There has been big news on the American Revolution 250 front. Two former Presidents and First Ladies were named honorary co-chairs on August 1, 2024. Before turning to that event, let’s put that announcement in perspective starting with a blog in 2020.
The American Revolution 250th and Joe Biden: An Historic Opportunity
November 6, 2020
JOE BIDEN AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 250TH
The 250th anniversary of July 4, 1776, will not occur in the upcoming term but what President Biden does will shape what happens. Just because everything is on hold now [due to COVID] as it is for the Pilgrim quadricentennial doesn’t mean anniversaries aren’t already occurring (Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770). Biden will have choices to make about how to proceed. It may not seem like the most pressing issue for him to address right now, but I would say given the divisions further exposed in the election, now is the time for him to seize the moment and put his stamp on his vision of America. May I recommend the following:
1. Appoint Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama to co-chair the existing commission for the American Revolution 250th.
2. Also appoint them to cochair and revise the existing 1776 Commission to a broader call to develop a new national narrative for the 21st century.
3. Our shared story is one that
celebrates that the world is a better place because of the existence of the United States of America
confronts the ugly actions which have occurred in American history
calls for continuing the journey to fulfill the vision and ideals expressed at our creation.
Biden has only one opportunity to make a first impression as the unity President of the United States who can talk the talk and walk the walk. Let it be an historic one.
Obviously that did not happen. Instead the United States Semiquincentennial Commission remained mired in controversy which was the title of my blog near two years later in 2022.
Controversy at the United States Semiquincentennial Commission
My suggestion that Joe Biden name George Bush and Barack Obama as co-chairs of the federal commission seems better and better. For now, local and state organizations should think about Plan B. Nationally, it seems like we are on the Titanic with the iceberg dead ahead in broad daylight and we are aimed at it.
Nothing happened although things did improve. Now, this month over three and a half years after my initial recommendation, looked what happened.
Aug 1, 2024, 2:15 PM
America250 is excited to announce that President George W. Bush, Mrs. Laura Bush, President Barack Obama, and Mrs. Michelle Obama will serve as Honorary National Co-Chairs of the national effort to celebrate and commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the United States.
As Honorary Co-Chairs, President and Mrs. Bush and President and Mrs. Obama will lend their voices to the nationwide effort to mark this historic milestone.
The momentum behind America250 has never been greater. We look forward to working with the presidents and first ladies to ensure that the 250th is a celebration for all Americans, from sea to shining sea.
President Bush and President Obama are leaders with unique American experiences. Collectively, their platforms, voices, and stories will inspire Americans across the country to join together in celebrating America’s 250th.
As Presidents and First Ladies of the United States, their stories are foundational to the American story. We hope that their unique voices will help encourage everyone to participate in this pivotal commemoration.”
-Rosie Rios, Chair, America250
They are honorary co-chairs so I do not know how deep their involvement will be. It might range from being figureheads on a letter head to active engagement with the project. Only time will tell.
Speaking of time, the clock keeps clicking. There is less than two years now to the big event in Philadelphia on July 4, 2026. So what do these appointments mean in this context? Obviously nothing will be done in this legislative session. As for the next one, it would probably be necessary to wait until at least February if not March until all the election dusts settles. That would 16 months before July 4, 2026, and the looming cessation of the federal commission.
Is there an infrastructure set up to handle the distribution of funds through the state 250th commissions?
Are there funds to be disbursed?
Do all states even have a fully active staffed and funded 250th commission?
Based on an online 250th program I recently participated in, there are states which have nothing in place. Given that this is an election year, the odds are any action will be deferred to the new governor and legislatures. That means with 15 months to go, we may start seeing some action.
During the bicentennial, many new historical societies were created. That will not happen this time around. Maybe there is no need for any new ones; all the ones that need to exist already have been created. In fact, sometimes the people who created these small history organizations after the bicentennial may still be there. Getting the next generation to step in and step up has proved a challenge.
For events after July 4, 2026, these appointments probably mean nothing. The commission is not geared up to function then anyway.
As to the growing groundswell in support of the 250th, that may be a pipe dream. Neither political party has weaponized the 250th yet. Here we are in the middle of a presidential election with talk of democracy being on the line and still no mention of the 250th by either candidate or the current president. Perhaps a member of the press might ask them about it.
H-Early-America Call for Papers: Remembering the American Revolution at 250
The academic list-serve H-Early America has put out a call for papers that raises some of the questions which our honorary co-leaders of the 250th might ask.
There will be a host of events throughout the country to commemorate this momentous milestone, but also deep soul searching about the meanings of the revolution, independence, and liberty, and the proper way to commemorate such an event. To participate in these conversations, H-Early-America invites essay submissions for Remembering the American Revolution at 250, a peer-reviewed publication hosted and freely available on the H-Net Publications Platform. Published essays will appear online on an open-access model, ensuring a broad readership.
One may question how much “deep soul searching about the meanings of the revolution, independence, and liberty, and the proper way to commemorate such an event” will occur. Jefferson historian Annette Gordon-Reed writes:
We approach 2026, the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding , with legitimate reasons to question whether the American experiment — always an imperfect and fragile work in progress — will survive in a recognizable form that, at least, maintains that the will to believe in a notion of progress toward a more perfect union. It has been disheartening me and, judging from the comments I receive from people across the country, to many others, to realize that so large a part of our citizenry has seemingly given up on the experiment and now seems to prefer the cultural values and strongman style of government one sees in authoritarian regimes in places such as Eastern Europe (“Harris Earned Her Place in History,” NYT August 25, 2024, print).
A more likely event is July 4 celebrations as usual only bigger. Be that as it may, here are the five topics in the call for papers.
1. Global Revolution: How are the Revolution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Founders remembered overseas? What are the stories of George Washington statues in Europe? How have states that joined the Union after 1776, such as Florida and Louisiana, remembered the revolution?
2. Texts of Revolution: How do we remember and interpret various, especially lesser-known, documents from the American Revolution? How have resource projects enhanced the availability and accessibility of these documents? How can we use these documents in our teaching?
3. Revolution–-or Not? : How did those indifferent or antagonistic to the American Revolution or who viewed the British as the side of liberty view and remember the events? How have African Americans processed the tension between their remembrances of freedom and enslavement and national remembrances of independence and the Revolution? How did families with divided loyalties work through their differences?
4. Remembering Revolution: How have we remembered the American Revolution? What aspects of the Revolution have we willfully forgotten because they were unpleasant or inconvenient? How have books, historians, and popular media contributed to the remembering or forgetting of the American Revolution?
5. Revolution for a New Century: How do we adjust the teaching of the American Revolution as we face new challenges from political leaders? How do historic sites address the need to include a broader set of voices? How do we communicate the history of the Revolution to the U.S. public in the 21st century?
Even if one does not submit a 5-8000 word research essay, these topics provide plenty of opportunity for discussion in historical societies, libraries, social studies classes, teacher workshops or wherever one gathers to have deep soul searching discussions.
For questions contact:
Abby Chandler, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
Darcy R. Fryer, The Brearley School
Patrick Luck, Florida Polytechnic University
Niels Eichhorn, VP of Research and Publication, H-Net
Contact Information: america250@mail.h-net.org
1774 AND THE 250th
Finally we need to keep in mind that the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution has already started. The year 1774, the year of the First Continental Congress, has been the subject of multiple blogs.
Here are some 1774 events that I happen to be aware of.
Orangetown Resolutions
On July 4, 2024, about “80-plus rabble-rousers celebrated the 250th anniversary of the Orange Town resolutions at the ’76 House in Tappan.” The restaurant is better known as the “prison” of John André whose capture in 1780 occurred after the federal commission will have expired. According to the Orangetown Crier from the Orangetown Historical Museum and Archives, the Orangetown Resolutions, coincidentally adopted on July 4, 1774, were read aloud. They expressed the great anger at the audacity of the British Crown to impose its unfair taxes on us. The Tappantown Historical Society and the Historical Society of Rockland County joined in the celebration.
Suffolk Resolves
Here is a notice about an event which occurred on September 9, 1774 and is being celebrated on Aug 31, 2024.
RESOLVED!
This Saturday, August 31, 2024, the Milton Historical Society, in partnership with the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts Freemasons, the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation, the Massachusetts Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Children of the American Revolution and the Old North Bridge Society, will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Suffolk Resolves.
The Suffolk Resolves, primarily authored by Dr. Joseph Warren, was a bold declaration in 1774. This document outlined the Bay Colony’s grievances and a strategy for resisting oppressive British policies in response to the Intolerable Acts imposed by Parliament earlier that year. The Resolves were a precursor document to the Declaration of Independence and marked one of the first official acts of the Continental Congress.
The Suffolk Resolves House, originally known as the Daniel Vose House, is where the Suffolk Resolves were approved and signed on September 9, 1774. Paul Revere delivered the document on horseback to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Today, this historic site is preserved by the Milton Historical Society.
In response to the Suffolk Resolves, King George III gave a speech to Parliament on November 30, 1774, condemning Massachusetts, accusing the colonies of rebellion, and declaring the colonists “open and avowed enemies.”
Such events should be held in municipalities throughout the country and not limited to the original 13 states or Massachusetts. We are fast running out of time to remember 1774 two hundred and fifty years later.
