America's Birthday Celebration Begins Now

America’s 250th birthday celebration rightly begins on April 19th, 2025. That’s the 250th anniversary of the day American “minutemen” stood fast at Lexington and refused to surrender their arms to the British redcoats who’d marched from Boston to seize their arsenal. 

Shots were fired and men died, but the arsenal was safe and the Redcoats tucked tail and retreated to Boston. The American Revolution had begun with that courageous act of defiance. It became known as the “Shot heard ‘round the world” and would forever alter the course of human history.

Bostonians had suffered years of English taxes on everything from sugar to paper. The tea tax finally did it.  In 1773, they had a little “tea party” and dumped the English tea into Boston Harbor. That led to British warships blockading Boston and thousands of troops encamped around Boston. But the folks in Boston weren’t alone. All American colonists had been feeling the effects of English taxes, without being properly represented in their state governments.

On March 23, 1775, the Virginia Assembly met at St. Johns Church in Richmond, to consider raising a militia. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson listened intently as Patrick Henry made his impassioned appeal for a militia. He reminded his fellow representatives that the ships and troops of the world’s strongest military were not there as a threat to just Boston, but were a direct threat to all American colonists. Henry said, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me Liberty or give me Death.” With those words, the Virginia Militia was formed with Col. Washington in charge.

And after six long years of bloody war, the Americans were victorious. The English army surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia. Without Boston and Virginia, there is no America. Americans had rejected the despotic rule of a King. We asserted our creator endowed rights to self-defense, self-determination and self-government. And without those brave men standing tall from Lexington to Yorktown, America would have never existed.

Every American owes their freedom to our courageous ancestors who fought to defend our God-given right to Liberty. We should commemorate April 19th as the day American Patriots began that struggle for the freedom we hold so dear.

As we run up to the “official” July 4th 2026 celebration of our 250th birthday, let’s spend some time studying and reviewing our history. Re-read the Declaration and Constitution and don’t overlook the admission stated by our founders that our form of government can only be laid on a foundation of a moral and religious people. So dust off that Bible and remember that our freedom rests on a solid, moral foundation of God’s law.

Submitted by Dennis Fox and originally published in the April 19 edition of The Sheridan Press.