America's Independence: A Mixed Bag of Celebrations and Protests

The Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota covers 1,278 acres, or 517 hectares, of land taken from the Sioux Nation. The mountain features the 18-metre, or 60-foot, tall figures of four former Presidents of the United States.

These Presidents include George Washington, who was the first President, Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, Abraham Lincoln, who led the Union during the Civil War, and Theodore Roosevelt, who helped develop the nation. This monument marks 150 years since the Declaration. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum, whose parents were Danish immigrants, took fourteen years from 1927 to finish the figures.

Yet, there is still controversy. The Sioux Indians rejected a Supreme Court compensation of $102 million in 1980. They insist that their ancestral land must be returned to them. This was the site where President Donald Trump spoke on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration to address the American people.

In his speech, Trump launched a fierce attack on those he sees as enemies of the country. He believes these enemies must be fought and should not be allowed to win elections. He told the crowd: “We stand beneath the monument of these heroes, a true group of unbelievable people, and we rededicate ourselves to being a nation as big, bold, noble, and as great as these American giants…”

Trump warned citizens: “There is now a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success. We’re not going to let this happen.” He added: “We resolve and swear for all to hear that the citizens of the United States of America will vanquish communism quickly… We will send them quickly away, and we will continue to build our country bigger and better, stronger than ever before. America will never be a communist country!” A week earlier, he referred to progressive wins in Democratic primaries as “the greatest threat to our country since its founding.” In his Independence Eve speech, he told voters: “We can only lose the midterms if we allow ourselves to lose the midterms.”

In his Independence Day speech, Trump claimed the US is the greatest country in history: “Americans lifted humanity into the skies and walked upon the surface of the Moon, planting our beautiful flag in ancient dust where no other nation had ever stood, as our gaze turned toward the galaxies beyond. The inventions of American minds, the telephone, the personal computer, the internet, knit the world together as never before.”

Bill Clinton, a former President, does not agree with Trump’s view of America today. He sees the nation as “amid another period of deep division, renewed questions about America’s future and role in the world, and serious threats to our own institutions and to our democracy itself.” Clinton lamented: “The people in charge have unleashed masked agents on American communities to seize people from their homes, workplaces, and the street.” He said the Trump administration has “started an unconstitutional war on a whim, with no clear objectives or exit strategy, and zero regard for the consequences to the lives of millions of people around the world.”

Professor Hasan Kwame Jeffries from Ohio State University suggested that the Declaration did not mean freedom for all Americans. He said: “Across history, there has never been a time when all people enjoyed equal rights, equal protection under the law, and equal political power. Instead, the story of American democracy is one of restriction and resistance, long stretches when rights were denied punctuated by brief, hard-fought expansions led by those who refused to accept exclusion. Each expansion was met with backlash, and many gains were rolled back.”

Jeffries’ comments reflect the experience of indigenous Americans, who saw their lands taken by white settlers after the Declaration. John Trudell, a leader who passed away in 2015, spoke about his people: “Historically speaking, we went from being Indians to pagans to savages to hostiles to militants to activists to Native Americans. It’s five hundred years later and they still can’t see us. We are still invisible… We’re not Indians and we’re not Native Americans. We’re older than both concepts. We’re the people, we’re the human beings.”

Leonard Peltier, an American Indian leader, has spent fifty years fighting for indigenous rights. He said the 250 years of US independence means nothing to his people: “We’re no longer going to celebrate a false government until the truth comes out and they apologize to everybody for what they did.” The 80-year-old, who was released from prison in 2025 but lives under restrictions, advised American Indians: “We need to learn the White man’s education. We need to learn that so we know our enemy, and we know how to fight our enemy.”

Many African American groups marked the 250th anniversary with protests for equal rights. One group, the Spirit of Mandela coalition, is eight years old and led by Black Liberation organizers and former political prisoners. They work with “Black, Brown, and Indigenous Peoples” and aim to hold the US accountable for human and people’s rights violations leading to genocide.

While many Americans want a better nation based on the Declaration of Independence, a large part of the Puerto Rican population does not want to stay US citizens. They see their land as a colony and want to leave the US to form their own country.

In protest of the 250th anniversary, they have set July 18, 2026, as Puerto Rican Day to “March for Independence.” They plan marches in San Juan, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, and Cleveland. Edwin Cortes, one of the march leaders, spent fourteen years in prison for seditious conspiracy. He told the judge: “If George Washington were alive today, he would be guilty of sedition.”

The Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, made up of Trump supporters, likely feels proud of his speeches and actions that reinforce his image. But those who survive under the American system may not share that same optimism.

So, what will the US look like in another 250 years? Science has not yet found a way for humans to see the future like they can look into outer space.