A defining feature of the USA is our resilience. Invaders set fire to the White House and attacked the flag at Fort McHenry (shown here, inspiring our anthem), but we came back. US forces overcame a more powerful invading military to preserve free trade and national sovereignty. Insurrectionists sought to break apart the nation and fought a Civil War over slavery, but we came back. Abraham Lincoln warned a house divided cannot stand, meaning we must be one Union, and one Union for all. A global depression and the creeping shadow of authoritarianism darkened much of the world in the 1930s and 1940s, but we came back. Franklin Roosevelt declared people everywhere deserve to enjoy Four Freedoms – of speech and expression; of worship; from want; and from fear. He rallied a nation to fight a war, and more importantly to win a peace based on those freedoms. The Declaration of Independence signed 250 years ago today set forth high ideals: Equality, unalienable rights, and government by consent. It was an imperfect document. Its signers were mostly slaveholders. It applied only to white male property owners. It had no force in law. Over time we’ve worked to remedy those conditions with our Constitution, with abolition, with women’s suffrage, with the Voting Rights Act, and with marriage equality. Our democracy had and has many flaws, but over time we’ve always bounced back. We work to address our nation’s two original sins, mistreatment of indigenous peoples and slavery. And we work on protecting individual liberties for all. The 250-year history I celebrate is one of resilience, of coming back, and of getting closer to the Declaration’s high ideals. I celebrate for my family – immigrants who fled persecution and pogroms to make a better life here – and for all of us. (Flag from Fort McHenry, on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History in Washington, DC) #usa250 #unitedstates #wethepeople