous name not from the Revolution, but from the fight to end slavery, a cause the Revolution had conspicuously left unfinished.

Did It Actually Ring on July 4th?

Here’s the myth most Americans carry around: the Liberty Bell rang out joyfully on July 4, 1776, to announce the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. It’s a great image. Practically cinematic. And historians are fairly confident it didn’t happen.

The problem is straightforward: the Declaration wasn’t publicly announced on July 4th. The Continental Congress voted on independence, but the first public readings of the Declaration didn’t take place until four days later, on July 8, 1776. It was on that date that Philadelphians gathered to hear the document read aloud and yes, bells around the city were reportedly rung in celebration. Whether the State House Bell was among them is genuinely unknown.

There’s an additional wrinkle: historians believe the State House steeple was in poor condition at the time, possibly too deteriorated to support bell-ringing. As John C. Paige noted in a historical study for the National Park Service, there simply is no way to confirm whether the steeple was structurally sound enough to ring the bell that day.

So where did the famous image of the bell ringing on the Fourth come from? Mostly from one man: a journalist named George Lippard. In January 1847, he published a short story in the Saturday Courier depicting an elderly bellman waiting anxiously in the steeple, doubting that Congress would have the courage to declare independence, until his grandson bursts in crying “Ring, Grandfather! Ring!” It was fiction and was presented as fiction, but it was republished repeatedly, eventually winding up in history books and school primers as if it were fact. That’s how myths work.

The Mystery of the Crack

The crack is the bell’s most defining feature, and its origin is almost as murky as the ringing story. What we know for certain is that the bell has cracked multiple times.

The first crack came almost immediately — the bell cracked during its initial testing after arriving in Philadelphia in 1752. It was judged unusable and recast twice by local metalworkers John Pass and John Stow (whose names you can still see on the bell today). Their second casting is what we look at today.

The later, more famous crack, the wide fissure visible in every photograph, developed sometime in the first half of the 19th century after roughly 90 years of use. Popular tradition long held that the bell cracked in 1835 while tolling for the funeral of Chief Justice John Marshall. It’s a great story but historians largely reject it. The evidence points more convincingly to February 1846, when the bell was rung to celebrate Washington’s Birthday. In an attempt to prevent the crack from spreading, metalworkers widened it — a repair technique of the era and ironically created the wide, distinctive fissure we recognize today. The repair didn’t hold, and the bell has been silent ever since.

The Road Trip Nobody Talks About

This is the part of the Liberty Bell’s history that tends to get overlooked in favor of the Revolutionary founding mythology. Between 1885 and 1915, the cracked bell was loaded onto railroad cars and sent on seven separate tours around the United States, stopping in cities and towns so that ordinary Americans could see it up close.

The post-Civil War tours were explicitly about national healing. After the devastation of that war, the Liberty Bell became a symbol of unity: a reminder of something Americans had once fought for together. Crowds mobbed the bell at every stop. In Biloxi, Mississippi, Jefferson Davis, the former President of the Confederacy, visited the bell and gave a speech calling for national unity. That’s a remarkable image: the Confederacy’s leader paying homage to a symbol of American liberty. Whatever you make of his sincerity, it illustrates how powerfully the bell had been woven into the country’s emotional fabric.

The 1915 tour to San Francisco was the last. By then it was clear the bell’s condition couldn’t withstand further travel, and it has stayed in Philadelphia ever since.

Movements, Meanings, and the Justice Bell

One of the most interesting things about the Liberty Bell’s history is how many different movements claimed it as their own. After abolitionists gave it its name, suffragists were next. In 1915, the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association commissioned a replica called the Justice Bell, with the same inscription as the Liberty Bell but two extra words — “establish justice” — borrowed from the Preamble to the Constitution. The clapper was chained so it couldn’t ring, symbolizing women’s silenced political voice. When the 19th Amendment passed in 1920, the Justice Bell finally rang at Independence Hall. It’s now at the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge.

Later in the 20th century, civil rights activists gathered at the Liberty Bell. It became a backdrop for Cold War messaging about American freedom. During the 1960s it was a site for protests of various kinds. The bell has proven remarkably elastic as a symbol — capable of representing almost any cause that frames itself in the language of liberty.

What’s Actually True

To be fair, some important facts about the Liberty Bell are both true and underappreciated. It did ring for significant events during its functional lifetime — not just vaguely, but for specific occasions: the signing of the Constitution, and the deaths of Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. It was genuinely used for decades as a civic alarm clock, summoning legislators to session and citizens to public meetings.

And when the British occupied Philadelphia in 1777, Patriots really did smuggle the bell out of the city, along with other bells, and hide it in the floorboards of the Zion Reformed Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The concern was legitimate. British forces routinely seized metal church bells and melted them down for cannon shot. The Liberty Bell sat hidden there for nearly a year before returning to Philadelphia after the British withdrew.

The Bell We Deserve

The real lesson of the Liberty Bell’s history might be this: the gap between its legend and its reality says as much about American culture as the bell itself does. Americans in the 19th century needed a tangible symbol of their founding ideals, and the bell, already old, already cracked, already inscribed with a verse about proclaiming liberty, was right there waiting to be mythologized.

The abolitionists who named it, the fiction writer who gave it its most famous story, and the railroad men who carted it around the country in the 1880s were all, in their different ways, helping to construct a national icon that could absorb whatever freedom meant in their particular moment. The Liberty Bell is not important because it rang at a specific hour in 1776—there is little evidence that it did. It is important because Americans, over generations, chose to invest it with meaning. That’s not a cynical observation. It’s inspiring that a cracked, imperfect bell became the symbol of a cracked, imperfect republic still trying to live up to its inscription.

Image generated by the author using ChatGPT

Sources

Wikipedia – Liberty Bell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_Bell

Constitution Center – 10 Fascinating Facts About the Liberty Bell: https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/10-fascinating-facts-about-the-liberty-bell

USHistory.org – The Liberty Bell: https://www.ushistory.org/libertybell/

Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia – Liberty Bell: https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/liberty-bell/

Visit Philadelphia – Liberty Bell Center: https://www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/attractions/the-liberty-bell-center/

Professor Buzzkill – Liberty Bell Myths: https://professorbuzzkill.com/2016/07/07/liberty-bell-myths/

Study.com – The Liberty Bell: History & Importance: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-liberty-bell-facts-history.html

Sky History – Debunking Famous Myths About the Declaration of Independence: https://www.history.co.uk/articles/debunking-famous-myths-about-the-declaration-of-independence

Philadelphia Visitor Center – Liberty Bell: https://www.phlvisitorcenter.com/libertybell

Mr. Local History Project – Weird Facts About the Liberty Bell: https://mrlocalhistory.org/liberty-bell/

Declaring Independence: The Origin of America’s Founding Document

By John Turley

On June 30, 2025

In History, Politics

When Americans celebrate the Fourth of July, we imagine fireworks, flags, and a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence. We think we know the story—The Continental Congress selected Thomas Jefferson to write the declaration. He labored alone to produce this famous document. Congress then approved it unanimously and it was signed on the 4th of July.

But the truth is far different and more complex. The story behind this iconic document—the how, who, and why of its creation—is just as explosive and illuminating as the day it represents. Far from a spontaneous outburst of rebellion, the Declaration was the product of political strategy, collaborative writing, and a shared sense of urgency among men who knew their words would change the course of history.

Setting the Stage: Why a Declaration?

By the spring of 1776, the American colonies were deep in conflict with Great Britain. Battles at Lexington and Concord had already been fought. George Washington was attempting to transform the Continental Army into a professional fighting force. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense had ignited widespread public support for full separation from the British Crown. The Continental Congress had been meeting in Philadelphia, debating how far they were willing to go. By June, the mood had shifted from reconciliation to revolution.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced a resolution to the Continental Congress declaring “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States.” The motion was controversial—some delegates wanted more time to consult their colonies. But most in Congress knew that if independence was going to happen, it needed to be explained and justified to the world, so they created a committee to draft a formal declaration.

The Committee of Five

On June 11, 1776, the Continental Congress appointed a “Committee of Five” to write the declaration. The members were:

Thomas Jefferson of Virginia
John Adams of Massachusetts
Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania
Roger Sherman of Connecticut
Robert R. Livingston of New York

This was not a random selection. Each man represented a different region of the colonies and had earned the trust of fellow delegates. Jefferson was relatively young but already known for his eloquence. Adams was an outspoken advocate of independence. Franklin brought wisdom, wit, diplomatic experience, and international prestige. Sherman brought New England theological perspectives and legislative experience, while Livingston represented the more moderate New York delegation and brought keen legal insight.

Jefferson Takes the Pen

Although it was a group project on paper, the heavy lifting fell to Thomas Jefferson. The committee chose him to draft the initial version. Why Jefferson? According to John Adams, Jefferson was chosen for three reasons: he was from Virginia (the most influential colony), he was popular, and, Adams admitted, “you can write ten times better than I can.”

Jefferson wrote the draft in a rented room at 700 Market Street in Philadelphia. He leaned heavily on Enlightenment ideas, especially those of John Locke, emphasizing natural rights and the notion that government derives its power from the consent of the governed. He also borrowed phrasing from earlier colonial declarations, including his own A Summary View of the Rights of British America and borrowed extensively from George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights.

The Editing Process: Group Work Gets Messy

After Jefferson completed the initial draft (likely by June 28), he shared it with Adams and Franklin. Both men suggested revisions. Franklin, ever the editor, softened some of Jefferson’s sharpest attacks and corrected language for flow and diplomacy. His most famous contribution was changing Jefferson’s phrase “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable” to the more secular and philosophically precise “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”

Adams contributed to structural suggestions and to tone. He also contributed to the strategic presentation of grievances against King George III, understanding that the declaration needed to justify revolution in terms that would be acceptable to both colonial readers and potential European allies.

Sherman and Livingston played more limited but still meaningful roles. Sherman, with his theological background, helped ensure the document’s religious references would appeal to Puritan New England, while Livingston’s legal expertise helped refine the constitutional arguments against British rule. Otherwise, their involvement in the actual content of the declaration was likely minimal.

The revised draft was presented to the full Continental Congress on June 28, 1776. What followed was a few days of intense debate and revision by the entire body.

Congress Takes the Red Pen

From July 1 to July 4, the Continental Congress debated the resolution for independence and edited the Declaration. Jefferson watched as more than two dozen changes were made to his prose. The Congress cut about a quarter of the original text, including a lengthy passage condemning King George III for perpetuating the transatlantic slave trade that would have sparked deep division among the delegates, especially those from Southern colonies.

Other modifications included strengthening the religious language, toning down some of the more inflammatory rhetoric, and making the grievances more specific and legally grounded. Congress made 86 edits, removing about a quarter of Jefferson’s original content. Jefferson was reportedly frustrated by the changes, calling them “mutilations,” but he recognized that compromise was the cost of consensus

Approval and Promulgation

Despite the extensive revisions, the core of Jefferson’s vision remained intact and on July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of Lee’s resolution for independence. That’s the actual date the colonies officially broke from Britain. John Adams even predicted in a letter to his wife that July 2 would be celebrated forever as America’s Independence Day. He was close—but the official adoption of the Declaration came two days later.

On July 4, 1776, Congress formally approved the final version of the Declaration of Independence. Contrary to popular belief, most of the signers did not sign it on that day. Only John Hancock, as president of Congress, and Charles Thomson, as secretary, signed then. The famous handwritten version, now in the National Archives, wasn’t signed until August 2. But the document approved on July 4 was immediately printed by John Dunlap, the official printer to Congress.

These first copies, known as Dunlap Broadsides, were distributed throughout the colonies and sent to military leaders, state assemblies, and even King George III. George Washington had it read aloud to the Continental Army. This rapid dissemination was crucial to its impact, as it was needed to rally public support for the revolutionary cause and explain the colonies’ actions to the world.

Legacy and Impact

The Declaration wasn’t just a break-up letter to the British Crown—it was a manifesto for a new kind of political order. Its assertion that “all men are created equal” would echo through centuries of American history, invoked by abolitionists, suffragists, civil rights leaders, and more.

The creation of the Declaration of Independence demonstrates that even the most iconic documents in American history emerged from collaborative processes involving compromise, revision, and collective wisdom. While Jefferson deserves primary credit for the document’s eloquent expression of revolutionary ideals, the contributions of his committee colleagues and the broader Continental Congress were essential to creating a text that could unite thirteen diverse colonies in common cause.

This collaborative origin reflects the democratic principles the declaration itself proclaimed, showing that American independence was achieved not through the vision of a single individual, but through the collective efforts of representatives working together to articulate their shared commitment to liberty, equality, and self-governance. The process that created the Declaration of Independence thus embodied the very democratic ideals it proclaimed to the world.

Today, the Declaration of Independence is enshrined as one of the foundational texts of American democracy. But it’s worth remembering that it was created under immense pressure, forged by committee, and edited by compromise. Its authors knew they were taking a dangerous step. As Franklin quipped at the signing, “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

“America at 250: A Revolution Remembered… or Forgotten?”

By John Turley

On May 10, 2025

In Commentary, History

I’m old enough to remember the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution. Bicentennial symbols were everywhere. Liberty Bells, eagles, and the ubiquitous Bicentennial logo of the red, white and blue stylized five-point star. They could be found on hats, T-shirts, socks, soft drink cups, beer cans, and even a special “Spirit of ‘76” edition of the Ford Mustang II. Commemorative events and celebrations were being planned everywhere and people had “bicentennial fever”.

But the 250th anniversary is not attracting that same kind of attention or interest. I wonder why that is. Perhaps it’s that the name for a 250th anniversary, Semiquincentennial, doesn’t seem to roll off the tongue the way Bicentennial does. But I suspect it’s far more than just a tongue twisting name.

The Bicentennial came after a decade of national trauma. The Vietnam War, Watergate, and the civil rights struggles had all roiled the country. By 1976, most Americans wanted to feel good about the country again. It became a giant, colorful celebration of “American resilience.”

While the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution is being marked by numerous events, commemorations, and official proclamations, most are local, and it has not yet captured widespread public attention or generated the scale of national excitement seen during previous milestone anniversaries.

The anniversary arrives at a time of deep political polarization, which has complicated celebration plans. There is an ongoing debate within the group tasked with planning the celebration, the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, about how to present American history. Some members advocate for a traditional, celebratory approach focusing on the Founding Fathers and patriotic themes. Others push for a more inclusive narrative that acknowledges the complexities of American history, including the experiences of women, enslaved people, Indigenous communities, and other marginalized groups

Beyond the commission itself, some historians note that the “history wars”—ongoing disputes throughout society over how U.S. history should be taught and remembered—have made it harder to generate broad, enthusiastic buy-in for the anniversary among the general public.

Commemorations in places like Lexington and Concord have seen anti-Trump protesters carrying signs such as “Resist Like It’s 1775” and “No Kings,” explicitly drawing parallels between opposition to King George III and contemporary resistance to what they perceive as autocratic tendencies in current leadership. At the reenactment of Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin was met with boos and protest chants, highlighting how the Revolution’s legacy is being invoked in current political struggles.

While some organizers and historians hope the anniversary can serve as a unifying moment—emphasizing that “patriotism should not be a partisan issue”—the reality is that commemorations have often become forums for expressing contemporary political grievances and anxieties. The presence of both celebratory and dissenting voices at these events reflects the enduring debate over what it means to be American and who gets to define that identity. The complexity and messiness of American history, combined with current societal tensions, may dampen the celebratory mood and make it harder for people to connect emotionally with the anniversary.

Even the 250^th logo has become a source of dispute, although it is one of the few areas of disagreement that is nonpartisan and tends to be about stylistic and artistic merits of the logo. Proponents of the new logo appreciate its modern and inclusive design emphasizing that the flowing ribbon represents “unity, cooperation, and harmony,” and reflects the nation’s aspirations as it commemorates this milestone. Detractors are concerned about the legibility of the “250” and the lack of traditional American symbols, such as stars, which could have reinforced its patriotic theme.

Surveys by history related organizations suggest that most Americans are not yet thinking about the 250th anniversary. The run-up to 2026 may see increased attention, but as of now, the anniversary has not broken through as a major topic of national conversation. If the anniversary continues to be viewed as a contentious partisan undertaking, it may never gain widespread popularity, and the general public may choose to stay away.

A friend who is a member of the West Virginia 250th committee told me that they had an initial meeting at which nothing was accomplished, and they have had no meeting since. It seems to me, this is up to us, the citizens, to ensure that the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution is appropriately remembered. We don’t have to live in an area where a Revolutionary War event occurred for us to recognize its events. Here in West Virginia, in October of 2024 we commemorated the 250th anniversary of the battle of Point Pleasant which many consider a precursor to the American Revolution. This event was not organized by any state or national group. It was the result of efforts on the part of the City of Point Pleasant and the West Virginia Sons of the American Revolution.

We do not need to depend on the government; we the people can hold local commemorations of revolutionary events that occurred in other areas. We can hold commemorations of the Battle of Bunker Hill, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Battle of Saratoga and many other events. It will take the initiative of local people to organize these events.

It will be our great shame if we allow this the commemoration of an event so significant in both American and world history to be turned into something that divides us rather unites us and strengthens our common bond.