For 250 years, America as a nation has unswervingly held to one single theme:  Liberty!

Freedom was born 250 years ago, on the 4th of July, in 1776.  It was not a sudden change.  It built on the events of the preceding 250 years:  the discovery and initial exploration of the American continents by Christopher Columbus in 1492, and, perhaps more importantly, by England’s John Cabot in 1497.  The New World offered lands free of the endless wars and struggles of Europe and the Old World.  

Immigration to America began with the settlements of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, and Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts in 1620.  

The Jamestown colony was primarily a commercial venture.  That goal was in distinct contrast to the Spanish exploration and military conquest of South America, Central America, Florida, and western North America for the wealth that could be shipped back to Spain in Europe.

The Plymouth Rock colony was primarily an effort to achieve religious freedom (again contrasting with Spain’s conquests).  The Pilgrims’ practices differed from those of the Church of England, which itself had broken away from the Roman Catholic practices during the reign of England’s King Henry VIII in 1534.  

In stark contrast to the Spanish, both Virginia and Massachusetts colonies were established with the intent of permanent settlement, as were the subsequent colonies in New England, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and the Carolinas.  While trade with England continued, the new colonies were deliberate permanent settlements in a truly New World.

Freedom was born 250 years ago, but the foundation for that freedom had been laid over the previous 250 years.  1776 was the culmination of all the many efforts of the 13 colonies, combined into one grand event, created by the first Continental Congress:  the Americans’ publishing of the Declaration of Independence – that unique piece of writing which was unlike anything the world had ever seen.

“In Congress, July 4, 1776

“The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

And finally, ”That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States”.

It would take a war that would last seven years to win Americans’ Independence.

The 250 Years of America

After winning the Revolutionary War in 1783 and establishing the United States of America, the Americans had to form a government that would assure that freedom which they had won.  

The Constitutional Convention was held in 1787, resulting in the tenets which were laid down, and which became the method of government still functioning to the present day.  

Americans are human beings, with all their imperfections and so-common mistakes.  

Slavery could not be eradicated:  clearly, to attempt to do so would have destroyed America before it was even born.  Ending slavery would have to be a task left to a future generation.

Ending slavery would result in a war that tore America in two:  the Civil War of 1861-1865.  The repercussions would be felt by Americans for many decades thereafter.  

When America was born, only men had the right to vote in elections.  In the late 1800s, that changed.  Territories in western America, in their effort to become states, were the first to give women the right to vote.  The 19th Amendment in 1920 gave all American women the right to vote.  

The U.S. policy from its birth had been to not get involved in Europe’s endless wars.  That policy lasted until 1916, when a German submarine’s torpedo sank the British passenger ship, the Lusitania.  The 128 Americans on board died.  As a result, in 1917 the U.S. declared war on Germany.  

World War I, the Depression of 1929-1940, and World War II brought America into the dominance it has held in impacting world history ever since.  

Unlike all the conquerors of history, America’s dominance is the inevitable result of its freedom and the consequent impact on worldwide trade.  The development of worldwide trade is, along with its demonstration of political freedom, America’s gift to the world.  

War is Destructive, Freedom is Constructive

As was demonstrated by communism until its downfall in 1990 and is proving to be true in the present-day by the economic deterioration of Russia as a result of its war with Ukraine, war is destructive.  

China’s economy also demonstrates the destructive impact of oppression.  The country’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the world’s largest – no surprise, given its size and population.  But its GDP per person is barely $14,000.  The U.S. GDP per person, by contrast, is $85,000.  

Socialism fails.

250 Years of Freedom works

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