Thomas Paine wrote these words in July 1795, closing his Dissertation on First-Principles of Government, printed in Paris. 📜 France was drafting a new constitution that tied the vote to property. Paine argued for equal rights for all, and warned that a power used to oppress an enemy can one day be turned on yourself. The author of Common Sense, Paine wrote the pamphlet that helped persuade Americans to declare independence. 🇺🇸 🎨 Portrait: Thomas Paine by John Wesley Jarvis, c. 1806/1807 (National Gallery of Art) #America250 #Freedom250 #ThomasPaine #Liberty #FoundingFathers @america250 @freedom250

"The Apollo Project And Moon Landing By NASA And The Founding Documents" 🇺🇸📜 Check out our latest essay now! Author: Dr. Heather Yates, Political Researcher at Ballotpedia Constituting America's 15th Online Study: Consent of the Governed- Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills." — President John F. Kennedy, Rice University, September 12, 1962 The Constitution gives Congress the power "to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" in Article I, Section 8. On April 2, 1958, President Eisenhower asked Congress to create a civilian space agency, and the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 established NASA — the agency that landed Apollo 11 on the Moon on July 20, 1969. 📌 Learn more and enjoy today's essay here: us.constitutingamerica.org/c… #America250 #Freedom250 #Constitution #Apollo11 #NASA #MoonLanding #ConsentOfTheGoverned @america250 @freedom250

🇺🇸 Next Tuesday on Constitutional Chats! 🎙️📜 Socialism and the Constitution Can a Constitution built on individual liberty, private property, and the rule of law allow democratic socialism? And what stops sweeping change from happening overnight? Special guest Judge Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School and the Hoover Institution joins us to look at how America's checks and balances slow radical change while still leaving room for open debate and real policy choices, and what that means for economic freedom and the limits of government power. 🎙️ Join us live Tuesday, October 27 at 2 PM ET — ask your questions in the chat! Learn more: us.constitutingamerica.org/O… #ConstitutionalChats #America250 #Freedom250 #Socialism #Constitution #liberty

🇺🇸📜 What a Constitution Day! On September 17, we gathered at George Washington's Mount Vernon to celebrate the U.S. Constitution with a packed house at the Ford Orientation Center, then went LIVE to classrooms across the country. 📺 1,183+ classrooms (and counting!) 🗺️ All 50 states 🎓 38,492+ students (and counting!) 📜 30,000+ Constitutions in students' hands We are so thankful to all who took part and attended the program and all those who made it possible through their support.  🏆 Congratulations to our 2026 We the Future Contest Winners!🏆

"The Apollo Project And Moon Landing By NASA And Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson" 🇺🇸📜 Check out our latest essay now! Author: Brita Horn, Ranch Wife and Volunteer Fire Chief, McCoy, Colorado Constituting America's 15th Online Study: Consent of the Governed- Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence "The proof is not in the words. It is what free people do with their freedom." — Brita Horn At NASA's Langley center in Virginia, Katherine Johnson checked the orbital calculations for John Glenn's 1962 Friendship 7 flight, Dorothy Vaughan led the West Area Computing unit and taught her team the FORTRAN programming language, and Mary Jackson became NASA's first Black female engineer. They were among roughly 400,000 Americans who worked on Apollo, which landed two astronauts on the Moon on July 20, 1969, in the 193rd year of a nation founded on the principle that "all men are created equal." 📌 Learn more and enjoy today's essay here: us.constitutingamerica.org/c… #America250 #Freedom250 #KatherineJohnson #DorothyVaughan #MaryJackson #NASA #MoonLanding

George Washington wrote these words in a letter to James Madison on March 2, 1788, while the states were still debating whether to ratify the new Constitution. 📜 Washington had presided over the Constitutional Convention the summer before and followed each state's ratification vote closely. About a year later, he took office as the first President under that Constitution. 🇺🇸 Portrait: George Washington by Gilbert Stuart Graphic hand-designed by our team; portrait brought to life using AI. #America250 #Freedom250 #GeorgeWashington #Constitution #FoundingFathers

📜🇺🇸 October 21, 1774: The “Liberty and Union” Flag Is Raised in Taunton 252 years ago today, one of the acts of defiance on the road to the 1776 Declaration of Independence took place on a town green in Massachusetts. On Friday, October 21, 1774, the Sons of Liberty in Taunton raised a liberty pole 112 feet tall on Taunton Green. From the top flew a Union flag bearing the words “Liberty and Union.” The Boston Evening-Post carried the news three days later. Fixed to the pole was a declaration that the Sons of Liberty had raised it as “a Testimony of their fixed Resolution” to preserve their rights. It ended: “Born to be free, we spurn the Knaves who dare.” The flag went up six months before the first shots at Lexington and Concord, and it is remembered as one of the first flown in the colonies in dissent against the Crown. Less than two years later, Taunton's own Robert Treat Paine signed the Declaration of Independence. Today the Liberty and Union flag is the official flag of the City of Taunton. As America celebrates 250 years of independence, we remember the moments that led there. 🇺🇸 Pictured: “Raising the Liberty Pole, 1776,” an engraving of a liberty pole going up in a colonial town; the Liberty and Union flag in a modern rendering (the 1774 original does not survive); Robert Treat Paine of Taunton; and John Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. 📷 “Raising the Liberty Pole, 1776,” painted by F.A. Chapman, engraved by John C. McRae, 1875 (Library of Congress); Declaration of Independence, John Trumbull (U.S. Capitol); Robert Treat Paine portrait and Taunton flag via Wikimedia Commons #America250 #Freedom250 #LibertyAndUnion #SonsOfLiberty #AmericanRevolution #USHistory @america250 @Freedom250

🇺🇸 LIVE Now on Constitutional Chats — Through 3 PM ET! 🎙️📜 What would happen if the government ran grocery stores and set prices — or even promised free food? Tune in now for "Free Groceries? What Would a Government-Run Grocery Store Really Look Like?" with special guest Emma Camp, as we examine the promises, realities, and potential consequences of government-run grocery stores. 🎙️ Join us now and chat live! Your questions get answered in real time — and the audience stays off camera, so come as you are! Learn more: us.constitutingamerica.org/O… #ConstitutionalChats #America250 #Freedom250 #FreeMarket #Economics #Groceries

🇺🇸📜 What a Constitution Day! On September 17, we gathered at George Washington's Mount Vernon to celebrate the U.S. Constitution with a packed house at the Ford Orientation Center, then went LIVE to classrooms across the country. 📺 1,183+ classrooms (and counting!) 🗺️ All 50 states 🎓 38,492+ students (and counting!) 📜 30,000+ Constitutions in students' hands We are so thankful to all who took part and attended the program and all those who made it possible through their support.  🏆 Congratulations to our 2026 We the Future Contest Winners!🏆

"The Apollo Project And Moon Landing By NASA And The People" 🇺🇸📜 Check out our latest essay now! Author: Andrew Langer, Director of the Center for Regulatory Freedom, CPAC Foundation Constituting America's 15th Online Study: Consent of the Governed- Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence "Apollo did not derive its legitimacy from universal agreement. It derived legitimacy from being proposed openly, authorized by elected representatives, renewed through appropriations, carried out through the institutions of a free society, and challenged by citizens exercising their constitutional rights." — Andrew Langer 📌 Learn more and enjoy today's essay here: us.constitutingamerica.org/c… #America250 #Freedom250 #Apollo11 #MoonLanding #NASA #SpaceRace #ConsentOfTheGoverned

🇺🇸🎙️ Tomorrow on Constitutional Chats — "Free Groceries? What Would a Government-Run Grocery Store Really Look Like?" with special guest Emma Camp. Could government-run grocery stores lower grocery bills, or might they lead to shortages, rationing, and fewer choices? 🛒 Emma Camp, Senior Newsletter Editor for Wall Street Journal Opinion, joins us to look at how these stores might actually work — who decides what's on the shelves, how prices get set, and who pays the bill when groceries are "free" at checkout. Get your questions ready! 🎙️ Join us live Tuesday at 2 PM ET — ask your questions in the chat! Learn more: us.constitutingamerica.org/O… #ConstitutionalChats #America250 #Freedom250 #FreeMarket #Economics #Groceries @america250 @freedom250

📜🇺🇸 October 19, 1781: The British Surrender at Yorktown After a three-week siege by about 17,000 American and French troops under George Washington and the Comte de Rochambeau, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army of some 8,000 men at Yorktown, Virginia. A French fleet under Admiral de Grasse held the Chesapeake Bay, cutting off any escape by sea. Cornwallis signed the Articles of Capitulation that day but stayed away from the ceremony, citing illness. Gen. Charles O'Hara offered his sword in his place, first to Rochambeau and then to Washington, who pointed him to Gen. Lincoln. Yorktown ended major fighting in the Revolution and led to the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Pictured: John Trumbull's painting in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, with Gen. Benjamin Lincoln on the white horse accepting the British surrender. #America250 #Freedom250 #Yorktown #AmericanRevolution #GeorgeWashington

From our board member, Jay McConville–The History We Are Living: The Constitution of the United States. Check it out! #ConstitutionDay #Constitution #Amendments #CivicEducation @JayMcConville

James Madison wrote these words in The Federalist No. 51, published February 6, 1788, while New York debated whether to ratify the new Constitution. 📜 Writing under the pen name “Publius” with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, Madison argued that because people are not angels, government needs checks and balances, with each branch able to resist the others.  Known as the Father of the Constitution, Madison later served as the fourth President. 🇺🇸 Portrait: James Madison by John Vanderlyn, 1816 (White House Collection) Graphic hand-designed by our team; portrait brought to life using AI. #America250 #Freedom250 #JamesMadison #FederalistPapers #Constitution

Can the four abolitions ever lead to liberty? 🇺🇸 Dan Mahoney is pointing to Marx and Engels’ Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), Section II, “Proletarians and Communists,” which calls for the abolition of  1 private property 2 the family 3 country and nationality  4 religion. More from Ep. 321, Madison vs. Marx: The Slippery Slope of Socialism to Authoritarian Rule. 🎧 Full episode: us.constitutingamerica.org/e… #America250 #Freedom250 #ConstitutionalChats #CommunistManifesto #Madison  #Socialism

"The National Highway Act And The Founding Documents" 🇺🇸📜 Check out our latest essay now! Author: Tim Schantz, Councilor at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Senior Advisor, History Factory Constituting America's 15th Online Study: Consent of the Governed- Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence "The old convoy had started me thinking about good two-lane highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land." — Dwight D. Eisenhower In the republic's first decades, federal funding of "internal improvements" was contested. 📌 Learn more and enjoy today's essay here: us.constitutingamerica.org/c… #America250 #Freedom250 #Constitution #InterstateHighways #JamesMadison #Eisenhower #ConsentOfTheGoverned media.heyorca.com/1137c894-0…