03 Jul, 2026 America’s 250th anniversary: Happy Birthday, USA
Resources/History/Entertainment
By Summer Lane
Photo: Deposit
On July 4, 1776, 13 American colonies declared their sovereignty when 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence, officially cutting ties with the British Empire – and formally drawing the wrath of the crown.
The British crown had increasingly clashed with the wild and untamable spirit of the American colonists, who had been largely left on their own to survive in the New World and forge a culture and society on the East Coast. These men and women were increasingly averse to conforming to the creeping taxation and escalating tight control of the faraway British government, and when push came to shove, the Founding Fathers defied the king – committing rebellious treason to do so, and declared colonial independence. Thus was born the Revolutionary War.
250 years ago this nation was birthed, and in that moment, a new and unprecedented great American experiment began to blossom. “But what do we mean by the American Revolution?” wrote John Adams in 1818. “Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations… This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”
The birth of American independence, liberty, freedom, and exceptionalism was the moment when the western world was transformed from a vast, untamed wilderness and into a potentially powerful empire. 250 years later, it’s safe to say that America has had plenty of ups and downs, but it’s still standing, and, unlike Britain, it is now the world’s reigning superpower – thanks to the grace of God.
“In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power,” said James Madison, in an essay for the National Gazette in 1792. “America has set the example … of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the most consoling presage of its happiness.”
Indeed, America’s enduring legacy is due to this mindset: liberty first, and a power held by the people. Many times over the years, this power, vested in the people, has been threatened, but thanks to the foresight of our Founding Fathers, the Republic has endured at least to this point – and against all odds. “It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it,” James Madison wisely (again) posited in 1788.
Moving forward, Americans now gaze at the beginning of another 250 years. Where will America be then? Burning brightly as a beacon of liberty for the world? Imperfect though she may be, the United States has managed to offer millions what no other country could: the ability to work, dream, and live in safety. Although the world seems uncertain, there is a promise to had in the 250th celebration. A promise that, if Americans can remain committed to keeping their Republic, liberty can continue to be preserved for future generations.
“The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the Republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people,” said President George Washington, in his very first Inaugural Address.
The question for Americans this Independence Day is not whether America has achieved great things or whether it’s worth being proud of (the answer to both is, of course, yes). The question is this: what do we want the future to look like?
With God’s help, this special anniversary celebration can be a moment to recommit the nation not just to the will of God but to His wisdom and protection. It can be a moment to be grateful for all that America represents and purports to be, even if petty politics or bad people attempt to hijack it. It’s always up to the people, as Washington inferred, to keep the fires of liberty burning bright, for this generation, and for many more to come.
Happy Birthday, America. Here’s to 250 more years of proving that liberty really is worth fighting for.
The Declaration of Independence, in full:
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
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Don’t miss Angel Studios’ anticipated new film, YOUNG WASHINGTON, releasing July 3, 2026 – just in time for America’s birthday!
Summer Lane is the #1 bestselling author of 30 books, including the hit Collapse Series and Resurrection Series. She is an experienced journalist and editor who is covering the White House and Trump administration. She owns Write Revolution News.
Summer is also a mom and wife who enjoys rural country living, herding cats, and gardening. She is passionate about writing on women’s issues, parenting, and politics from a theologically-grounded perspective that points readers to the good news of the gospel.
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