🗽 America: 2076

What did folks during the Bicentennial think about the Tricentennial of a hundred years in the future

Stars and Stripes from the HBO series Watchmen

My fellow pro-growth Up Wingers,

President Donald Trump seems pretty pumped for America's 2026 semiquincentennial celebrations, already dashing off an executive order about the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Establishing a high-powered "Task Force 250" under his personal chairmanship — I mean, of course he is — Trump aims to coordinate "an extraordinary celebration" of the nation's birthday. The initiative specifically mentions a National Garden of American Heroes with precisely 250 historical figures represented. (Will Trump be one of those statues? Inquiring minds would like to know!)

What’s more, during his presidential campaign, Trump outlined an expanded vision that included a decidedly heartland-focused "Great American State Fair" at the Iowa State Fairgrounds where all 50 states would showcase their virtues via dedicated pavilions. So kind of an All-American version of Disney World's EPCOT, I guess. Another Trumpian idea: a "Patriot Games" for high-school athletes.

Anyway, that all sounds pretty cool, I think. Let’s hope the national mood is such that Americans across the political spectrum can celebrate what the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave has accomplished over the past 250 years — and optimistically anticipate the decades to come.

As for me, however, I'm already thinking about the American Tricentennial in 2076. Actually, I've been thinking about it since 2020, which is when I started writing my book. I specifically pondered this question: What did the Americans who celebrated the American Bicentennial in 1976 think the USA would be like in a hundred years?