This year, the United States marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. What was meant to be a sweeping national commemoration — exhibitions, reenactments and reflection — has instead become a flashpoint for political and cultural conflict, with funding rows, museum controversies and a White House determined to shape how the story is told. 

On today’s podcast, Sean Defoe is joined by Dr Sandra Scanlon, lecturer in American history at University College Dublin, to ask what the American Revolution was really about — and why its legacy is proving so contested 250 years on. 

They discuss the Declaration of Independence, mythmaking around 1776, how anniversaries shape national identity, the challenge of commemoration, and whether it’s possible to celebrate the founding of the United States while confronting slavery, exclusion, and inequality. 

They also explore Donald Trump’s policing of “patriotic history,” the fallout from statue debates and Black Lives Matter, and what a genuinely successful 250th anniversary might look like.