America at 250: A Watch List on Why a Nation Was Born
On July 4, 2026, the United States turns 250. The formal name for a 250th anniversary is the Semiquincentennial; the shorthand everyone is using is America250. Either way, it marks a quarter-millennium since the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. I wanted to mark the occasion with something more durable than fireworks. This is a watch list. It is not a “greatest hits of patriotism” reel. It is a guided tour through one specific question. Why did thirteen British colonies decide they needed to become their own country? It was not inevitable. For most of the 1760s and early 1770s, the colonists wanted their rights restored within the empire, not a new nation. Something changed. This list is about what. ...