250 Years of History

Cowpens was one of the most decisive battles of the Revolutionary War, one that was won through a combination of leadership and adaptability.

James K. Polk, a humble lawyer from frontier Tennessee, elevated the status of his young nation from an insecure coastal state to a continental power that could rival the great powers of Europe.

The Declaration of Independence is the defining act of the great drama that is the American Founding. Its words unite our hearts and our minds in a civic friendship of enlightened patriotism. We must know the Declaration if we truly are to love America.

The economic causes that animated the Founders—control of taxes, control of immigration policy, control of trade policy, limiting the growth of government—echo through our politics today.

On a fateful day in April 1775, farmers, tradesmen, laborers, and mariners—Americans of all stripes—came together at the Battles of Lexington and Concord to defend themselves against the most professional army in the world.

There’s no such thing as greatness without a great deal of energy. No small part of our greatness today comes from the Made in USA innovation of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.

The American Revolution produced a nation where individuals are free. The Chinese Communist Party’s Cultural Revolution produced a system where individuals are enslaved by the state.

The men and woman of the American Revolution were bound together in sacrificing their livelihoods, their homes, their families, and their lives for the cause of liberty, unprecedented in history, that was announced in our Declaration of Independence, whose 250th anniversary we celebrate.

America’s 250th birthday party is in full swing, but no telling of the history of America is complete without baseball.

The United States Navy—today recognized as the most powerful navy in the world—had very humble beginnings as a single fishing boat.

Haym Salomon, a Polish-born Jewish immigrant who was twice arrested by the British and once condemned to death, kept the flame of American liberty burning during the American Revolution when it had nearly gone out.

In his letters to his mother, George Washington always addressed her as “Honored Madam,” and indeed this honored madam must hold a high position in the history of America.

It is without dispute that America invented the musical genre known as “jazz” and spent the entire 20th century exporting it across the world.

In life and in death, the lives of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were bound by the events of July 4, 1776.

The story of the birth of our nation 250 years ago is a story of disagreements, debates, compromises, and moral courage. It’s a story of a group of rebellious Englishmen who—despite their many differences—could agree on one thing: they wanted to live free.

The White House has launched an interactive mobile museum tour to mark America’s 250th anniversary.