America’s 250th Birthday
A republic doesn’t endure by accident. It endures because each generation takes up the work: grappling with history, engaging with imperfection, and striving toward a more perfect union.
That was the purpose of R Street’s America 250 Conversations series.
We launched this initiative at our 2025 Real Solutions Summit, where we dug into the founding principles of the American experiment — equality, popular sovereignty, federalism, civic virtue, and limited, effective government — and asked how these ideas should guide us today. These classically liberal principles are the cornerstones of our nation’s founding, and they continue to underpin R Street’s mission and policy work today.
Our monthly America 250 Conversations built on that momentum.
We started last September with the founding itself — exploring how America’s core principles took shape, and why they remain necessary, contested, and alive today.
We then looked at the structures through which Americans actually govern themselves. How districts are drawn, how votes are counted, what representation really looks like — and whether any of it is living up to the founding promise of genuine representation.
We examined the political violence that has tested the republic since its founding — proof that this experiment has always been fragile. And we asked what it takes to hold a fractious country together.
That carried into a conversation on media and American political life. From the pamphlets of the early republic to cable news and digital media today, the way we communicate has always shaped our politics — fueling polarization, but also sustaining democracy.
We talked about the presidency — and how presidents do more than exercise power. They speak to the country, listen to it, and help us find our footing in moments of crisis. That kind of trust takes honesty, restraint, and a willingness to engage with people, not just at them.
We turned to the American landscape — and what it means that so much of our national identity has been shaped by mountains, rivers, forests, and farms. That abundance raises real questions about stewardship and conservation.
We looked at America’s First Ladies — women who shaped national life not from elected office, but from the intersection of public service and civic culture. Their stories are a reminder of how much influence has been exercised outside the formal channels of power, often used to advance causes and shape public opinion in lasting ways.
We closed by taking on dissent — a thread that runs through the entire American story. From the founding era to Transcendentalism to today, protest has driven reform and pushed the country toward its ideals.
More than simply honoring the past, our goal was to advance the Founders’ vision by applying its core principles to the challenges of today. To preserve freedom, free markets, and effective government requires more than ideas—it demands conviction, courage, and a renewed commitment to the American promise.
Sign up to join the interest list for R Street’s 2027 Real Solutions Summit: The Next 250
See how R Street celebrated the semiquincentennial with our America 250 Conversations series
The Next 250: Celebrate with R Street
A Tradition of Dissent:
Protest and Pluralism in America
Jillian Snider, Resident Senior Fellow, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, R Street Institute
Laura Walls, Professor Emerita, English, University of Notre Dame
[Moderator] Sabrina Schaeffer, Vice President, Public Affairs, R Street Institute
Ilya Shapiro, Senior Fellow and Director of Constitutional Studies, Manhattan Institute
America’s First Ladies: 250 Years of Influence
[Moderator] Sabrina Schaeffer, Vice President, Public Affairs, R Street Institute
Anita McBride, Executive-in-Residence, Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, American University; Former Chief of Staff to First Lady Laura Bush
Nature and the American Story at 250
[Moderator] Sabrina Schaeffer, Vice President, Public Affairs, R Street Institute
Alina Voss, Communications Director, American Conservation Coalition
Mark Miller, Director, Environment and Natural Resources Litigation, Pacific Legal Foundation
Alan Taylor, Thomas Jefferson Chair of American History (Emeritus), University of Virginia
The President and the People: Affection, Authority, and Trust in the American Republic
[Opening Remarks] Ann Phelan, Senior Director, Communications, R Street Institute
[Moderator] Jeff Vanderslice, Vice President, Policy Partnerships and Government Affairs, R Street Institute
Clark Judge, Former Presidential Speechwriter and Advisor
Craig Shirley, Presidential Advisor and Presidential Historian
Emily E. Sydnor, Associate Professor, Syracuse University Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship
Hans Nichols, Political Reporter and co-author of Axios Hill Leaders, Axios
The Republic Is Talking: How Media Has Shaped American Political Life from the Early Republic to the Digital Age
[Opening Remarks] Sabrina Schaeffer, Vice President, Public Affairs, R Street Institute
[Moderator] Mark Dalton, Senior Policy Director, Technology and Innovation, R Street Institute
Jonah Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief, The Dispatch
Carolyn Eastman, Professor of History, Virginia Commonwealth University
Seth Cotlar, Professor of History, Willamette University
Holiday Ales & Liberty Tales: A Very Merry America 250 Happy Hour
The Fragile Republic: Lessons on Political Violence from the Founding to Today
[Opening Remarks] Erica Schoder, Executive Director, R Street Institute
[Moderator] Sabrina Schaeffer, Vice President, Public Affairs, R Street Institute
[Moderator] Lisel Petis, Policy Director, Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties, R Street Institute
Joanne B. Freeman, Professor of History and American Studies, Yale University
Greg Lukianoff, President and CEO, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
Peter Savodnik, Senior Editor, The Free Press
Michael Shipler, Vice President, Strategy, Search for Common Ground
Noah Rothman, Senior Writer, National Review
Tom Rosshirt, Chief Strategist & Director of Research, Co-creator of the Dignity Index
Democracy at 250: From Gerrymandering to Genuine Representation
[Moderator] Matthew Germer, Policy Director, Governance, R Street Institute
Chris Stirewalt, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; Contributing Editor, The Dispatch; Host, NewsNation
Walter Olson, Senior Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute
The Ideas That Built America—and Where They Stand Today
[Moderator] Sabrina Schaeffer, Vice President, Public Affairs, R Street Institute
Lindsay M. Chervinsky, PhD, Presidential Historian and Executive Director, George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon
More work celebrating America’s 250th birthday
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