1776 Flag
On this 250th anniversary of the United States, may we pause to honor the courage, imagination, and stubborn hope that shaped 1776.
New Hampshire stood early and firm among the colonies: on January 5, 1776 at Exeter, New Hampshire, our Provincial Congress became the first to adopt a formal constitution independent of Great Britain—6 months before the Declaration in Philadelphia.
And on July 4, 1776, New Hampshire’s delegates—Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, and Matthew Thornton—signed their names to the Declaration, binding our small but fierce state to the great experiment of liberty.
We remember Bartlett riding through winter storms to reach Congress; Whipple, a sea captain turned revolutionary, who later helped negotiate the end of the war; and Thornton, who signed later in the year but with full conviction, declaring that “the cause of liberty is of the utmost importance to every American.”
Across the nation, 1776 was a year of fire and resolve: Washington taking command of the Continental Army, Paine’s Common Sense electrifying public opinion, and the Liberty Bell ringing out the Declaration’s first public reading. These acts—bold, imperfect, human—became the foundation of a country still striving toward its ideals.
So today, let us raise a toast:
To the signers who dared,
to the soldiers who endured,
to the communities who believed,
and to all who continue the work of freedom.
May the next 250 years bring deeper justice, wider compassion, and a renewed commitment to the promise first declared in 1776.
Happy Semiquincentennial, America—and may hope, courage, and community accompany each of you in the years ahead.
