The Fight for America's Story
America's 250th anniversary has become a battle over national identity
The greatest Fourth of July speech in American history called the celebration a sham.
On July 5, 1852 — the Fourth fell on a Sunday that year — hundreds of people paid twelve and a half cents each to file into Corinthian Hall in Rochester, New York. A minister opened the program by reading the Declaration of Independence aloud, to warm applause. Then Fre…