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A year’s worth of events is designed to foster patriotism, create a more civic-minded nation, and celebrate a significant milestone.
Today, America will not only celebrate the Fourth of July, but will also kick off a year-long celebration leading up to the nation’s 250th birthday.
The Trump administration will use the time as an opportunity to reflect on America’s history, educate citizens on constitutional principles, and build a foundation for a better future.
Known as the Salute to America 250, the effort to celebrate 250 years of American independence is already kicking into high gear.
The White House said it “is engaging and encouraging the entire federal government, state and local governments, the private sector, non-profit and educational institutions, and every citizen across this country to join in this historic celebration.”
It explained, “Task Force 250 invites citizens to have a renewed love of American history, experience the beauty of our country, and ignite a spirit of adventure and innovation that will raise our nation to new heights over the next 250 years.”
The Task Force is implementing several actions to help educate Americans and foster a renewed sense of patriotism.
One was announced by the U.S. Department of Education on June 23.
The Department is now accepting applications for a new grant designed for institutions to provide seminars for educators and students on American history and civics.
“The success of the American experiment in self-government requires the cultivation of both citizen competency and informed patriotism among the American People,” the Department of Education wrote in the Federal Register, adding:
“Citizens must understand why our free-market democracy is a highly evolved system of cooperation made robust by our constitutional republic, and how it functions to secure the blessings of liberty for all Americans. This understanding can only be acquired and prove to be lasting when rooted in a recognition of the nobility of America’s foundational principles, and an accurate and honest account of American history that shows how the United States has worked through profound challenges to its ideals, including the evils of slavery and segregation, in its ongoing battle to live up to them.”
To receive funding, seminars must discuss “American political tradition (ideas, traditions, institutions, and texts essential to American constitutional government and the American heritage) with a focus on the first principles of the Founding, their inclusion in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and their development over time.”
The total funding available is $14.2 million, with awardees estimated to receive an average of $650,000.
“The upcoming Semiquincentennial of America’s founding is more than a commemorative milestone—it is a call to reinvest in the education and cultivation of a citizenry capable of sustaining the American experiment in self-government. By supporting seminars that encourage a deeper understanding of our constitutional republic, this new program aims to equip educators or students with the knowledge and character needed to uphold the freedoms we enjoy,” the Department stated.
It’s one of many initiatives the administration has recently undertaken to help Americans learn about their nation’s founding.
For example, the White House has partnered with Hillsdale College, known for their free courses on constitutional principles, to issue video lectures on the story of the American fight for independence.
Currently the webpage features information on events leading up to the Declaration of Independence and through the ratification of the U.S. Constitution as well as video lectures on the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the formation of the Continental Army, and the Battle of Bunker Hill.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth spoke in the lecture on the formation of the U.S. Army, saying,
“This year marks the 250th anniversary of the United States Army — a legacy born in turmoil, uncertainty, and nearly insurmountable odds. Two and a half centuries ago, thousands of citizen soldiers answered freedom’s call. At a moment when tyranny tried to dim the spirit of an emerging nation, our first heroes forged an institution whose strength, sacrifice, and enduring resolve have come to define our republic.”
On June 14, the nation celebrated the 250th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Army with a Grand Military Parade.
Upcoming educational opportunities include the America’s Field Trip contest. The spring contest asked students to submit an essay or artwork which answered the question: What does America mean to you?
The contest will reopen in the fall with more information to come later.
Winners of the contest are given airfare and lodging for a trip to historical or cultural site where they receive exclusive visits to museums or national monuments.
Another educational opportunity is Our American Story.
This is a storytelling project in which Americans can nominate a person whose story they believe should be shared.
Nominees can be family members, community leaders, or anyone else whose story resonates with others.
Selected stories will be recorded and archived in the Library of Congress.
The educational initiatives come not a moment too soon.
A recent Gallup poll shows that pride in our nation has dropped to its lowest point since the poll was started in 2001.
At that time, 90 percent of Republicans, 87 percent of Democrats, and 84 percent of Independents said they were “extremely or very proud” of being an American.
Just 24 years later, that same sentiment is hitting a modern low.
The cratering numbers reflect a clear ideological and generational divide.
While more Republicans (92 percent) said they were extremely or very proud to be American today than even in 2001, the same can’t be said of the rest of the country — today, just 53 percent of Independents and a heartbreaking 36 percent of Democrats say they are extremely or very proud of their country.
The drop becomes more pronounced when looking at the youngest Americans.
Among Democrats in Gen Z, only 24 percent are proud to be Americans. Republican patriotism remains stronger but still sees a sharp decline among Gen Z, where pride in country drops to 65 percent.
The poll shows that there are two radically different views of America.
One sees the American founding as righteous, a nation which was founded on the ideals of freedom, equality under the law, and opportunity.
That perspective sees America as a country that may not have always lived up to its promises but, due to the providence of God and the purity of its principles, later overcame many of those failings and became a beacon of freedom.
Another claims that America’s founding was immoral in itself.
That view sees America as an oppressive nation built by white supremacists who exploited minorities to gain its land, wealth, and strength and that to this day is a systemically racist and bigoted nation founded on perverted ideals.
They believe that modern Americans should feel guilt and shame over their nation’s founding and should burn down its pillars and build anew a nation built on the shifting sand of secularism and communism.
This gave rise to fallacious lies like that of the 1619 Project, which claimed America’s birth was not on July 4, 1776, but when slaves first arrived in the colonies.
This hatred of America fueled ideologies like Critical Race Theory, which taught our children to hate their country, hate their fellow Americans, and assign moral guilt or innocence by skin color.
And America has reaped the whirlwind as college students now march in the streets chanting for the death of America and the elimination of capitalism.
But thankfully America has new leadership which sees the importance of an honest and accurate and celebratory telling of America’s history.
Americans should be taught their history, the principles of liberty and limited government, and the protections of the Constitution.
They should learn that it was Providence that helped guide our Founders to form a nation in which all could be free.
Children should learn to love their neighbor and to love their country.
Yes, America still has failings.
Americans should repent and pray for the end of the holocaust that is abortion.
But America’s founding ideals were — and are — good, and we should believe that and endeavor to live up to those ideals.
As we countdown to America’s 250th Independence Day, it should be a time for us to express gratitude to God and to those who sacrificed for us and our freedoms and a time when we celebrate all the goodness of America’s past, repent of our current sins, and prepare for a better future.
In the meantime, Happy 249th Birthday, America! May you have another blessed year.
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