Ben Franklin knew God had a plan for America. He told the Constitutional Convention, “the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”
George Washington agreed, writing to a friend, “The hand of Providence has been so conspicuous in all this.”
These giants of our founding saw divine fingerprints on America's birth; a nation forged not just by human grit but by providential grace. Yet, as America nears its 250th birthday, we’re still subjected to revisionist accounts by historians who let personal ideology guide their conclusions.
Their accounts drip with presentism, fixating on flaws while ignoring the revolutionary ideals that make us exceptional. Their echo chamber rings with the same off-key refrains about slavery and purported systemic racism.
Let’s be clear: to all their shame, nearly every country in the world saw slavery within its borders. Some still do. Yet America is the only major country that ever fought a civil war to end it. Chattel slavery in southern states doesn’t define America; how we ended it -- and that we ended it -- does.
Those who falsely allege systemic racism here ignore our constitutional provisions that guarantee equal protection of the law. It took more than a century for those promises to be kept, but they’ve never been stronger. Instances of racism exist because sin exists, and no country has done as much as America to quell it. Immigrants of every skin color seek to come here because they recognize that racism doesn’t define America -- the muscular body of law that redresses individual cases of it does.
No nation populated by imperfect humans can ever be perfect, but America stretches closest to that unreachable goal.
Which brings us to the latest American Revolution miniseries, offered up by Ken Burns, who never misses a chance to turn American history into a guilt trip. This PBS opus opens with a land acknowledgment nodding to native tribes, then pivots to wildly claim that the Revolution was somehow about race.
It even suggests we cribbed American government from Iroquois models, downplaying the Enlightenment thinkers and Greek and Roman models that shaped our Constitution. Burns smears George Washington as a flawed opportunist, petty toward loyalists, and fixates on what he thinks are marginalized voices at the expense of core events.
A more clear-eyed view tells us the Revolution wasn't a racial reckoning; it was a bold leap toward liberty and the cornerstone of a republic built on the self-evident notion that all human rights come from God.
The 1619 Project, written by a race-obsessed reporter who sought to distort the traditional view of U.S. history, claimed our founding was about preserving slavery, not self-government. While the Blame America First mob celebrated this misleading mélange, it was fact-checked by more sober experts. Theydebunked its capitalist-slavery links and Revolution-as-pro-slavery spin as ideological fiction.
But that New York Times effort has company. Even Wikipedia features hard-left partisanship with large helpings of bias in entries about the United States. Call it Woke-a-pedia: where it seems like every entry ends with “…and it’s America’s fault."
Too much of this ideologically driven anti-American history is an unappetizing breakfast of Woke-Flakes: crunchy outrage with zero factual nutrition. As we celebrate 250 years, let's honor the real story. It’s one of striving toward ideals, guided by providence and grit. Our founders built a republic worth defending, and Americans are called to hand down the truth about God’s providence in our nation’s history to future generations. That includes speaking out against skewed portrayals while explaining it to the civic leaders of tomorrow. It’s why – for the upcoming celebration of America’s 250th birthday – I wrote a children’s book: “God Bless America, 250 Years Strong.”
In it, I highlight touchpoints early generations knew by heart, but most young people haven’t heard. America’s history is not perfect, but it’s nobler than any other. If we fail to pass that on, the loudest voices will keep rewriting it until our own children believe America should be the villain of its own story.