“As early as 1805, you had orators getting up there — barely twenty years after American independence was recognised by Great Britain — saying: the Republic is over. We’ve had it. So there is a tradition of calling it the end times.” — Nathan Perl-Rosenthal

It’s less than three weeks until America’s big birthday bash. But what exactly will be celebrated this 250th Independence Day? In The Long Revolution: Creating a United States After 1776, the historian Nathan Perl-Rosenthal read some 2,500 July 4 orations delivered in the hundred years after independence. And what he found is that most Americans didn’t believe that the revolution was really over.

Orators often unfavourably compared the American Revolution to the French, Spanish American, and European revolutions of 1830 and 1848. They argued bitterly about slavery. As late as the 1870s, leading orators were insisting that the revolution was unfinished because the truths of the Declaration of Independence had not yet been fully worked out.

Fast forward to 2026 and Perl-Rosenthal suggests a return to the kind of sustained public dialogue that the oratorical tradition once represented. So put down your smartphones on July 4 and tell the world where America currently is and where it should go. The act of oration, Perl-Rosenthal suggests, is not just a civic act, but essential to the country’s long revolutionary tradition. So happy birthday America. And many many more.

Five Takeaways

• 100,000 Orations. An estimated 100,000 July 4 orations in the first century. 2,500 survive as published pamphlets, now at fourthofjulyorations.org. Delivered by the most prominent public figures of their day. Among the richest sources we have for what Americans actually thought.

• The Revolution Was Ongoing. Most orators, deep into the nineteenth century, saw themselves as participants in the revolution, not commemorators. As late as the 1870s: the revolution is unfinished because the truths of the Declaration have not yet been universally extended. Context: Chinese exclusion. Sound familiar?

• Critical, Not Triumphalist. Perl-Rosenthal expected rah America. He found argument. Unfavourable comparisons to France, Spanish America, 1830 and 1848. Wealthy Bostonians explicitly criticising the founders for failing to deal with slavery. The critical tradition was mainstream.

• 1876: When the Tradition Died. Congress asked for historical rather than political orations. Tenfold increase, then rapid collapse. From argument to commemoration. From ongoing political conversation to museum piece. The tradition of sustained public dialogue has not recovered.

• A Low, Dishonest Period. Mark Lilla’s blurb. Perl-Rosenthal: not catastrophist — orators were calling it the end times as early as 1805. But clear about what’s missing: a forum for sustained public argument. The smartphone generation won’t sit through an hour. That’s the problem.

About the Guest

Nathan Perl-Rosenthal is a professor of history at USC and the author of The Long Revolution (Basic Books, June 2, 2026) and Citizen Sailors. He lives in Los Angeles and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

References

The Long Revolution by Nathan Perl-Rosenthal (Basic Books, June 2, 2026): hachettebookgroup.com/titles/nathan-perl-rosenthal/the-long-revolution/9781541606630
fourthofjulyorations.org — digital database of 2,500 published orations

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

Website: https://keenon.tv/ Substack: https://keenon.substack.com/ YouTube: https://youtube.com/@KeenOnShow

Chapters:

00:00:31 America almost 250 years old
00:01:46 The archive: 100,000 orations, 2,500 published
00:02:33 fourthofjulyorations.org
00:03:15 The revolution still ongoing into the 1870s
00:04:33 The r word: what did revolution mean?
00:05:12 Critical, not triumphalist
00:07:00 Slavery as the growing critical focus
00:20:00 The 1876 turning point
00:35:21 The tradition still alive: isolated performances
00:37:36 Chinese exclusion and unfinished rights
00:39:49 What would Nathan’s July 4 oration say?
00:41:03 Mark Lilla: a low, dishonest period
00:43:47 Conclusion