2026: Celebrating 250 Years of American Independence

2026 will be filled with celebrations to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States.

As the beneficiaries of 250 years of American nationhood, this is a mighty moment to reflect on that pivotal year of our founding and it should never be lost on us just how difficult of a time that was for those on the frontlines of the war to secure our independence. As historian David Hackett Fischer reminds us, “We celebrate 1776 as the most glorious year in American history. They remembered it as an agony. . . .” As Robert Morris wrote to George Washington on the first day of 1777, “The year 1776 is over, I am heartily glad of it and hope you nor America will ever be plagued with such another.”

By December 1776, after three colonies had fallen under Imperial control and General George Washington and the soldiers of his Continental Army had been driven from Long Island to Westchester and across the Hudson and Delaware Rivers to Pennsylvania, many on both sides saw the Revolutionary War as all but over. As Thomas Paine wrote in The American Crisis, these were indeed “the times that try men’s souls.”

As bleak as the dawning days of 1776 looked, however, America survived what historian David McCullough called “as dark a time as any in the history of the country.” The reason why the Revolution did not end in failure is because George Washington and a devoted core of long-suffering soldiers refused to give up. Despite chronic shortages of food, footwear, clothing, blankets, and other essential items for soldiering, the warriors of the Continental Army put one bloody, shoeless foot in front of the other and followed their commander in chief. Together, they boldly crossed the ice-chocked Delaware River in the middle of a severe winter storm on Christmas night 1776, embarking upon what ultimately became a brilliant ten day campaign that resulted in two major battlefield victories in New Jersey at Trenton and Princeton that turned the tide of the war. In reflecting on those victories, Captain William Hull of the Seventh Connecticut Regiment wrote, “What can’t men do when engaged in so noble a cause?”

And so, as we begin a special year-long celebration of America’s 250th birthday, let us never forget that we owe everything to the brave souls who saved our nation at its foundational moment in 1776. To echo the words that Thomas Paine used to rally those men during those times of intense desperation, “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”