The Federal Government Has Made America 250 a Spectacle. These States Want It to Be a Moment for Reflection.

On New Year’s Eve, fireworks bloomed behind the Washington Monument.

Along the side of the 550-foot structure, a birthday candle was projected, flickering as “The Star-Spangled Banner” played.

This spectacle kicked off Freedom 250’s countdown to the semiquincentennial and was followed by animated neoclassic-style graphics overlaid with audio narrating the nation’s “discovery, expansion, independence, and […] ...