American Heritage News

The Daily Signal provides comprehensive coverage of American heritage with reporting, analysis, and conservative commentary on founding principles, historical monuments, patriotic movements, and the ongoing debates over preserving traditional American values and national identity.
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  • opinion

    Liberty or Force? John Quincy Adams on American Foreign Policy
    John Quincy Adams’ 1821 Fourth of July address has had a long legacy. It has become a touchstone in debates about foreign policy to this day, thanks to Adams’ ringing assertion that America “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.”   Adams was the U.S. secretary of state at the time, and he would soon help President James Monroe…
    Daniel McCarthy
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  • news

    Patriotism Declines as US Nears 250th Anniversary, Driven by Sharp Partisan Divide
    A growing number of Americans are feeling less patriotic about their country as the United States prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. According to a Public Religion Research Institute poll released last week, “Just half of Americans are extremely or very proud of being an American (51%) or of America’s…
    Karly Tucker
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  • opinion

    Gordon Wood and the Historians Who Told the Real Story of the Founders
    The sudden death of the historian Gordon Wood, just weeks before the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is one more mark of the closure of a golden age of the historiography of the revolutionary era. It’s an occasion to reflect on the uniqueness, indeed the idiosyncrasy, of the emergence of…
    Michael Barone
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  • opinion

    America at 250: The Roots of America’s Greatness
    If you want to find out why our country has been so successful, you should study the people who built it. America is about to turn 250 years old. It should be easy to celebrate America. Aside from the healthy patriotic pride anyone should feel, we are the greatest country in the history of the…
    Victor Joecks
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  • opinion

    5 Things to Know About the SPLC’s Incoming CEO
    The Southern Poverty Law Center has announced its next president and CEO amid a federal indictment into alleged fraud regarding payments to members of the Ku Klux Klan. Ryan P. Haygood, who serves as president and CEO of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, will formally join the SPLC in August, the center announced…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • news

    What Does It Mean to Be American? 3 Defining Beliefs
    What makes an American an American? Hillsdale College professor Matthew Spalding joined Heritage Foundation Executive Vice President Derrick Morgan on Monday to answer this question and to discuss Spalding’s new book, “The Making of the American Mind.” The Declaration of Independence offers a unique answer to this question, Spalding told Morgan. He laid out certain…
    Joseph Buff
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  • opinion

    The Left Gears Up for US 250th Anniversary by Dialing Up the America-Hating
    Rolling into the 250th anniversary of the United States, liberals, leftists, Democrats, and democratic socialists are united behind one message: America stinks. At the counterprogramming to the White House UFC match over the weekend, a bunch of miserable-looking, aging celebrities held a “#resistance” rally or something like that. Robert De Niro, an aging Hollywood gazillionaire…
    Jarrett Stepman
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  • news

    Richmond Hosts the National Speech and Debate Tournament
    Over the course of this week, Richmond will ring with stirring oratory, as it has many times before. But this time it isn’t politicians or patriots who will be offering their opinions. The state capital is hosting the National Speech & Debate Tournament for the first time. The competition brings some 7,000 students from 1,500…
    Rich Tucker
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  • analysis

    Thousands Celebrate Trump’s Birthday With a Knockout on the White House Lawn
    The White House hosted the Freedom 250 UFC fight Sunday night for a once-in-a-lifetime VIP presidential birthday party. The event brought 4,300 VIPs to the South Lawn of the White House and 85,000 UFC fans and D.C. politicos right next door at Ellipse Park for the free “Fan Fest.” Even though “The Claw” was roughly…
    Virginia Grace McKinnon
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  • opinion

    Tall Ships Bring the Spirit of ‘76 to Virginia
    Richmond SailFest kicked off last weekend as three sailing ships—Oosterschelde, Pride of Baltimore II, and Virginia—docked in the state capital. Richmond’s portion of the event was co-hosted by the Virginia Museum of History & Culture and featured reenactors, history and art exhibits, cultural performances, and live music, plus a fireworks and drone show. “This summer…
    Rich Tucker
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  • news

    Trump Celebrates Birthday With UFC Freedom 250 Event
    WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) – Donald Trump hosts a card of seven mixed martial arts fights to be held on Sunday inside a specially built arena on the White House’s South Lawn on his 80th birthday, a spectacle spotlighting his norm-defying style at a tense moment in his presidency. Seventeen months into his second term…
    Trevor Hunnicutt | Jacob Bogage
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  • opinion

    Honoring the Declaration in Richmond
    For the next month, Virginians can see a vital piece of our shared national history. A rare copy of the Declaration of Independence will be on display at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture. It should serve as a living reminder of the first 250 years of American history. Virginia has been central to…
    Rich Tucker
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  • opinion

    D-Day at 82: An American’s Experience at Normandy 
    This week, I had the honor of visiting Normandy, France, with Young America’s Foundation. Led by combat veteran Lt. Col. Allen West, our cadre of student leaders walked the five beaches of Normandy, which were hallowed 82 years ago by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s soldiers, sailors, and airmen.  After commemorating the anniversary of the D-Day landings, and…
    Emily Claire Boulet
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  • analysis

    Why Eisenhower Believed ‘Under God’ Was Vital to America’s Identity and Victory in the Cold War
    It was both a spiritual and strategic move when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. “From this day forward, the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our…
    Fred Lucas
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  • opinion

    Lawsuit Exposes Virginia’s Neo-Confederate Approach to Immigration
    Democrats of 2026 bear an uncanny resemblance to Democrats of 1861 when it comes to seeking to nullify federal law. In 1861, Democrats led efforts to “secede” from the Union to oppose Abraham Lincoln, a Republican who opposed the expansion of slavery into the Northern Territories, an expansion expressly forbidden by Congress in the Missouri…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • analysis

    Catholic Bishops Consecrate US to Sacred Heart of Jesus for America 250
    On the eve of the Catholic Church marking the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops honored America’s 250th birthday by consecrating the nation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. What Is the Sacred Heart and Why Consecrate? As Louisville Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre shared, the Sacred Heart is…
    Rebecca Downs
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  • news

    ‘Young Washington’ Is Angel Studios’ Superhero Movie for American Youth
    Before he became a general in the American Revolutionary War and the first president of the United States, George Washington was a young Virginian colonist who could not enlist in the British army because he was not a qualified English gentleman.  Angel Studios’ film “Young Washington,” set to release in theaters July 3, captures how…
    Francesca Cella
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  • exclusive

    Daughters of the American Revolution to Vote on Definition of ‘Woman’ Amid Criticism of Transgender Policy
    FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—The Daughters of the American Revolution currently allows men who identify as women to join, but the group will vote on a resolution to reverse that policy and formally define “woman,” the Daily Signal has learned. “Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution will take an historic vote to define…
    Tyler O’Neil
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  • opinion

    We Owe American Security to Those Boys on the Beaches of Normandy
    Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal.   This past week was June 6, 2026. That’s the 82nd anniversary of the D-Day landings in World War II that took…
    Victor Davis Hanson
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  • opinion

    Jonathan Mayhew and the Biblical Source of the American Revolution
    John Adams once said the American Revolution began not on a battlefield but “in the minds and hearts of the people.” Among those who lit the fuse was the influential Boston preacher, Rev. Jonathan Mayhew. His 1750 sermon on the limits of obedience to government became, in Adams’ view, one of the founding texts of…
    Gillian Richards
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