Looking back, the fact that the United States of America is here at all — much less here to celebrate its 250th birthday — is amazing for sure. And decidedly worth all the celebratory hoopla.
Yet quietly, the very fact of the nation’s 250th birthday brings up another question. Will the United States make it for another 250 years — for its 500th birthday?
Perspective is needed. And taking some perspective from America’s old friend and occasional opponent, the British — now the United Kingdom — it is worth a look back at America’s last 250 years.
History records that for the British, the island that would evolve into the United Kingdom has been inhabited for, yes, some 10,000 years. This is not to be confused with the modern United Kingdom as it is known today. That formed officially, history records, in 1707 when England and Scotland joined.
But to be clear, as recorded in the United Kingdom at Complete Era: “However, the history of its constituent parts — England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland — goes back thousands of years, shaped by Celts, Romans, Vikings, Normans, and more.”
The United States is, of course, founded on the continent of North America. Wikipedia records this of the founding of North America:
While it was commonly accepted that the continent first became inhabited by humans when individuals migrated across the Bering Sea 40,000 to 17,000 years ago, more recent discoveries may have pushed those estimates back at least another 90,000 years. People settled throughout the continent and, over time, developed into diverse communities, from the Inuit in the far north to the Mayans and Aztecs in the south. These complex communities each developed their own unique cultures and ways of life.
….Records of European travel to North America begin with the Norse colonization in the 10th century AD. In 985, they founded a settlement on Greenland that persisted until the early 1400s.
And on goes the fact of settlement, eventually attracting Columbus in 1492 and the English Pilgrims in 1620.
Why is it worth reminding ourselves of these old facts of history?
Because as the United States celebrates birthday 250 it is worth noting that while North America has been around for thousands of years, not so with the quite youthful USA. In the scheme of things, the USA is just a youngster. And without question, it has more than the capability to make it to its 500th birthday — and yes, well beyond that.
It is also worth remembering what the USA has had to endure through those 250 years.
There was the Revolution that got it all started in 1776. And once solidly established with a Constitution and a strong self-government, the USA was seriously ready, if occasionally surprised, to endure the challenges presented to it.
A partial list of those 250 years of challenge includes:
The American Revolution.
The Constitutional Convention.
The Northwest Indian War
The War of 1812.
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
The Civil War (1861-1865)
The Spanish-American War (1898)
World War I (1914-1918)
World War II (1939-1945)
The Korean War (1950-1953)
The Vietnam War (1955-1975)
The Cold War (1947-1991)
All of those don’t include America’s various economic troubles over the years, such as the Great Depression, plus various recessions.
In short, life for the citizens of the moment in the USA was filled with challenges.
But the one incomparable asset that Americans had and continue to have is their freedom.
All of which says that the constant talk of America being “the land of the free” in fact translates to a very real, very significant characteristic. That would be that freedom is “a” if not “the” major characteristic that ensured America would not only survive all those various difficult confrontations of war and economic challenges over the course of the last 250 years. But that freedom has ensured America and Americans would be ready and prepared to face whatever lies ahead.
In other words? In other words, based on its history in dealing with and confronting all those challenges of war and economic crisis over the last 250 years, America is ready to go to for the next 250 years and when it reaches age 500 one suspects it will be stronger than ever, leading on ahead to whatever challenges need to be faced in both the world and by then the larger universe.
So.
Happy 250, America. And on to birthday number 500.
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