Founding Fathers & American History
Essays and features on the Founding Fathers, constitutional principles, and how America’s heritage informs today’s political and cultural debates.
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opinion
The Story of Churchill’s Great Speech Before Congress
Winston Churchill made 16 visits to America in his lifetime. He traveled here as a soldier, a tourist, and a lecturer, but his winter visit to America in 1941 as a wartime leader was perhaps his most important. The story of that trip—and the speech he delivered to a joint session of Congress the day… -
opinion
Why the American Colonists Rebelled
The following is a lightly edited transcript of a speech delivered on May 28, 2026, at the “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” Reenactment at The Heritage Foundation. Britain’s seven year war with France came at a great cost. Its consequences would alter the world. England accumulated a substantial amount of debt throughout the… -
news
Artists Pull Out of Great American State Fair, Citing Partisanship and ‘Threats’
Several musical artists scheduled to perform at the Great American State Fair in honor of America’s 250th birthday have withdrawn from the event after SPIN Magazine highlighted President Donald Trump’s connection to the fair. The Great American State Fair will showcase all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. It… -
opinion
The Debate Over the Women’s Museum Was Never About Women
“House Democrats oppose a bill for a Smithsonian women’s history museum.” This is not a sentence I ever expected to read. Aren’t Democrats supposed to be the feminists? The champions of inclusion? The self-appointed defenders of the “disadvantaged”? And on top of that, they are the ones who pushed for the women’s museum to begin… -
opinion
Memorial Day and the Oft-Forgotten Dead
The rolling hills, dappled paths, and white crosses make Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia a place of quiet repose, deep emotion, and somber reflection. Dutifully, the nation honors its military dead there, and on this 158th Memorial Day, countless Americans will rightfully and respectfully pay homage to those who gave the last full measure of… -
opinion
America’s Love Affair With the Road Endures
BEDFORD, Pennsylvania—For the briefest of moments, a line of vintage Rolls-Royce automobiles chugged along the curving Cumberland Road. They passed over the Cumberland Run a handful of times and wound themselves down the mountains, away from Pennsylvania and toward the city of steeples, Cumberland. The sight gives the bystander a moment to imagine what it… -
opinion
How George Washington’s Farewell Address Fulfilled the Declaration of Independence
Welcome to the first in our series, Landmark Speeches in American History. Over the next several months, we will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with articles by prominent authors about how some of the greatest speeches in our history—by celebrated orators like Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr.—honored the vision of our founding… -
opinion
To Save America, We Must Reconnect With the Founders’ Moral Imagination
Matthew Mehan, author of “The American Book of Fables,” joins Bradley Devlin on a new episode of “Signal Sitdown“ to discuss the “moral imagination” of the Founders and the need during America 250 for the nation to have a “shared memory.” This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Bradley Devlin: Why did you write… -
opinion
MS NOW Host SHOCKED That Some Americans Believe They Have God-Given Rights
We may have witnessed the most MS NOW moment of all time. On Monday, MS NOW host Katy Tur moderated a panel in which she discussed recent, supposedly controversial comments by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La. “What about this passage from Mike Johnson declaring that our rights do not derive from government, they come from… -
opinion
Victor Davis Hanson: America Being Overtaken? We’ve Heard That Before
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. The recent Chinese-American summit, as I’ve spoken elsewhere, has raised anxieties that there is a tension between an establishment United States and a… -
news
GOP Rededicates America as One Nation Under God as the Left Attempts to ‘Erase History’
As the nation prepares to celebrate America’s 250th birthday this July 4, Republican leaders in Congress joined a rededication service on the National Mall on Sunday to redeclare the country as “one nation under God.” While the Mall was full of prayer and worship, some online criticized the event, calling it Christian nationalism and a… -
opinion
The Perfect Children’s Book for America 250
As our nation marks the 250th anniversary of its independence, we are offered many occasions to commemorate, debate, and reassess. What “The American Book of Fables,” written by Matthew Mehan and illustrated by John Folley, offers is something different and more lasting: the chance to remember and to love. Not with passing sweetness, but with the… -
opinion
A Founding Mother’s Faith: Abigail Adams
“My mother was an angel upon earth. …Her price was indeed above rubies,” wrote John Quincy Adams about his beloved mother, Abigail. Mourning her death in his diary, the secretary of state at the time and later America’s sixth president echoed the words of Proverbs 31:10 in a fitting tribute to a remarkable woman of faith…. -
opinion
Why Won’t Barack Obama Go Away?
In 1921, Woodrow Wilson, the first of America’s four transformative progressive presidents, became the first president to remain in Washington and make the nation’s capital his permanent home after leaving office. In very mild defense of the man who did more than any other to establish the administrative state and thus pervert America’s carefully constructed… -
news
Florida Launches Rival to ‘Woke’ AP US History
The Florida Department of Education launched a new framework Monday to explicitly compete with “woke” Advanced Placement U.S. history courses, following criticism that the College Board embeds racist bias and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” into such courses. The department will launch the Florida Advanced Courses and Tests framework for U.S. history as a pilot program… -
opinion
The Bible, America 250, and Restoring ‘What Really Matters’
From the president to plumbers, hundreds of Americans spent last week speaking the Word of God at the “America Reads the Bible” event in Washington, D.C. Among them, Tim Goeglein of Focus on the Family. “The reason I was so honored to be there and to read is because you can’t understand the founding of… -
opinion
The King’s Visit and the Roots of American Order
It may seem odd that the reigning English monarch is visiting the United States to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence. Yet, as King Charles III acknowledged in his speech to a joint session of Congress, the ties binding the American Republic and the United Kingdom are stronger than any ill will lingering from… -
news
King Charles Addresses Congress, Celebrates America’s 250th
King Charles III gave a joint address to Congress Tuesday, giving members a break from discussing the farm bill, reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and funding for the Department of Homeland Security, all of which have been held up in the House Rules Committee. Vice President JD Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson, and members… -
opinion
What I Saw in the Young People Who Attended ‘America Reads the Bible’
Recently, I had the honor to address a group of young adults in the District of Columbia for “America Reads the Bible,” a weeklong gathering featuring national leaders from every sphere of influence reading the Bible aloud and broadcast live around the country. Held in celebration of America’s 250th year, this event, sponsored by Christians Engaged and the Family Policy Alliance, calls our nation to reengage… -
opinion
Clarence Thomas’ Great Speech on the Declaration
Many speeches will be delivered this year about the Declaration of Independence as we celebrate its 250th birthday. However, I think the greatest was just delivered by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on April 15 at the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas, Austin. The force of Thomas’ words does not just result from his deep…