Why anyone would want to leave Britain is beyond us. But in 1776 the 13 colonies declared their own version of Brexit, only with muskets. Out of this act of youthful defia
America would go on to fascinate, inspire and occasionally exasperate The Economist, founded in 1843 to champion many of those same ideals: open markets, free societies and human progress. To mark the republic’s 250th birthday, we offer not fireworks but something far more British—a review. An arch, authoritative, occasionally patronising review.
Over seven chapters—one a month until July 4th—we’ll scroll through America’s triumphs and hypocrisies, booms and busts. We’ll track its progress and regress through words, maps, charts and gems from our archive. Our first American correspondent, “fat, fair and forty”, was ejected from a hotel in the 1840s for preaching free trade. (We hated tariffs then; we hate them now.) A century later, when introducing our first US section, we promised to convey “the breadth and colour of the canvas on which the American democracy is painting current history”. We aim to do the same here, hopefully without overindulging in metaphor.,,,,
…….
In the year this timeline begins, not long after America declared its independence, the future of the young country was in doubt. George Washington’s troops were retreating, his army close to collapse. “These are the times that try men’s souls,” wrote Thomas Paine. Yet Paine was not one for despair. “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.” He believed deeply in the Enlightenment ideals on which the new republic rested, and wrote to stiffen America’s resolve at a moment of genuine peril. Washington is thought to have read the words aloud to his troops.
Two hundred and fifty years later, America is in need of another dose of Paine’s resolve. The country’s great liberal experiment is under strain. Politicians show little regard for many of the Enlightenment ideals the founders held dear. Americans themselves are bitterly divided, rarely agreeing on what ails the country, let alone the cures. History offers some consolation. The American experiment has faltered before—and recovered. Its story has been one of setbacks as well as renewal.
From the moment the framers set out, in the constitution’s opening sentence, “to form a more perfect Union”, the country has wrestled with its imperfections. In Philadelphia in 1787, just after the constitutional convention adjourned, an ageing Benjamin Franklin was asked, “What have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” His reply: “A republic, if you can keep it.” America’s liberal experiment remains incomplete and contested. Two and a half centuries on, Franklin’s challenge endures.
1776-1820s
1830s-Civil War
1860s-1910s
1914-1945
1950s-1970s
1980s-2000s
2006-present
