By Allen Hamrick
And so it began two hundred fifty years ago in January, the descent into what some call the great revolution and others a war cry for self-preservation. This year is the 250th Anniversary of these United States, and this January marks the anniversary of the beginning of the race to sign a Declaration of Independence, a free break from England’s kingly hold on our right to self- govern. A flag was formed, a tapestry of stripes and stars full of ideals and the crisp feeling of freedom. It was more than just a bunch of stitches, but a vow hurled into the faces of the old empire controlled by the dictates of a few. It was the people’s cry that their destiny could be in their own hands, that courage would overshadow the cause and unrest that would sure follow. It would prove to be a shroud for fallen heroes and a cloak for the shattered. So, while the years pass into history and our flag becomes tattered and faded and the stars seem to shine less, the entwined threads will always endure.
Now, 250 years later, our flag, our Declaration of Independence and our constitution have flaked off some of the luster that once was as the friction of history has taken its toll. Our flag is a testament, a living archival proof that a nation’s true glory is not found in the gales and hardship but in the courage to still fly while bearing them up. Our founding fathers threw themselves against the ancient thrones to form a new standard to which all men should live free so we could walk on this Earth in our own country unyielding and relentless in our pursuit of justice and a way of life.
In January of 1776, Thomas Paine published Common Sense, a pamphlet which simply said, and not with flowery language, “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right,” telling people that the ways of the past are not necessarily a good idea for future growth. Two hundred fifty years later, here we set in winter as we also live in constant political upheaval and a fog overshadows the USA, keeping us from seeing the path forward.
Common Sense was the first shot fired for the beginning of our independence, and by its own words is what fuels our path ahead in 2026 for the next 250 years. Common Sense of yesterday is no longer enough to fill the dreams of now…common sense.
For the American colonists, the future was uncertain and tore apart loyalties as well as families still loyal to the king of England. It was difficult to answer the question that was the headline of the time – do we stay with England or do we move ahead? America has never been a stagnant map of history. America has always been an agitated and shifting tide of human will and emotion.
We are a nation built and founded on the idea of “self-evident” truth that through 250 years has been debated in halls across this country. We have seen thousands of sunrises with a heartbeat that has never straight lined. We have swelled in times of success and shrank in times of anxiety – the Great Depression, wars on our own soil, sacrifices made in the name of our future – yet here we are. Why? Perhaps it’s because we are not held together by a king or by limited boundaries of thought and reality, but by a single piece of paper that holds us all together, daring us to be a better person than we were yesterday.
So, as the months of 2026 lead us up to July 4th, we have to ask ourselves if we are just pawns of history or are we creators of the history ahead of us. The ink on the documents of 1776 is dry, but the ink of 2026 is still waiting to be feathered. America is still like a lightning bolt caught and held in a safe place and we are the keepers of it. America continues 250 years later and the most important history is the history we are about to write, after all its Common Sense.
