History of America: 250 Years
USA vs. England. Image: a parody based on the design of the USA World Cup team jersey by U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team players and Nike™. Modified with Claude AI.
HISTORY OF AMERICA: 250 YEARS
Part of the series on America 250, the US Semiquincentennial
The United States of America celebrates its 250th birthday this year… or at least the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
It should be noted that the Declaration was essentially a “bill of divorcement” from Great Britain, not a document explaining how “these United States of America” should be governed. However, the form of government that these United States would take was discussed immediately thereafter in July of 1776.
Government of the United States
Our experiment with a limited democracy began with the Articles of Confederation, which were:
- Debated by the Second Continental Congress at (present-day) Independence Hall in Philadelphia between July 1776 and November 1777
- Finalized by the Congress on November 15, 1777
- Became effective on March 1, 1781, after ratification by all 13 colonial states.
The Constitution of the United States, with its representative republic, was developed in response to several weaknesses in the Articles of Confederation. It was:
- Created on September 17, 1787
- Ratified on June 21, 1788
- Became effective on March 4, 1789
But back to the birthday celebration…
250 Years of Self-Governance
America 250 logo, created in partnership with Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv. Image: Wikipedia
No other country or nation-state in history has had a continuous “self-government” that lasted as long as ours, though that depends on how one defines it. (Admittedly, our current form of government goes back to the Constitution in 1789, only 237 years ago. I’m sure we’ll celebrate that milestone too, in 2039.)
Here are some notable examples:
Pnyx, the 5th-century seat of Athenian democracy. Image: Wikipedia
- Athenian democracy is generally considered to have lasted nearly two centuries, from its establishment in the late 6th century B.C. to its suppression by the Macedonians in the 4th century B.C.
Roman Senate by Cesare Maccari. Image: Wikipedia
- Rome’s Republic was the period between the overthrow of the monarchy and the rise of the Empire. But that period between 509 BC and 27 B.C. was not a contiguous republic and was marked by near-perpetual war, including civil wars. Sometimes a dictator ruled in place of the elected consuls. The Roman Senate was sometimes advisory to the magistrates and the Roman people, but at other times exercised enormous power. At other times, there was either military rule or nonmilitary civilian assembly rule. But it was ultimately the weakness of the Roman Senate and the corruption of the elites that led to the Empire’s rise.
Palace of Versailles, meeting place for joint sessions of the French Parliament: the French National Assembly and the Senate. Image: Wikipedia
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- France’s Republic, since the French Revolution of 1789, has seen a series of monarchies, dictatorships, and between 13 and 15 different constitutions.
Other old “republics” were not representative democracies in the modern sense that we think of them:
- San Marino, which has boasted of being founded in 301 AD, was more of an oligarchic city-state run by a council of nobles
- Switzerland had republican cantons dating back to medieval times, but they were independent of each other with limited franchise, oligarchic councils, and were not united as a modern federal democratic state until 1848.
- Republic of Venice lasted 1,000 years but was oligarchic with power concentrated among patrician families, and a small elite elected the Doge (duke).
Uniqueness of the United States
At its founding, the United States was a genuinely unprecedented political experiment. Several features made it unique or nearly so among the nations of the world at that time:
1. A Written, Codified Constitution
Page one (cropped) of Jacob Shallus’ officially engrossed copy of the Constitution signed in Philadelphia by delegates of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Image: Wikipedia
Most nations operated under unwritten constitutional traditions (including Britain) or simply under the will of their monarchs. The U.S. Constitution of 1787 was a deliberate, reasoned document that defined the structure of government, enumerated its powers, and placed explicit limits on it. The idea that a people could consciously design their own government from scratch — rather than inheriting it through history and tradition — was radical.
2. Republican Self-Government at a Continental Scale
Republics existed before, but it was believed they could only function in small territories where citizens shared common interests and knew their representatives personally.
U.S. Territorial Acquisitions, from 1776 onward. Image: By United States federal government, Wikipedia
The American Founding Fathers proposed a vast republic, which most political theorists deemed impossible. James Madison’s Federalist Paper No. 10 challenged this, arguing that a large republic would be more stable because the multiplicity of “factions” would prevent any one from dominating.
3. Federalism as a Structural Principle
The Constitution of the U.S., with its unique division of sovereignty between the national government and constituent states, was a novel concept. Previous confederacies, like the Dutch Republic and the Articles of Confederation, lacked a strong central authority and divided power among member states. Monarchies centralized power. The Constitution’s novel solution was to establish two sovereign levels of government, each with its own sphere of influence, requiring citizens to be loyal to both simultaneously. This constitutional arrangement was unprecedented in any country.
4. Separation of Powers with Checks and Balances
USA government branches infographic. Image: US Government Weekly
While the 18th-century French Enlightenment political philosopher Montesquieu had theorized the separation of legislative, executive, and judicial functions, the American system institutionalized this more rigorously than any prior government.
- A bicameral legislature (both houses of Congress) with different constituencies and terms
- A separately elected executive (President) with veto power
- An independent judiciary (Supreme Court) with life tenure
… these interlocking mechanisms were designed to prevent the concentration of power in any single branch or faction. Britain had a partial separation, but Parliament remained supreme.
5. No Monarchy, No Aristocracy
In 1788, virtually every significant nation in the world was a monarchy with hereditary aristocracies holding legal privileges and dominating politics. The U.S., however, lacked a king, titled nobility, and explicitly prohibited titles of nobility. Political legitimacy rested solely on popular consent, not divine right or hereditary succession, a unique feature among functioning states.
6. Sovereignty Located in “the People”
Dieu et Mon Droit, “God and my right,” is the motto of the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Image: Wikipedia
The theoretical grounding of the American system — that sovereignty resides in the people themselves, who delegate limited authority to their government through a constitution — was a philosophical revolution made into a political reality. Governments elsewhere derived legitimacy from tradition, conquest, or divine sanction – Dieu et Mon Droit “God and My Right”, the motto of the British monarchy. The Declaration of Independence (“We hold these truths…”) and the Constitution’s preamble (“We the People…”) made popular sovereignty not just a theory but the operative founding principle.
7. Religious Pluralism and Disestablishment
Most European nations in the mid-18th century had an established “state church” to which citizens owed at least nominal allegiance. Examples:
- Great Britain: Anglican
- Sweden: Lutheran
- France: Roman Catholic
Things were different in America.
Denominations in the 13 Colonies in the mid-18th century. Image: Encyclopædia Britannica
The First Amendment’s prohibition on religious establishment was unusual. While the Founders were not uniformly secularist, and those who were religious were of different denominations, they created the first major national government constitutionally prohibited from establishing or banning a religion — a significant departure from European practice.
This created a “free-market economy” for religion in the United States and a flourishing of religious pluralism.
American Church Membership, 1776. Source: The Churching of America, 1776–2005 by Finke and Stark, 2005
8. The Broader Significance
What made the American founding particularly unique was not just any one of these features in isolation, but their combination — and the fact that they were implemented in a large, functioning state rather than remaining theoretical. Thinkers across Europe – and revolutionaries in France, Latin America, and beyond – watched the American experiment closely, precisely because it was testing propositions about human self-governance that had never been tried at that scale.
George Washington. Image: Wikipedia
Whether the experiment would hold was genuinely uncertain — many expected it to collapse into monarchy or anarchy within a generation. Indeed, both King George III of England and Napoleon Bonaparte of France are said to have been astounded when the first president of the United States, George Washington, refused to accept the “crown” of perpetual presidency and stepped down after two terms in office.
Personal Reflections
Beyond the historical record, my own travels have reinforced this. Especially during my career as a technology speaker and trainer, I’ve traveled to 55 countries over the past 40 years. I have spoken before generals in Beijing, professors in Taiwan, and university students in Saudi Arabia. I’ve conversed with Orthodox rabbis in Israel and with businessmen on every continent except Antarctica.
Of all the countries I’ve visited, and all the people I’ve spoken with, I came away with this powerful realization: there’s nothing like the United States anywhere in the world, not even in terms of lip service.
While not everyone I’ve met has liked the U.S., many admire it as a model of freedom and democracy.
And many want to come to the U.S. to live. It is the Number 1 destination for foreign immigrants. Since 1965, 70 million have come to the U.S.
How immigration levels in the U.S. have changed since 1900; a surge since 1965. Source: University of Minnesota and U.S. Census Bureau. Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios
Beyond the imperfect precedents of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Dutch and Swiss confederacies, the Founders had no fully adequate model for a republic on a continental scale.
They were guided by the rationalism of the Enlightenment and by their Christian convictions.
Continued in the next article. This is the first of 10 articles in a series celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States.
Bill Petro, your friendly neighborhood historian
billpetro.com
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