The American dream is never finished. It is handed from one generation to the next, not as a possession to be consumed, but as a responsibility to be renewed.

Constitutionally, America is still an English place: Lockean in peace, Hobbesian in war. That is why it has managed to last for 250 years

The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, on America’s 250th anniversary and the American idea today. Plus: what we can learn from American history on this Fourth of July…

The country still dazzles the world. But it no longer leads it the way it did.

America’s 250th birthday should be more than a commemoration. It should be an opportunity for renewal of our founding principles.

Benjamin Franklin famously summed up the challenge that lay ahead in six unforgettable words. “A republic, if you can keep it.”