A grand celebration, a sobering reckoning

On July 4, 2026, the United States turns 250. Amid fireworks and fanfare, the day invites reflection on a nation shaped by bold ideals, hard-won progress, and enduring contradictions

- SANTHOSH MATHEW

On July 4, 2025, the United States turns 250-a semiquincentennial that marksa remarkable journey from a colonial rebellion to a global superpower. As Americans gather with fireworks, parades, and nostalgic anthems to mark the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, the occasion invites not just celebration but introspection.

For this birthday is more than spectacle; it is a moment of reckoning with ideals pursued, promises broken, and the uncertain road ahead. At its birth, America dared to proclaim that “all men are created equal,” launching a revolutionary political experiment in representative democracy.

From those founding words, it grew into the world’s oldest continuous democratic republic. The passage of the Bill of Rights in 1791 enshrined key freedoms: of speech, religion, and assembly.

‘The Civil War tested and reshaped the Union, while Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address echoed across generations with its solemn promise that “Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

‘Through the 20th century, the US ascended the global stage by fusing its liberal values with geopolitical ambition. At Bretton Woods in 1944, American leadership birthed the IMF and World Bank to stabilise postwar finance. A year later, it spearheaded the United Nations, laying the foundation for anew multilateral order.