Walter A. McDougall, author of The Mighty Continent: A Candid History of Modern Europe, explores what we ought to be doing when we commemorate the 250th birthday of our nation.

Next year is America’s 250th anniversary, and President Trump has promised us a “spectacular birthday party.” The Semiquincentennial Commission is considering a number of grand plans: a “Great American State Fair” at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, monuments such as a National Garden of American Heroes, commemorative stamps and coins, new naval vessels christened with patriotic names, and local commemorations in Boston, Pittsburgh, Charleston, New York harbor (where a parade of tall ships is envisioned), and Philadelphia (where a time capsule is to be buried for Americans to open in the year 2276).

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