I. A Republic if We Can Keep It
On July 4, 2026, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the event that severed the colonies from their allegiance to the British Crown and launched the process by which the nascent country would become a constitutional democracy. The document was a daring call to arms, one that would transform a domestic colonial uprising against the British monarchy into a full-scale revolutionary war. It was also an act of treason, punishable under British law by death. For the signatories of that document, it was now a life or death matter: If America lost the war, they would all hang.
What drove the Founders to this point?