Happy Birthday America: never mind Trump, let's celebrate the adoption of the Declaration of Independence 250 years ago
This is a slightly revised English version of an essay which is published in the German daily newspaper 'Kölner Stadtanzeiger' on July 4, 2026.
Today, July 4, is the big day. It is America’s birthday. After months of preparations across the country, the U.S. is celebrating its breakaway from the British Empire 250 years ago. The Trump administration is doing its best to make the celebrations as grandiose as possible while at the same time not hesitating to dominate the occasion for political purposes as much as it can.
On July 2, 1776, the delegates of the Continental Congress representing the 13 British colonies in North America voted for independence. The Congress had been established two years earlier to coordinate and unite the colonists’ response to the British Crown’s increasingly harsh policies toward the British possessions in America.
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress voted to adopt and ratify the Declaration of Independence—written primarily by Thomas Jefferson in the course of June 1776. The Declaration was then revised and fine-tuned by the “Committee of Five” —John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and Jefferson— and eventually the 56 delegates of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence between August and November 1776.
The Founding Fathers of the United States were fed up with being dominated, pushed around, exploited, and, at best, simply ignored by the mighty government of George III in London. Heavily influenced by the ideas of French philosophers, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed the formal breakaway of the colonists from allegiance to the British crown and the establishment of “free and independent states” in America. At the same time, the democratic principles of the future form of the U.S. government, including the separation of powers, were highlighted for the first time.
Particularly noteworthy was of the course the fundamental sentence found in the Preamble, which remains a guiding democratic principle around the world to this day: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The Tension between Ideal and Reality
Yet even then, the tension between ideal and reality was already evident—a tension that continues to polarize and tear apart the United States to this day. For Jefferson and most of the other Founding Fathers—including the first president, George Washington—were slave owners, and it would take many decades before the majority of the U.S. leaders in the Northern states were truly ready to address the contradiction between idealistic aspirations and harsh economic reality. In the Southern states, this process took much longer and was only achieved, more or less, many years after the defeat of the Confederate states in the devastating Civil War in the mid-19th century.
Despite these contradictions, the Declaration of Independence was a truly important document that profoundly influenced the democratic Constitution of the United States. The Constitution was signed in September 1788 following the Revolutionary War, ratified in June 1788, and came into effect in March 1789. President Abraham Lincoln rightly pointed out that the Declaration of Independence of 1776 serves as a powerful bulwark against tyranny and oppression—and thus against any dictatorial tendencies within the United States.
The Danger of Tyranny from Within
Yet today, it is no longer the British King but one of their own who is leading the United States by the nose. The enormous expansion of the power of the U.S. state and the hugely increased might of the presidency under Donald Trump as well as the increasingly brazen corruption of its leading figures give little cause for celebration. Trump and his family alone earned $2.2 billion last year - compared to $622 million in 2024, before Trump’s return to the presidency.
The Department of Justice, which has become completely subservient to the president—even though it is supposed to play a fairly independent role within the executive branch—also points to new dictatorial tendencies in the country. Trump does not shy away from using the justice system to crush those he perceives as domestic political enemies. Such an approach deeply endangers the continued flourishing of democracy in America.
But the U.S. government has also wreaked havoc in foreign policy. The global economic and energy upheavals of our time and the accelerating collapse of the liberal, rules-based world order of the past 80 years, which was based on free trade, international institutions, and multilateralism, have a great deal to do with Donald Trump’s chaotic and frequently incompetent policies. The congratulatory messages arriving at the White House from foreign nations—not least from the EU member states and other loyal U.S. allies —are likely more about not upsetting the touchy and rather self centered Donald Trump than they are expressions of sincere congratulations.
Let’s party, never mind who is in the White House
In the U.S., Trump has become a very unpopular president. The Republican party is deeply concerned about losing both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections in November. Even the official July 4 celebrations in Washington, DC, which are heavily dominated by Trump and his entourage, are viewed very critically by many Americans.
Trump is exploiting the celebrations for a grandiose—and, to many, repulsive—display of self-aggrandizement. On the National Mall in Washington, DC, Trump has tried to stamp his ideological influence on the “Great American State Fair,” has headed a political rally to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday and this evening, an exceptionally long fireworks display—at Trump’s request—will be set off.
Nevertheless, most Americans aren’t letting Trump spoil their festivities. One just has to celebrate as the occasion arises—that applies not only to the German Rhineland but certainly also to the U.S., no matter who is currently occupying the White House. Happy Birthday America.