How To Make Sure America’s 250th Birthday Goes Out With A Bang, Not A Shrug
Americans should know the powerful story of the people who created not just a new nation but a new concept of nationhood.Americans should know the powerful story of the people who created not just a new nation but a new concept of nationhood.Tim Walz Brags About Passing Laws That Restrict Speech
Tim Walz knows better, and if he doesn’t, one might suggest a quiet evening re-reading the American Constitution.Frederick Douglass: American patriot
In 1852, Frederick Douglass was invited to give a 4th of July speech in his hometown of Rochester, New York. After praising the framers of the Constitution and the nation they established, Douglass turned to the cruel hypocrisy of commemorating American independence while millions remained in the bondage he had only recently escaped, pointedly addressing white Americans in the second person:
"What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? ... To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; ... There is not a nation on the Earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour."
If anyone had reason to condemn America as irredeemably lost, it would be a man like Douglass, legally reduced to chattel for the first 20 years of his life. And yet Douglass ended his speech with a stirring affirmation of faith in “the Declaration of Independence, the great principles it contains, and the genius of American Institutions.”
He had the wisdom to distinguish the lasting ideals of the founders from the human wickedness that had perverted them. For Douglass, these ideals remained worth protecting; indeed, they are what allowed him to hope that his abolitionist cause would soon triumph.
Ten years later, as the American Civil War raged, Douglass gave another 4th of July speech. This time, he used the third person plural, aligning himself with both his countrymen and the Founding Fathers and describing the Union effort as “continuing the tremendous struggle, which your fathers and my fathers began eighty six years ago.”
Douglass had urged President Lincoln to let black soldiers fight for the Union since the war began. When the 1863 signing of the Emancipation Proclamation permitted this, two of Douglass' sons were among the 200,000 black Americans who enlisted.
In a little less than two years, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding. As we contemplate that milestone from this particularly volatile moment in our history, may we ponder what divides us and, like Douglass, strive to discern the unity it conceals.
The unknown Revolutionary War HERO who sacrificed everything
The American Revolution was led by many men with names we know by heart — Adams, Revere, Hancock, and Washington — to name a few.
But there’s a lesser known name who’s received little to no time in the limelight in the history books: Dr. Joseph Warren of Massachusetts.
“It’s very interesting,” Mark Levin says. “In New England, early on when the war broke out, before 1776, Dr. Joseph Warren was known better than George Washington.”
During the Battle of Bunker Hill, there was a problem that Warren, a leader of the Revolutionary movement in Boston, helped solve.
The colonists were short on gunpowder, so Warren and a few others put together and signed a letter addressed to the Congress of New York asking for help.
“You read that, and you look at that, and you really think about the men who wrote it and signed it, who put everything on the line, everything they had, including their lives,” Levin says, admiring their sacrifice.
When the Patriots ended up running out of gunpowder during this battle, some of them stood firm at the front line while others were ordered to retreat for another day.
“Dr. Warren insisted on staying on the front line. He was a wanted man, they knew who he was,” Levin explains. “The Americans are overwhelmed, they fight hand to hand combat, and one of the higher ranking British officers, as they were charging up the last time, saw Joseph Warren, aimed his pistol at him in nearly point blank range, shot him between the eyes.”
“And so as not to make a martyr out of Dr. Joseph Warren, they would cut him up into pieces, they would burn what was left of him,” he adds, noting that the British forces also urinated on his remains.
The American forces were able to determine that Warren was one of the dead as in his teeth he had some easily identifiable iron, which was made by Paul Revere, who was a metalsmith.
“I tell you that as a personal example, not personal to me, but a specific example, of what took place,” Levin says.
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'I'm not moving': Yankees and Reds have epic 4th of July national anthem standoff — umpire laughs at stone-faced players
Players from the New York Yankees and Cincinnati Reds engaged in a lengthy patriotic standoff following the national anthem before an Independence Day game in the Bronx, New York.
What started with at least five players participating in the standoff was whittled down to a final four as Yankees starting pitcher Marcus Stroman finished warming up. Reds pitchers Graham Ashcraft and Carson Spiers, along with Yankees pitchers Ian Hamilton and Cody Poteet, stood firmly with their hats over their hearts well after "The Star-Spangled Banner" had finished.
'I don't have anything to do today. I'm staying until I win, get ejected, or both.'
Bally Sports Cincinnati reporter Jim Day explained what was happening in front of the dugouts.
"We've got a good, old-fashioned baseball game and a good, old-fashioned standoff," Day said, reviewing recorded footage.
"You don't see these much in Major League Baseball any more, but Graham Ashcraft, Carson Spiers, three Yankees on the other side ... they've been at attention for a good five to 10 minutes at this point," Day added, throwing back to the live feed.
With the four players remaining, none seemed willing to budge, even as umpires told the players to get off the field. First-base umpire Jonathan Parra was seen laughing as he attempted to reason with the Yankees players, who remained stone-faced and looking straight ahead while chewing gum.
"It wasn’t even planned," Ashcraft told MLB.com. "All of us, we're glancing over. We saw they weren't moving. One of the guys told Carson [Spiers] to stay. I was like, 'I'm staying with you because I'm not moving. I don't have anything to do today. I'm staying until I win, get ejected, or both," the pitcher recalled.
Luckily for the participating players, home-plate umpire Alan Porter extended the standoff when he left to get more equipment. The players were then warned that if they kept up their antics once the first batter stepped in, they would all be ejected.
Spiers was the first to leave, leaving Ashcraft to face the two Yankees. After at least 10-15 minutes, depending on the report, the Yankees decided to step down, leaving Ashcraft as the fist-pumping winner.
"If you're going to win, you've got to win, right?" Ashcraft told reporters.
First baseman Spencer Steer added that he thought it was "pretty awesome" and gave the team "a little edge."
Perhaps that edge worked, as the Reds won the game 8-4.
The Fourth of July follies could have gone much worse, however, as history has shown that umpires are not always as accepting as they were at Yankee Stadium.
An umpiring crew was not happy when a standoff caused a delay before a 2022 game between the Seattle Mariners and Kansas City Royals.
Mariner Robbie Ray and Royal Luke Weaver were both ejected after home-plate umpire Adrian Johnson tried to wave the players back into the dugout.
What at first seemed like a victory for the Mariners when Weaver moved first turned out to be an ejection for both players. The game was already three minutes late when the players were thrown out of the game.
It seems that some umpires have a better sense of humor than others.
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'F*** America! F*** Israel!' Pro-Palestinian radicals burn American flags amid July 4 celebrations in NYC, journalist says
Pro-Palestinian radicals burned American flags amid July 4 celebrations in New York City and ran amok in the streets, according to videos posted on X by journalist Oliya Scootercaster.
One clip, which has been viewed nearly 500,000 times, shows protesters Thursday burning American flags in Washington Square Park, the journalist wrote in the video's caption. Protesters — most of whom wore face coverings and ultra-chic, left-wing keffiyeh scarves — chanted the familiar "Free, free Palestine!" slogan.
Part of the clip showed protesters hollering, 'Piggy, piggy, oink, oink!' at officers.
At the start of the clip, a detractor challenged protesters, calling them "terrorists," cursing them out, and telling them to leave the United States if they don't like it. One protester hollered back, "F*** America! F*** Israel!"
As night fell, protesters were caught on another video running amok through New York City streets carrying huge Palestinian flags; one radical lit up the streets with a flare. Scootercaster's caption noted that a "Revolution! Revolution!" chant was heard during the "Flood Manhattan on July 4th" march.
Scootercaster wrote in the caption of another clip that pro-Palestinian protesters "set off smoke bombs and flares to block view of fireworks for crowds gathered in the Chelsea viewing area for Independence Day."
According to photos from Getty Images, New York City police officers made several arrests amid the protests:
A fourth video Scootercaster posted showed large groups of NYPD officers contending with what appeared to be hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters flooding the streets. Part of the clip showed protesters hollering, "Piggy, piggy, oink, oink!" at officers. Another section of the video showed cops attempting to handcuff one protester.
(H/T: The Daily Caller)
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Which president can lead us to 'America250'?
Just two years from today, on July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and, with it, the founding of our country.
Those who were alive to remember our bicentennial celebrations of 1976 already know what to expect: a massive nationwide celebration, with fireworks and parades, with streets lined with flags and large festivals happening across the country.
Symbols and sentimentality will not suffice for this occasion. Whoever is president will need to outline a positive way forward for this country, shared values that can embolden us to face an uncertain future.
The campaign to observe our semiquincentennial already has an official name — America250 — and a website promising an effort “to commemorate and celebrate our 250th anniversary with inclusive programs that inspire Americans to renew and strengthen our daring experiment in democracy.”
What remains to be seen is the tone of the event. One of the curious realities of this celebration is that it will almost certainly be heavily affected by the outcome of the 2024 election.
Neither President Biden nor President Trump seems to think this “daring experiment” is doing very well at the moment. Each man takes every opportunity he can to express his dismay.
They differ on why American is failing. Biden sees a nation filled with violent dissenters and unabashed racists, the product of a genocidal past. Trump sees a nation corrupted by bureaucracy and foreign influence, in need of renewal.
The 1976 Bicentennial is looked back upon as a joyous, unifying affair, but that year the country was also grappling with the aftermath of Watergate and the tumult of the 1970s.
2026 will happen at a time when the meaning of America is more contested than ever, as reflected by a number of cultural and political flash points, big and small: the1619 Project, Black Lives Matter, “Hamilton,” “White Fragility,” January 6. It will be met with protests, soul-searching angst, and uncertainty about the nature of the American experiment.
Today America faces innumerable threats — rising inflation, a broken housing market, failing educational and medical systems, declining birth rates, and unchecked mass immigration.
As if the election of Trump in 2016 weren’t enough, COVID-19 offered undenable evidence of just how divided our citizenry is, with half of the population wanting to be left alone and the other half openly calling for them to catch a deadly disease and die.
Then there are our foreign policy problems, continuing to threaten global stability and trade: ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel, a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, tensions between North and South Korea.
America250 suggests an opportunity to ask some pressing questions about who we are. Are we the same republic that George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson founded? Have we been corrupted beyond repair? Is the Constitution a dead letter? Does America even want to be America any more? Or are we doomed to national suicide, decline, secession, and a bloody civil war?
Whoever wins the 2024 election will have to stand on the national stage on July 4, 2026, and give a speech that speaks to this identity crisis.
Symbols and sentimentality will not suffice for this occasion. Whoever is president will need to outline a positive way forward for this country, shared values that can embolden us to face an uncertain future.
As we go into the ballot boxes this November, we should ask ourselves which of these two candidates has the vision, determination, and courage to tell America the hard truth: Unless we can recover some of the spirit with which we founded this great nation, the chances that it will be around for its tricentennial in 2076 are slim indeed.
July 4 exclusive: What we love about America
Rod Dreher, American expatriate writer and editor living in Hungary
"Red Headed Stranger" by Willie Nelson (1975). This ghostly concept album by the Texas outlaw singer is about a man in the Old West on the run after killing his wife and her lover. It is about pain, passion, and redemption. Pure as branch water and possessed of the narrative power of a biblical parable, "Red Headed Stranger" is as perfect a piece of Americana as ever was. When I play this album, I know that no matter how far we stray from God, a country that can produce Willie Nelson is not lost.
Glenn Beck, cofounder, Blaze Media
"Up from Slavery," by Booker T. Washington.
Christian Toto, film critic and writer
Will Smith's 2006 film "The Pursuit of Happyness" is all about the American dream. The film follows a single father struggling to break through in the business world. Spoiler alert: There's a very happy ending. The moment that matters is one of the final shots. We watch Smith's character, fresh from learning he got the job he dreamed about for so long, walking into a crowded street. He's dizzy, unsure where to go, and his face reflects a thousand emotions at once. Elation. Relief. Joy. The knowledge that he'll be able to care for his young son without worrying about his next paycheck. He starts applauding himself, and his smile couldn't grow any wider.
It's the precise moment when his American dream becomes real, and it's glorious.
The Pursuit of Happyness: Chris is hiredwww.youtube.com
Doug Gray, Army veteran and founding member/lead vocalist of the Marshall Tucker Band
"Independence Day" (1996). As unusual as it sounds, this movie brought the entire country together against a true enemy. Though it was a fictional film, it perfectly symbolized unity brought on by a sinister evil.
I say this jokingly, I think, but I hope it doesn’t take an alien invasion to bring us all back together. God bless America!
Bayard Winthrop, founder and CEO, American Giant
I periodically re-read the Gettysburg Address. And when I do, remind myself of what was happening in our country at that time, so that when today, things feel divided or fractured, we can remind ourselves of how important the cause of liberty is and how small our differences actually are.
Delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863
Aaron Renn, author, 'Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture'
In the 19th century, many countries had female symbols of the nation. These have fallen by the wayside, except for Marianne in France. There's a vast trove of historic imagery of Columbia, the female symbol of America. She is a wonderful national symbol, sadly fallen out of use save for the famous Columbia Pictures logo.
There are many images of Columbia to choose from, but I like this cover from the book "The Story of the Constitution," produced by the United States Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission. Columbia stands watch over the Constitutional Convention, an eagle and flag behind her, with a blue ribbon labeled "We the People" emerging from the flag and encircling the fasces — a symbol that in America, governmental power rests with the people. We need a Columbia revival.
Peachy Keenan, cultural commentator and author of 'Domestic Extremist'
She liked the enormous sky and the winds, and the land that you couldn’t see to the end of. Everything was so free and big and splendid.
—Laura Ingalls Wilder, "Little House on the Prairie"
Laura Ingalls Wilder was my first teacher of American history — not the history of Washington but the history of daily life as a young, curious girl in a new land. I would marvel at a childhood so simple, so “deprived,” that one piece of candy and an orange — maybe a bit of ribbon, if you were really lucky — in your stocking Christmas morning was considered a lavish bounty for which you would be grateful all year. Laura's father could build a log cabin in a few days by himself, and her mother could prepare dinner in a covered wagon with no appliances. Laura’s frontier was a place worth pioneering, worth the hard battle to win over the land and claim it for all time. Is it still? That seems to be the question again before us.
Spencer Klavan, associate editor, Claremont Review of Books
Lovers of poetry know Alfred, Lord Tennyson, as a writer of surpassingly graceful and moving verse. But few realize he’s also the author of what is, to my knowledge, the manliest assessment of the American revolution ever written by an Englishman.
Almost a hundred years on from the first Independence Day, Tennyson invites Britain to look back on the war not with resentment but with admiration: “Strong mother of a Lion-line / Be proud of those strong sons of thine / Who wrench’d their rights from thee!”
It’s short, perfect for reciting as a barbecue toast, and appropriate this Fourth of July, when our older brothers across the pond are facing a bleak election of their own. Tennyson tells his countrymen that by insisting on their rights as Englishmen, the founding generation “retaught the lesson thou hadst taught / And in thy spirit with thee fought” — suggesting that the noble Anglo-American lineage of freedom can be revived even in moments of apparent discouragement and defeat. Let’s hope that’s still the case.
O thou that sendest out the man
To rule by land and sea,
Strong mother of a Lion-line,
Be proud of those strong sons of thine
Who wrench'd their rights from thee!
What wonder if in noble heat
Those men thine arms withstood,
Retaught the lesson thou hadst taught,
And in thy spirit with thee fought
Who sprang from English blood!
But thou rejoice with liberal joy,
Lift up thy rocky face,
And shatter, when the storms are black,
In many a streaming torrent back,
The seas that shock thy base!
Whatever harmonies of law
The growing world assume,
Thy work is thine the single note
From that deep chord which Hampden smote
Will vibrate to the doom.
Gavin Mcinnes, host of 'Get Off My Lawn'
“Empire of the Summer Moon” by S.C. Gwynne is a fantastic book and a beautiful reminder of the immense struggles we had as a country shortly after we were born. The West was still untamed. It was a war. We didn’t steal land from the Indians. We fought them in an epic battle that was gruesome and long because they were worthy adversaries. The story of America is an arduous journey with a million dead ends, but we all got here together. That’s something to be proud of — warts and all.
David Azerrad, professor at Hillsdale College’s Van Andel Graduate School of Government
For me, there is only one answer: America is not a country for servile men. As Samuel Adams said in his rousing oration on American Independence: “If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animating contest of freedom — go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen!” Americans must choose liberty over despotism, even if it is sugarcoated, as it is today, with loan forgiveness, junk food, antidepressants, endless porn, and all other sedatives and somas that sap our spiritedness.
Michael Knowles, author and political commentator
I recommend a little-known painting by William Halsall: “The Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor.” Painted in 1882 as memory of America’s founding generation began to fade, it depicts the Pilgrims’ ship at dawn. Or is it dusk? One cannot quite tell if the sun is rising or setting on America.
Isaac Simpson, founder and director, Will
After Muhammad Ali returned victorious from Zaire after defeating George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle, a reporter asked him, "What did you think of Africa?" After he outwardly rejected the war in Vietnam and embraced Islam, many progressives saw Ali as a hero of Marxist anti-Americanism.
The trip to Zaire itself was viewed by many as a "return to Africa"-type statement, but Ali instantaneously put that to bed with this quote, one of his all-time classic whimsical responses: "Thank God my granddaddy got on that boat."
After all the turmoil and criticism, it acknowledged that at the end of the day, he was a pure-blooded American and wouldn't have it any other way. Sort of the conclusory response to "no Vietcong ever called me n****er."
Matthew Wilder, writer and director of the forthcoming film 'Morning Has Broken,' with Ava McAvoy and Fred Melamed
I don't get the problem people have with George Stevens' "Giant." To me, it's an American "Leopard." And Rock Hudson does carry that. I am not a James Dean fetishist, but his conception of Jett Rink is advanced. For the first half he's a broken-down, incomprehensible hobo very similar to Joaquin Phoenix's Freddie Quell in "The Master."
Then, when the oil is struck, he turns into Howard Hughes in his latter days — he goes from zero to 100 to brick wall in five seconds. His whole final scene at the banquet — wow!
Imagine if he had lived to go on to do stuff with Peckinpah and Frankenheimer and Lumet and Kubrick and Richard Lester. He would have been reason enough for Godard to come to America to make "Bonnie and Clyde" with him and Tuesday Weld.
All right, enough of my cinema speculations!
Ben Boychuk, opinion and analysis editor, Blaze Media
July 4 is, of course, the date we officially celebrate American independence, but John Adams believed the more momentous day was July 2, when the delegates of the Continental Congress voted to draft the Declaration of Independence and sever ties with Great Britain once and for all.
Adams wrote two letters to his wife, Abigail, on July 3 explaining the significance of the decision and sharing his relief, hopes, and fears about the struggle to come. His closing lines still strike a chord:
"You will think me transported with enthusiasm; but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure, that it will cost us to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory; I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph, although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not."
Lou Perez, comedian/writer/producer/actor
My favorite immigrants are the ones who become Americans. So thank God my immigrant father became a U.S. citizen! That’s one less daddy issue for me.
My father came from Argentina in the late 1970s. He crossed the border with maybe a couple years of high school education and no English. His business in San Miguel de Tucumán had gone under — a butcher shop next to his childhood home — and he was in debt.
When he got to New York, he was able to find work in a deli in Queens. One day, he sat in the back of the store and cried. This wasn’t his store. This wasn’t his country. He was experiencing a new low that was truly foreign to him.
But he was in America — though he didn’t realize it at the time. Not the geographical reality — of course he knew that. It was the American ethos he had yet to grasp.
My father worked and worked and worked. He built a family, a business (Casablanca Meat Market in Spanish Harlem), and an appreciation for the United States that I’m not sure I can fully understand. I was born here, after all. I didn’t choose to make the journey.
I often joke that my father taught me the value of hard work ... and I plan on living off of his hard work for as long as I can. He butchered so that his son could make jokes. He’s my favorite American.
Help Find The Grave Of This 14-Year-Old Who Fought For U.S. Independence
The story of a 14-year-old war hero reminds us of the courage and devotion exhibited by the everyday Americans of our founding generation.American Giant partners with Walmart to sell ‘Made in America’ 4th of July themed shirts
Just in time for the 4th of July, Walmart of all places has partnered with American Giant to sell "Made in America" T-shirts.
American Giant is a clothing company that produces 100% American-made products and also happens to be one of Glenn Beck’s sponsors. Founded by Bayard Winthrop, the company's products are made with quality materials that are built to withstand the test of time. Further, American Giant creates jobs for Americans in factory towns and cities across the country, thereby boosting communities and our economy.
“After about 18 months of work, we are announcing a collaboration with Walmart, bringing some entirely American-made T-shirts to 1,700 Walmart doors all across the country,” he told Glenn.
“It’s an important moment, I think, not only for the textiles, but more broadly for American-made to have a major retailer step up with us for this kind of a commitment.”
“The American worker — at least in my judgment — is the best worker in the world, and we have allowed our domestic capability to decay over the last 35 years, and thankfully, both parties are waking up to this reality that we’ve gotta do something about it,” Winthrop said.
It’s exciting to see a company that believes in the potential of America — and believes in what we’re doing here at Blaze Media — to receive an opportunity like this.
“Made-in-America products and clothes have become expensive. I get it,” Glenn acknowledges, adding that sometimes we’re forced to “settle for convenience and cost.”
However, this partnership between Walmart and American Giant merges the best of both worlds — clothing that is American-made but still affordable.
“MORE OF THIS!” is Glenn’s emphatic response.
American Giant is a sponsor of the Glenn Beck radio program and Blaze Media.
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