The Atlantic Celebrates America’s 250th Birthday

As part of a special issue this November, The Atlantic tasked writers and historians with looking at the country’s founding era to find out what America’s political thinkers valued at its beginning.

The goal is to remind people in the U.S. about the abstract ideas enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other important revolutionary documents. And, how reconnecting with those ideals might help us as we struggle to keep American democracy together 250 years later.

We discuss this edition of The Atlantic with two of its contributing writers, hear about why the founding of the country is relevant today, and where we might be going next.

And we want to hear from you. How would you fill in the blanks for these four statements?

1. “At the founding of the United States, some of the country’s most important political values were BLANK.”

2. “After 250 years of U.S. history, I would describe the country’s *track record* of following through on those values and ideals as BLANK.”

3. “Right now, an outside observer would likely look at our politics and say we value BLANK.”

4. “When it comes to the United States as a country over the next decade or the next century, I want to see BLANK.”

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