Semiquincentennial.

Sestercentennial.

Quartermilennial.

250.

However you say it, 2026 is a milestone for the United States of America.

Come this July 4th, the USA will be looking back 250 years to a hall in Philadelphia where 56 determined men signed a document that would spark a revolution, create a new nation, and change the world.

The Declaration begins with these immortal words:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ..."

Nearly 40 years later, during the War of 1812, when this new nation was threatened once again by the tyranny of the English king, Francis Scott Key, a prisoner held aboard a British warship, penned a poem that we're all familiar with, The Star Spangled Banner.

We sing it at baseball games and graduations and in church.  

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?

And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.

Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

But did you know Key penned more verses than just the one?  Did you know the story behind that poem?

Look it up!  Here.  I'll help you.

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

THE STORY OF THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

We here at Artistic Chaos Ink love this country and all it stands for.  God, Family, Freedom, and of course, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

We'll be going to parades and wearing flag-emblazoned t-shirts.  We'll be watching fireworks and thinking of that national anthem--the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air. 

We're proud and grateful to be citizens of this, the greatest nation the world has ever known.

And we want to share that pride and gratitude with you!

We've designed a FREE COLORING PAGE Celebrating what it is to be American, and 2 New Poster Designs, AMERICA 250 and CELEBRATING AMERICA,  to commemorate the Semiquincentennial of the culmination of the course of human events that led us here and all those who sacrificed to make it so.

Happy Independence Day!!

*Love FREE stuff?  Subscribers receive exclusive free coloring pages!  Just SIGN UP HERE

Thanks for supporting our family-owned shop!