#semiquincentennial

Day 4228

Jul 22, 2026 

It's been 250 years since Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, a document that declared all men equal even while hundreds of thousands of people remained enslaved. Judy Woodruff traveled to his Virginia home of Monticello to learn more about the third president and how his own contradictions reflected the nation's. It's part of her series, Crossroads: America at 250....

Judy Woodruff:

Thomas Jefferson's legacy is written all over his beloved Monticello, his home and plantation perched on a mountaintop in Charlottesville, Virginia.

But some of the newest words here aren't his; 610 names are engraved on the 60-foot-long curved memorial wall, one for each of the enslaved people who lived and labored here. Made out of weathered steel, it opened in 2023....

Judy Woodruff:

For Gordon-Reed, the question isn't whether Jefferson was a hero or a villain. It's what Americans do with a founder whose ideals reached farther than he did.

You have said that understanding Thomas Jefferson calls on -- in a way, calls on all of us to think about, are we living up to our ideals at this moment? What did you mean by that?

Annette Gordon-Reed:

In looking at him and seeing flaws and the good parts and the bad parts, we -- and also the optimism that he had about the country, we have to look to ourselves to decide, are we up to this, this notion of keeping a republic?

And are -- do we really value the idea of science? Do we really value the idea of a multicultural society in a place that is -- has been from the very beginning full of all different types of cultures and religions, religious diversity? That's always been a part of America.

But do we value that? And it's not clear to me that many of our fellow Americans actually do. So I think it's an opportunity for us to search as we approach the 250th anniversary, do we want to go forward with all of this, this American experiment that he thought was something new under the sun?

I was only eight years old during America's Bicentennial, but I remember it as a time when the country, despite Watergate and Vietnam, still found a way to celebrate together.

Fifty years later, our Semiquincentennial felt very different.

In this essay, I look at how the Freedom 250 controversy became a symbol of a nation struggling to find common ground. Along the way, I reflect on patriotism, political polarization, family memories, and the role music has always played in marking pivotal moments in American history.

Whether you agree with my conclusions or not, I hope it sparks a conversation about what it means to celebrate a country that feels increasingly divided.

Read the full essay here:

Day 4210

In wake of this country’s semiquincentennial anniversary, I started to think about what has led to how we stand as a nation today, which has led to both my heart (and my head) hurting. I will start with this: I love this country. I was born and raised in Nebraska, which, despite being unacknowledged by most, is a really beautiful state. As a child we took quite a few school trips to a nature center that housed native plants that never failed to mesmerize me. I’ve always loved looking out on the rolling hills and grass swaying under the great expanse of sky that can truly only be fully appreciated when uninterrupted by human construction. I love it here and I’m proud to call this land that raised me my home, so it hurts to know that I only have the gift of calling Nebraska mine because people who look like me stole it from under those who loved it before me.

I love this land, so I can’t find it in myself to pretend I can’t smell the blood that runs like the Platte under my feet. And like the River, this blood seems to stretch endlessly in either direction so finding where to start is daunting. Do I start with the beginning, when the Americas first began to be colonized at the expense of the Native peoples? But this beginning has yet to end. Do I pick a random drop in this River and face the experiences of Black Americans, Asian Americans, Middle Eastern Americans, Latino Americans? I was not one of the ones who hurt all these people, but because of the color of skin I must bear the burden of doing what I can to ease their suffering. I cannot and will not erase the past, but to make their lives even fractionally better I must learn their pasts. I want to understand this monster called racism in order to eliminate it, but understanding seems so futile in the context of admittedly more than 250 years of its existence within this place I call my home.

Like the grasses that make up the Great Plains I love so much, our nation’s history is comprised of millions, if not billions, of individuals’ stories of love and suffering and joy and pain. I want to embrace them all, and perhaps I can, but it certainly seems impossible. But I am nothing if not persevering (though my mother calls it stubbornness) so I am sure that at the very least I can observe what’s closest to me and see how it applies to the greater world around me.

Jul 8, 2026

For the past few weeks, visitors have flocked to the National Mall for the “Great American State Fair,” part of the celebration marking the nation’s 250th anniversary. But in this milestone year, President Trump’s approach to commemorating the anniversary has injected a more partisan tone into events meant to bring Americans together. Liz Landers reports from the fair....

Liz Landers:

It's MAHA Monday at the Great American State Fair here. We're on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and every day has a different theme. Every state and some federal agencies have been invited to participate and put up booths here. And this is all being organized by Freedom 250, which is a Trump-aligned organization, to celebrate America's 250th birthday.

That group, Freedom 250, was formed by an executive order President Trump signed shortly after he was inaugurated, and has produced a number of events, like the Mount Rushmore celebration last week and the upcoming IndyCar race throughout D.C.

But Freedom 250 has been in direct conflict with another group, America 250, a nonpartisan commission established by Congress a decade ago to plan anniversary events. That group hosted a concert on July 4 in Los Angeles and created a time capsule.

But for the fair, its ties to the Trump-aligned group have caused some hiccups and cost the participation of some Democratic-led states.

The governors of both Maine and Connecticut did not send official delegations to the Great American State Fair. There are more than half-dozen states that are not participating. Congressional Democrats have accused the Freedom 250 organization of deceiving donors and misdirecting money intended for the bipartisan America 250 Commission.

Happy 250th Anniversary, America!

Commemorate the semiquincentennial of the United States with these book picks about our nation's history!

The American Revolution by Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns

In defeating the British Empire and giving birth to a new nation, the American Revolution turned the world upside down. This book steers us through the international forces at play, telling the story not from the top down but from the bottom up - and through the eyes of not only our “Founding Fathers” but also those of ordinary soldiers, as well as underrepresented populations.

The Cherokee War of 1776 by Kevin Kokomoor

Americans remember 1776 as the year liberty was declared, the moment they cast off tyranny and proclaimed the self-evident truths of equality and freedom. But that same summer, as patriots celebrated their defiant new nation, American armies launched another campaign - this one aimed at destroying the Cherokee nation. In this volume, historian Kevin Kokomoor uncovers the rarely acknowledged war waged by the emerging U.S. against the Cherokee people just days after the Declaration of Independence was signed.

Pride and Pleasure by Amanda Vaill

If it hadn’t been for the Revolutionary War, things might have been very different for the two women Alexander Hamilton came to describe as his “dear brunettes.” Angelica and Elizabeth Schuyler, daughters of colonial Hudson Valley aristocracy, would have followed their family’s expectations, rather than become embroiled in the turmoil of America’s insurrection against Great Britain. Full of battles and dinner parties, murky politics and transparent frocks, this volume brings two extraordinary American heroines to life.

The Painter's Fire by Zara Anishanslin

Jul 6, 2026

NPR’s Tamara Keith and Carrie Dann of the Cook Political Report join Amna Nawaz to discuss the latest political news, including Democrats in Maine scrambling and calling on Graham Platner to drop out of the Senate race as a sexual assault accuser comes forward, the direction of the Democratic Party into the midterms and what happened in Washington during the nation's 250th anniversary....

Carrie Dann:

And when you talk about that video of this white supremacist group, I think it just is a reminder of how much the Overton window has moved on this.