Credit: Getty Images.

Will we get through our current political crises? History suggests we will. Americans have been weathering crises for 250 years.

We are entering the 250th anniversary year of the Declaration of Independence. Our history of coping, advancing, changing and persevering dates even earlier: The Revolutionary War began in 1775, independence was declared in 1776, and war ended with American victory in 1783. But there had been a revolution in the way people thought long before the shooting began.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

“What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the Revolution. It was only an effect and consequence of it,” John Adams recalled years later. “The Revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected, from 1760 to 1775, in the course of fifteen years before a drop of blood was drawn.”

Americans had stopped thinking of themselves as subjects of a king and began thinking of themselves as self-governing citizens.

Nor did the founders believe that the revolution ended when independence was achieved.

The Declaration of Independence is only 1,458 words long. It sets forth lofty principles at the beginning — “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” — but it is mostly an indictment of the king of England and a justification for separating from the mother country. It really is about tearing down a government rather than creating a new one.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

The Articles of Confederation, adopted in 1777, in effect defined the nation as a weak partnership of the states. The........

© Times Union