by Sarah Becker (c)2026

In 1812, Europe’s Napoleonic era, Britain and France were at war and trade restrictions on neutral countries like the United States were increasing. On June 1, 1812, President James Madison compiled a list of grievances for Congress to consider. International trade violations, merchant shipping practices and sailor impressment included.

Congress acted within a week of receiving Madison’s message. America’s stated enemy: the Kingdom of Great Britain. The War did not end until the January 1815, Battle of New Orleans; with U.S. Army General Andrew Jackson’s quick and decisive victory.

“You Say ‘Mr. Adams calls our Attention to hundreds of wise and virtuous Patricians, mangled and bleeding Victims of popular Fury and gravely counts up several Victims of democratic Rage as proofs that Democracy is more pernicious than Monarchy or Aristocracy,’” John Adams, founding father and U.S. Minister to Great Britain; Federalist Party member, retired U.S. Vice President and President wrote John Taylor on December 17,1814.

“Is this fair, sir?” Adams asked. “Do you deny any one of my Facts? I do not say that Democracy has been more pernicious, on the whole, and in the long run, than Monarchy or Aristocracy. Democracy has never been and never can be so durable as Aristocracy or Monarchy. But while it lasts, it is more bloody than either.”

‘”Remember Democracy never lasts long,” Adams reminded. “It soon wastes exhausts and murders itself. There never was a Democracy Yet, that did not commit suicide.”

“It is in vain to Say that Democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious or less avaricious than Aristocracy or Monarchy.” Adams continued. “It is not true in Fact and nowhere appears in history. Those Passions are the same in all Men under all forms of Simple Government, and when unchecked, produce the same Effects of Fraud Violence and Cruelty.”

“When clear Prospects are opened before Vanity, Pride, Avarice or Ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate Phylosophers [sic] and the most conscientious Moralists to resist the temptation,” Adams concluded. “Individuals have conquered themselves, Nations and large Bodies of Men, never.”

Yet despite today’s divisive politics, politicians seeming self-dealing, and an alleged woke culture; America’s Revolutionary War, Civil War, and World Wars; voting rights and Jim Crow; laws of coverture and woman’s equality, the United States proudly celebrates its 250th year. Was it not John Adams’ wife Abigail who asked him to “remember the ladies” when addressing Philadelphia’s 1776 Continental Congress?

Still the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Directors has not granted approval to begin construction of its yet to be located American Women’s History Museum. The Museum was authorized by Congress in December 2020, “but physical construction stalled.” A May 2026 bill [H.R. 1329] to designate a National Mall site failed, “following partisan disputes over site-selection power and exhibit language regarding biological sex,” biological women.

In 2025, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14253, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. “Pursuant to that order,” the Domestic Policy Council recently completed a months-long, 162-page review of the Smithsonian Institution and its National Museum of American History,

The July 24, 2026, findings: “the Smithsonian Institution’s leadership does not present American history as a shared national inheritance to be taught and celebrated, but instead views American history as a ‘prime tool’ to advance ideas of social justice and the radical transformation of our society.”

Bottom line: Neither the Smithsonian Institution nor the National Museum of American History “can be trusted to tell America’s story with honesty and gratitude.” Trump’s notion of story: an explicit interpretation of gender and patriotism.

Patriotism, as defined by the Oxford-American Dictionary: “the love of one’s country and the willingness to defend it.” Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the 1776 Declaration of Independence and co-founder of the 1792 Democratic-Republican Party, describes patriotism as “the duty to uphold liberty, support self-government, and put the public good above personal power.”

Concluded U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith, a Maine Republican in 1950: “It is high time that we stopped thinking politically as Republicans and Democrats about elections and started thinking patriotically as Americans about national security based on individual freedom. It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques – techniques, that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”

About the Author: Sarah Becker started writing for The Economist while a graduate student in England. Similar publications followed. She joined the Crier in 1996 while serving on the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board. Her interest in antiquities began as a World Bank hire, with Indonesia’s need to generate hard currency. Balinese history, i.e. tourism provided the means. The New York Times describes Becker’s book, Off Your Duffs & Up the Assets, as “a blueprint for thousands of nonprofit managers.” A former museum director, SLAM’s saving grace Sarah received Alexandria’s Salute to Women Award in 2007. Email abitofhistory53@gmail.com