The history community no longer has the option of ignoring the political arena. As much as people would like to be left alone to mount their exhibits, catalog their artifacts, and conduct class trips, those activities are from the days of innocence.
Practically every other day I receive a notice from the American Historical Association. Federal departments are being eliminated, funding is being curtailed, and wording is being restricted. The advocacy day held in Washington in February by the American Alliance of Museums seems quaint as even the Smithsonian could be Doged.
In this blog, I will trace developments in Virginia for the 250th. It will start out impressive and end with a dire example of what is to come.
2021
January 30, 2021, the Virginia Consortium of Early Americanists held their seventh annual conference. The keynote was A Conversation with Fran Bradford, Deputy Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. First, the speaker was from the state government and appears to have a significant position. I don’t know how many “Deputy Secretary” positions there are, but it sounds like an important job title. Bradford some private history organizations in Virginia. These are the heavy hitters. They are the organizations with the movers and shakers on their boards, the connections to the state government, and who can generate funding. In the Q&A portion, the topic was raised about the smaller organizations that do not have the full-time staff, expertise, and access even to know about the various funding opportunities and assistance available or how to apply for them. Bradford made a note to bring the subject at the next meeting.
2023
Virginia convened a meeting held on March 18-20, which Johanna Yaun, the Orange County, New York, historian and chair of the Orange County 250th Commission attended. Here are excerpts from the report she wrote about the meeting in her newsletter.
The Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission invited representatives from across the Nation to participate in a three-day planning meeting of Semiquincentennial stakeholders. From March 10-12, 2023, attendees from 34 states met for “A Convening of States” to mark the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the call for Committees of Correspondence on March 12, 1773. After a reading of the 1773 resolution, state representatives affirmed a new resolution of mutual support, collaboration, and partnership, signaling the beginning of the Semiquincentennial.” The inclusion of delegates from many states made the ceremony particularly impactful.
These comments highlight the fact that the American Revolution already was underway 250 years ago in 2023. There are anniversary events which could be commemorated now.
The pinnacle moment of the weekend was an announcement made by Virginia State Senator Thomas K. Norment that the state government was investing $8 million dollars to support the 250th anniversaries and facilitating another $1 million in a donation from Dominion Energy for the same. These investments were made with the expectation that such an investment in civics resources would yield over $1.5 Billion in heritage tourism revenue and support more than 22,000 jobs. These estimates were based on the economic boosts seen during the 1607/2007 and 1619/2019 anniversary periods, focused on the founding of Historic Jamestown.
This is serious money. These comments reflect what was true at the meeting I attended online in 2021. Virginia is committed to making the anniversary a big deal.
President of the American Association of State and Local History, John Dichtl, set the tone by presenting two opportunities that the Semiquincentennial period offers. The first is that by popularizing and showcasing “the full sweep of our shared history,” the Founding period can be used as a starting point to attach new meaning for people and groups who have advanced “towards justice” over the past 250 years. He mentioned that 86% of the America public agrees on fundamental ideas about National history and that a Semiquincentennial that both celebrates our strengths and addresses our fallacies is essential to fostering inclusion, relevance and belonging.
The second opportunity he highlighted is that this exploration of America at 250 is a chance to reinvigorate the history profession and bring new support to historical societies and museums. An interesting statistic that was presented was that 35-40% of all history organizations were created in 1966–1986 time frame, a decade before and a decade after the Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1976. The hope is that the 250th will be another moment of reflection for the Nation and a recognition that we should never stop fighting over our past nor the direction of our future.
There are two problems not addressed in these comments by Dichtl as reported by Yaun:
1.The people who formed these new historical organizations after the Bicentennial are now up to 50 years older. Anyone involved in local non-profit volunteer organizations is aware of the trials and tribulations in attracting new members, finding people willing to serve on Boards and getting people to actually do something. Just think of the technological changes which have occurred since the Bicentennial – we are living in what may be considered science fiction times to the people of 1976 and who still are in charge.
2.The local history organizations are likely to focus on local events about what happened in their community and not the full sweep of our shared national history. Quite possibly at the local level, if there is an effort to go beyond that there will be a replay of the current squabbles over 1619, CRT, and divisiveness. It will be interesting to see how Virginia spends the money it has allocated for the 250th.
Next, Susie Wilkening of Wilkening Consulting offered remarks on her demographic research and how it relates to 250th planning. She discussed intersections of patriotism and identity and looked at what concepts and words divide vs. unite likely museum-goers. She found common ground in that the majority of people expressed that “history is valued and important,” but that it needs “to be engaging” while still maintaining a relaxing tone. The majority of people “feel good about learning” but express that they prefer “hands-on, interactive, living history” to keep their interest. Respondents ranged along a spectrum from wanting patriotic programming to focus on “the 3 F’s, food, fireworks, family” to a focus on critical thinking about the Nation’s strive for “a more perfect union…”
That last sentence is critical. While there are people and organizations that are concerned about the 250 year effort to strive for a more perfect union since the Revolution, many people are content with the Bicentennial approach particularly at the local level of patriotic food, family, fireworks and parades with nary a woke person in sight.
2024
A second conference was held on March 18-20. Historian/reporter Nancy Spannaus provided the following report a few days later.
It was my pleasure to join my husband in attending the annual conference of the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission last week. Under the title “A Common Cause to All,” the Commission, in partnership with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, brought together 450 individuals from 37 states and all around Virginia, to discuss plans for commemoration and celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, July 4, 2026. We were lavishly wined and dined, and able to meet and discuss with individuals devoted to celebrating American history.
This is a big conference. It is an impressive turnout from even more states than the 2023 conference. I wonder whether any other state or even national organization is or plans to host a comparable dedicated national conference. Clearly Virginia is thinking big time. Remember the AMC series Turn about the spy ring based in New York? The show not only was filmed in Virginia but was advertised by Virginia with nary an I LOVENY commercial in sight. Virginia takes its American Revolution seriously.
All sought in their own way to address the problem of how to do justice to this momentous event, and bring national unity, in this time of historic political polarization and documented indifference or even hostility from the younger generation.
These words cut to the core of the challenge facing organizers of the American Revolution 250th. It is a time to strive for national unity as Americans, to recognize that we cannot take the Declaration of Independence or Constitution for granted anymore. The reality is we live in a time when these documents have been weaponized as if they do not apply to all American citizens.
I would argue that the second most stirring presentation during this conference was given by Dr. Danielle Allen, the author of the 2014 book Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality. Dr. Allen’s advocacy for the Declaration has inspired a citizens’ movement to sponsor public readings of the founding document every July 4 – a movement that my husband and I have participated in for the last several years in our small town.
In a previous blog, I asked what is your ceremony of belonging as an American (What Is Our Ceremony of Belonging? July 8, 2023). I was referring to local events where the people of a community come together to express their shared identity as Americans. It is interesting to note that around July 4 each year I receive many notices about a reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech and virtually none about the reading of the Declaration itself. True the latter was written as a legal brief and not a rousing speech. Some of the clauses are difficult to hear now out of context, but still it is telling that the founding document gets such short thrift on its birthday.
The most contentious of the discussions occurred during the “Fireside Chat with Jefferson and Early American Scholars,” which featured Professor Woody Holton of the University of South Carolina, and Jane Kamensky, President of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello. Holton took the approach that historians should begin teaching the flaws and contradictions of the American founding to children from a very young age. He resolutely objected to the compromises made by the Founding generation. At the conclusion, he even opined that he would have preferred that we stick with the Confederation government, rather than the Constitution.
Kamensky, on the other hand, was at pains to emphasize the complexity and flaws of not only the founders, but those who are judging them today. The United States was born a question, she said, and we must educate our children to participate in our democracy by both celebrating and criticizing its practices. Compromise was and is necessary to the preservation of the Union, which is a positive achievement, she asserted.
I suspect that history organizations will struggle over precisely this difference. Previously I have written about two types of conferences on the American Revolution (Sense of Place versus the Ivory Tower: The American Revolution 250th July 23, 2022). One is the academic one which tends to be highly critical of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. The ivory tower conferences routinely fail to notice how many countries have been republics and or democracies for 250 years especially as a large multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-religious political entity. You would almost think such countries are par for the course and what makes us exceptional is our failure to match the longevity of such counties around the world.
The other type of conference often at battlefields and not colleges or universities. They focus on how it came to be that We the People won the war against the most powerful country on earth. They have no objection to including how all peoples contributed to that effort but are not judgmental in that the war never should have occurred or that if we have not lived up to the words of our founding that the experiment should be declared a failure. Virginia certainly is promoting the sense of place engagement with the American Revolution where people will come and visit the sites where it occurred just as people did for the Boston Tea Party in December 2023.
The panel on “Approaches to Public Engagement” laid out some of the large challenges facing those committed to the 250th celebration. Speaker Matt Williams works for a firm which does polling, and had been commissioned to carry out a study of Americans’ views of history in late 2022. The firm interviewed 2400 people, 50% of them young, and 50% on the Eastern Seaboard. The “bad” news was that 60-70% said that history made them anxious, and they were tuning it out. An additional survey of teachers produced the disheartening result that it was “very difficult” to engage students in studying history, especially in suburbia. Some potential remedies – the use of museums, primary documents, and digital presentations – were also discussed.
There should be no doubt that schools will be a battleground in the celebration/commemoration of the American Revolution. They already are a battleground. The intensity of the conflict is only likely to increase after the presidential elections. The discourse during our Third Civil War will result in increasing calls for violence depending on the results of that election.
A special treat was the sneak preview of the upcoming film series by Ken Burns entitled “The American Revolution,” which promises to be highly influential. The six-part series was begun eight years ago and will be released in the fall of 1775. The preview was provided by Paula Kerger, President and CEO of the Public Broadcasting System, and Sarah Botstein, an associate of Burns who is working on the film. Botstein described the intensive process of scholarly research involved and the problems of dealing with a lack of physical evidence and images – unlike in Burns’ films about the Civil War and Vietnam. She then showed two short sketches, one dealing with the role of women in the resistance to the Tea Act, and the other to Bunker Hill.
Can Ken Burns save us? Can he obtain blockbuster ratings given the media structure today? Will his film series become the basis for curriculum? Can he wave his magic media wand and bring Americans together? Obviously, I do not know what will happen.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources received $20,000,000 in the 2024-2026 Virginia Biennial Budget to initiate a grant program to support improvements at significant historic sites and history museums in Virginia in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence
Fund Establishment Language
“Out of the amounts in this item, $20,000,000 the first year from the general fund is provided to establish a competitive grant program to support improvements at significant historic sites and history museums in Virginia in anticipation of the country’s Semiquincentennial. The department shall develop guidelines and establish procedures for awarding this funding, which shall include eligibility criteria for applicants, a minimum one-third match from grantees, and any other criteria the department determines reasonable to carry out the provisions of this paragraph. Of the amount authorized, the department is authorized to recover costs incurred in administering this program. Any balances for the purposes specified in this paragraph which are unexpended on June 30, 2025, shall not revert to the general fund but shall be carried forward and reappropriated.”
2025
Another conference was just completed in Virginia. From the Virginia website:
State planners of the 250th commemoration convened at The Williamsburg Lodge for the third and final time for A Common Cause To All following immediately after the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, March 23, 2025. With planners from 40 states and 60 Virginia localities, this event was the biggest ever. The 2025 edition of A Common Cause to All was a springboard towards 2026 with a group of inspiring speakers and panelists that brought their perspectives to this convening.
As part of the conference to mark the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, VA250 and St. John’s Church livestreamed the historical reenactment event that took place on March 23, 2025. But something unexpected occurred as reported by Fox News.
After delivering remarks at the annual enactment of Henry’s iconic speech, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, R-Va., was met by loud boos, “shame” chants and protest cries while exiting St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. Protesters held up signs like “deport Musk” and “Youngkin is a Trumpkin” as the governor was escorted through the raucous crowd by law enforcement.
The “250 Years of No Kings in America” protest in Patrick Henry Park was organized by Indivisible Richmond, a group focused on “local opposition to the MAGA agenda.” While Youngkin didn’t stop to debate the protesters shouting at him, he addressed them during his speech inside.
“We resisted King George. We will resist Trump,” the flier for Sunday’s protest said, comparing the resistance of President Donald Trump to the American Revolution.
The Reddit user who organized the protest said: “Trump continuously violated the Constitution, declared himself the sole legal authority in the land, and called himself ‘KING.’ Trump must be removed from office!”
While anti-Trump protesters used the anniversary of Henry’s speech to resist Trump, Trump celebrated the 250th anniversary of Henry’s address to the Second Virginia Convention with a proclamation.
“I signed a proclamation a few minutes ago honoring the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous speech to the Second Virginia Convention in which he declared the very well-known, very famous words, ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’ Has anyone heard the phrase? I think most of you have,” Trump said.
PREDICTIONS
I conclude with two predictions about the celebration of the 250th.
1. The more events are held the more 1775 and 2025 will merge together. The war by patriots against loyalists to the king will become part of the political discourse. It will become part of the political campaign in 2026.
2. Related to the above, a new Declaration of Independence will be written. In this one the charges will be against Trump and Musk especially if the Democrats ever catch on to the opportunity they have been given.
In other words, we will not only remember, commemorate and celebrate the evens of the American Revolution, we will live them. The event for Patrick Henry may only be a harbinger for the events of April 18-19 for the ride of Paul Revere and the Battle of Lexington and Concord.
P.S. As is finished writing this blog I received the following email from the Americans for the Arts Action Fund
3/27/2025 – President Trump signed an executive order entitled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” aiming to eliminate “divisive, race-centered ideology” from federal historical institutions. The order directs Vice President Vance to oversee the removal of such ideologies from the Smithsonian Institution’s museums, educational and research centers, and the National Zoo. Among the other directives in the executive order, it also instructs the Secretary of the Interior to investigate similar “divisive, race-centered ideology” found on federal monuments, memorials, statues, and markers within the Secretary’s jurisdiction.
► Read more about this update.
More to come.
