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<\/a> With the Washington Monument in the background, visitors gather at the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Photo by Indianz.Com <\/a> With the Washington Monument in the background, visitors gather at the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Photo by Indianz.Com (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n
WASHINGTON — As the United States prepares to mark its 250th anniversary, Americans are once again debating the meaning of the nation\u2019s founding and what direction the country should take in the years ahead.<\/p>\r\n
From the celebrations honoring the nation\u2019s founders in 1826 to the industrial optimism of 1876, the nationalism of 1926 and the post-Watergate soul-searching of 1976, each major commemoration has reflected the concerns of its era.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
That\u2019s certainly true for this semiquincentennial, as political polarization, disputes over race and history and competing visions of patriotism simmer.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cThese commemorations are largely about collective memory rather than analytic history,\u201d said James Wertsch, professor emeritus of sociocultural anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. \u201cCollective memory tends to preserve a preferred narrative at the expense of evidence.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
The tension is seen in the two commemorations: America 250, the commission created by Congress a decade ago \u2013 and Freedom 250, launched in December by President Donald Trump to put his own stamp on the festivities.<\/p>\r\n
Trump\u2019s initiative has largely taken over while also injecting a more partisan tone, with events tailored to his tastes and those of his political base.<\/p>\r\n
On Monday, Freedom 250 announced a Trump-led rally on the National Mall on the Fourth of July \u2013 a plan his political adversaries don\u2019t exactly see as unifying.<\/p>\r\n
Details unveiled Tuesday for the \u201cSalute to America\u201d include performances by more than 300 military musicians and ceremonial personnel, flyovers by the Air Force Thunderbirds and Navy Blue Angels and what organizers describe as \u201cthe largest fireworks display in history.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
Trump\u2019s initiative includes a national prayer event; the Ultimate Fighting Championship cage fights on the White House lawn Sunday night; and the high octane drama of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, an IndyCar race on the streets of the capital in late August.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
Trump\u2019s celebration puts greater emphasis on MAGA-style patriotism and American toughness. It leans heavily into spectacle, competition and displays of strength, projecting American exceptionalism and an image of the U.S. as dominant, resilient and unmatched on the world stage.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
At a February hearing, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., accused the administration of seeking to \u201chijack the country\u2019s 250th anniversary and sell access, hide his donors and rewrite history.\u201d<\/p>\r\n
The Great American State Fair that starts June 25 will bring a combination of Americana and MAGA to the National Mall. Theme days include MAHA Mondays, referring to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy\u2019s \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d agenda and its emphasis on natural food and aversion to childhood vaccination.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The congressionally authorized commission, America 250, has approached the milestone as an opportunity for education, engagement and reflection on the nation\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The more traditional approach includes a commemorative ball drop in New York. There\u2019s also a time capsule in Philadelphia \u2013 where the Declaration of Independence was signed \u2013 to be opened at the quincentennial in 2276, and a national day of reflection on July 5.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
\u201cNational celebrations of the founding of the U.S. are efforts to represent the nation and encourage patriotism and unity,\u201d said Arlene Stein, a sociology professor at Rutgers University.<\/p>\r\n \r\n
Major anniversaries of the signing of the Declaration of Independence have never been just about remembering 1776 or national unity, Wertsch and others say.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
They\u2019re also, often, a time when conflicts intensify over what the nation does and should stand for, as competing groups wrestle to define and redefine the nation\u2019s story.<\/p>\r\n
When the nation turned 50 in 1826, the semicentennial celebration helped transform the American Revolution from living memory into national mythology, cemented by the deaths just hours apart on July Fourth of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.<\/p>\r\n
Celebrations centered on them and other founders, reinforcing their status as symbols of national unity and civic virtue.<\/p>\r\n
The Marquis de Lafayette toured the young nation in 1824 and 1825. Crowds flocked to see one of the last surviving major figures of the War of Independence, creating a link between the momentous events of 1776 and younger generations.<\/p>\r\n
The Civil War ended just 11 years before the celebrations of 1876.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The war had cost up to 750,000 lives, and racial tensions remained unresolved.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
But rather than focusing on the unfinished promises of liberty, democracy and union, the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia showcased American industry and economic opportunity.<\/p>\r\n
\u201cThe focus of the 1876 centennial on technological innovations was a way to avoid the deep bitterness of the Civil War and Reconstruction,\u201d said University of Richmond historian Edward Ayers.<\/p>\r\n \r\n
Rapid social change, rising nationalism and anxiety about growing diversity hung over the sesquicentennial. The Immigration Act of 1924 set strict limits on how many people could move to America, favoring Western Europe while banning immigrants from Asia.<\/p>\r\n
Events in 1926, including a World\u2019s Fair in Philadelphia, marked the nation\u2019s birthday while reinforcing nativist ideas about citizenship, assimilation and belonging.<\/p>\r\n
Exhibits, pageants and educational programs promoted a vision of American identity rooted in shared values and loyalty to the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The Postal Service issued a 2 cent stamp depicting the Liberty Bell. The U.S. Mint issued a commemorative half-dollar coin with the images of George Washington and Calvin Coolidge, marking the first and only time that U.S. currency depicted a living president.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
The Coolidge half-dollar has remained a historic outlier, though Trump has pushed to add his own likeness to currency. The Treasury has been moving ahead with plans for a $1 Trump coin and a 1 oz, 24-karat gold coin with a face value of $250, about 1\/16th the price of gold.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n
Political appointees forced out the director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing after she resisted creation of a $250 banknote featuring Trump\u2019s portrait, according to news accounts in late May<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n Congress outlawed the depiction of a living person<\/a> on currency in 1866.<\/p>\r\n The bicentennial arrived in the aftermath of Watergate and the Vietnam war. Americans were disillusioned and 8% were out of work<\/a> in a grim era of stagflation.<\/p>\r\n Cities across the country staged especially grand fireworks displays on the Fourth.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n But, Ayers said, \u201c1976 seemed hollow to many people after the shameful acts of Richard Nixon and the struggling economy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n As in other years, organizers in 1976 staged several major events intended to revive national pride.<\/p>\r\n The American Freedom Train traveled more that 25,000 miles across the U.S., carrying George Washington\u2019s personal copy of the Constitution, Judy Garland\u2019s blue and white gingham dress from \u201cThe Wizard of Oz\u201d and other artifacts.<\/p>\r\n In New York Harbor, Operation Sail brought more than 200 ships from 30 countries together in one of the largest maritime celebrations ever. The government also issued commemorative quarters, half-dollars and dollar coins.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n On top of these spectacles, organizers encouraged local parades, festivals and heritage projects that allowed communities to celebrate in their own way.<\/p>\r\n In Arizona, special events included the dedication of restoration work at the historical Yuma Crossing and a painted bicentennial logo across the roof of Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n In Tucson, residents celebrated the bicentennials of both the nation and their city with a time capsule that was opened in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n \u201cA small-town parade with veterans who are also neighbors seems more meaningful than national celebrations,\u201d Ayers said.<\/p>\r\n Fifty years later, the nation is again in the throes of cultural and political strife, polarization and declining trust in institutions.<\/p>\r\n The competing America 250 and Freedom 250 efforts have turned the semiquincentennial into a contest over how the nation\u2019s story should be told.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n At a recent news conference at the Capitol related to the 250th birthday, Reps. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., and Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., urged Americans to work harder to find common ground.\u00a0 Boyle cited the informal national motto \u201cE pluribus unum\u201d \u2013 \u201cout of many, one\u201d \u2013 which remains on U.S. coins, though Congress adopted \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d as an official motto in 1956.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Even the founders \u201cdidn\u2019t always agree among themselves,\u201d Boyle noted, but they \u201cwere able to come together and unite in a common purpose to build one United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\r\n Wertsch attributed many of today\u2019s disagreements to longstanding tensions between the nation\u2019s founding ideals and its historical realities.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n \u201cThe struggle between this narrative and the claim in the Declaration of Independence that \u2018all men are created equal\u2019 has re-emerged in today\u2019s polarized atmosphere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n For Ayers, the reason some anniversaries seem \u201cflat\u201d is that they amount to little more than \u201can assertion of unsullied greatness.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n Acknowledging the nation\u2019s contradictions and flaws while also focusing on its promise turns a mere celebration into a meaningful commemoration, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n \u201cIt is not only possible, it is necessary,\u201d Ayers said.<\/p>\r\n <\/P>\r\n This article<\/a> first appeared on Cronkite News<\/a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.The bicentennial<\/div>\r\n2026: Debating the nation\u2019s past and future<\/div>\r\n
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