I. A Republic, if We Can Keep It

On July 4, 2026, the United States celebrated the 250th anniversary of the adoption of  the Declaration of Independence, the event that severed the colonies from their allegiance to the British Crown. The document was a daring call to arms, one that would transform a domestic colonial uprising 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, winning the war was now a matter of personal survival: If America lost, they would all hang.

What drove the Founders to this point?