This year is the United States’ Semiquincentennial year. That means that on July 4, 2026 this country will be 250-years-old. That is half of the age of the Roman Empire. And a fraction of the longest empire in history — the Egyptian Empire. It lasted more than 3,000 years. America may have quite a few years to go to reach that lofty figure, but 250 years is certainly a milestone worth celebrating.
What began as a disagreement over how Great Britain should govern the colonies escalated from philosophical conflict into war. For years, the Kingdom of Great Britain allowed the colonies to self-govern—until it didn’t. When Parliament needed money to pay for the French and Indian War (1754-1763), they decided to reassert their dominance through “taxation without representation.” The war, part of a much larger conflict between the British and French spanning three continents, had proven extraordinarily expensive.
At the same time, America was developing its own sense of independence. The Revolutionary War began with small hostilities until the ‘shot heard round the world’ initiated the battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the war…