Don’t look now, but America is heading into the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026.
With proper attention and funding, it may rival the bicentennial celebration in 1976 and should exceed those on January 31, 1999, simply because we will be celebrating the existence of our country instead of being grateful we made it through the Y2K computer bug fiasco.
The semiquincentennial, as it will be known, should be emblazoned in everyone’s memory by the time July Fourth comes around. It provides a unique opportunity for everyone who loves America, its representative democracy, free market capitalism and personal individual freedoms to join in to show what momentous steps forward the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution really were. We need to ensure future generations understand how precious these documents of freedom are and that they must be fought for and defended every day.
There are groups forming at the federal, state and local levels who need your financial support to conduct seminars, sponsor classes, and put on historical reenactments of the speeches and debates that took place during the ratification process of the Constitution.
This will not be simply a one-day celebration on July Fourth with massive fireworks and a parade. Long before the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord in 1776, there were debates, speeches and opinion pieces being written about American independence, so the semiquincentennial celebration essentially has already started. It should continue until 250 years after the final state, Rhode Island, ratified the Constitution on May 29, 1790. North Carolina was the penultimate state to ratify the Constitution on Nov. 21, 1789, and it played a critical role as one of the first two states to reject the Constitution until the Bill of Rights was included when the first Congress met in the new capital of Washington, D.C., in 1789.
So the semiquincentennial celebration in North Carolina should continue until 2039.
The Constitution was not a perfect document, but it has been copied and emulated the world over. I had the chance to speak to the newly formed parliament of Estonia several years after the Soviet Union collapsed on Dec. 26, 1991, about the U.S. federal budgeting process.
As part of the diplomatic exchange courtesies, our government host suggested taking a gift to the leader of parliament, so I took a copy of James Madison’s “Notes on the Constitution,” which he had kept secretly during the deliberations in Philadelphia.
When the speaker of the Estonian Parliament tore off the wrapping papers and read the title of the book, his eyes welled up in tears. He thanked me profusely and said in all sincerity, “You Americans have no idea what your Declaration of Independence and Constitution have meant to the people of Estonia and the nations trapped by the Soviet Union all of these decades. We just dreamed every night we would get the chance to set our own course of life through a new democratically elected government one day, like the one you Americans take for granted every day.
“And now, we have our chance. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift!”
He made a great point. Americans have had the chance to live under self-rule from the beginning. Now is our time to remember those freedoms through upcoming celebrations and make sure American democratic republicanism never vanishes from the face of Earth — but it will take a lot of work.
Over the entire semiquincentennial celebration in North Carolina, we should all look very carefully at the good-to-great things that have worked to make the United States and North Carolina what they are today.
Our constitutional amendment process is available to pass any great idea that would strengthen our representative democracy and foster the continued dream of liberty and prosperity for every U.S. citizen. Maybe that will force ideological opponents to find common ground and work together for the good of our nation and state.
Happy 250th anniversary. Here’s to looking forward to celebrating the 300th, 400th and 500th anniversary as well.
