Commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence will be a national celebration. Americans will celebrate with patriotic speeches, parades, musical performances and fireworks.
Americans will also reflect on a national journey that started humbly but has created the most dynamic nation in human history. That nation has advanced life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a remarkable, historically unparalleled manner.
While that same history features many sad elements- including the devastation of Native Americans and enslavement of African Americans – this occasion is more suitable for celebrating the success of a remarkable human experiment in self government -and recognizing its fragility- than relitigating tragic mistakes and moral lapses.
The true significance of the Declaration of Independence does not stop at the American shoreline of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It crosses those oceans and touches virtually every part of the globe.
This global resonance can in part be attributed to the United States welcoming freedom loving immigrants from the world over to begin life anew and create the opportunity for future generations to live in freedom and prosperity.
Even more significantly, the rise of American democracy gave the world a new perspective on the social compact: the citizen as sovereign; a separation of powers with checks and balances; free and fair elections, followed by peaceful transitions of power; free enterprise under the rule of law; due process; and the protection of fundamental freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and religion.
These are the penultimate exports and gifts of the American experiment unleashed by the Declaration of Independence.
Creating a nation among disparate colonies required compromise. Building a nation over 250 years featuring dramatic societal changes and challenges both foreign and domestic has required finding common ground, despite a remarkably diverse population and its varied interests. Recent polarization threatens what has truly made America great: e pluribus unum.
Since the launching of America’s bold democratic experiment, many nations have in their own ways embarked on a free and democratic path with market based economies protected by the rule of law. Most have prospered – with genuinely shared prosperity – in ways that merit national pride. Illustratively, consider the dramatic rise of Japan and Germany after turning toward democracy and capitalism. While small nations blessed with highly valued commodities have also enriched the lives of their citizens, these regimes all too often deny those citizens the fundamental freedoms Americans exercise daily. Americans should both appreciate and celebrate those freedoms on this special occasion and every day thereafter.
On this 250th Independence Day, Americans can extol the freedoms that billions of people enjoy by living in democratic societies. That is unquestionably one of the greatest legacies of the Declaration and of the United States. Americans can also laud the countless stories of individual and collective achievement that only arise in a society where freedom and merit are the guideposts:
Think of a recent successful American immigrant like Elon Musk, the Civil Rights movement, the first moon landing, or the remarkable rise of Barack Obama. Americans should compare their opportunities versus those in societies where inherited or corruptly amassed wealth and power prevail. The latter are hallmarks of authoritarian regimes that have plagued most of human history.
On July 4, 2026, Americans should be proud but also vigilant. They must resist the usurping of their sovereignty by unprecedentedly powerful technology as well as by authoritarian politicians and their enablers. Americans today stand at a crossroads envisioned by the nation’s founders. Madison and other framers worked tirelessly to create a system of government that resisted vesting inordinate power in any one individual or even one branch of government; but the citizens and their elected representatives must actively exercise the powers vested in them rather than passively surrender. As Jefferson warned his contemporaries and posterity, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. As Franklin once remarked, [the United States of America] is a republic, but only if its citizens can keep it.
The blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not guaranteed. Today, they hang in the balance. Some among us deliberately try to amass those blessings only for a chosen few and to relegate the masses to being largely irrelevant, disenfranchised subjects.
Hence, Americans must use this special anniversary not only as a time of celebration and reflection, but as a catalyst. This occasion must be a call to action to preserve those blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for one and all. That is America at its best.
The Declaration of Independence led to a better world in the two and one half centuries since its adoption by the Continental Congress. America must now rededicate itself to freedom, democracy and the rule of law. That would be yet another gift to the rest of the free world and to all those who aspire to counter or end corrupt authoritarian regimes.
For themselves, their posterity and all democratic societies, Americans must again and always defend the inalienable rights extolled in the Declaration. As George Washington observed in late June of 1776, “The cause of America and of liberty is the cause of all mankind.”
