For the Nation
Twelve score and ten years ago,
the British settlers of this abundant land
took matters into their own hands
and demanded that King George leave them be
and set them free.From the Massachusetts Bay to Georgia’s red clay,
from Philadelphia’s philosophers
to Virginia’s founding elites,
cries of freedom were everywhere
like a relentless drumbeat.Common sense and self-evident truths
were the language of the day.
Tyranny and intolerable acts
would no longer hold sway.The settlers along the Atlantic coast
were dismayed by British rule.
They were ready to govern themselves,
to build something entirely new:
a form of government
that would benefit both the many and the few.One quarter of a millennium ago,
when the settlers first yearned to be free,
the native tribes who were born on this land
were already practicing democracy.Those indigenous caretakers of this amazing place
could not help but wonder
how the settlers with their calls for freedom
would change the lives of the native peoples.And watching too in manacles and chains
were the Africans brought here enslaved,
who questioned in marginalized voices
whether this freedom would also make them free.Now looking back over the arc of time,
we all can plainly see
that the promise of those opening years
is slowly coming to be.It has not been a simple, uncomplicated course.
It has taken wars and marches and civil discourse
to get from where we started from
to the times in which we live,
where the essential promises of the American way
are becoming more accessible day by day.Thus, we the people have molded ourselves
into what we had hoped to be:
a people who live with liberty
and who are happy being free.We have made those words that inspired the world
the core values of our philosophy.So now in 2026,
we can glimpse that ideal place
that America still aspires to
and hopes someday to fully embrace.That place where all of us can be
all that we were meant to be,
and unite with our fellow citizens
to preserve this fragile democracy.We must recall as we celebrate
what Ben Franklin reminded us of:
that this republic is ours to keep,
but only if we can lift it high,
ensuring that freedom does not die.Then we who now uphold the torch
can pass it on yet again
in one long, continuous, unbroken chain
that will ensure that freedom continues to reign
in this land of the free
and home of the brave.
Source: John Charles Thomas, “For the Nation,” performed during America Made in Virginia: 250 Years Together, PBS and Virginia’s American Revolution 250 Commission, July 4, 2026.