A recent national survey, conducted by the Cato Institute in collaboration with Morning Consult with 2,253 participants, reveals that about 46% of Americans aren’t sure what the country’s 250th birthday is commemorating. This milestone appears less a reflection of the state of public schooling and more an invitation to recognize the enduring legacy of individual liberty that has long shaped American life. While threats to freedom exist—from both within and beyond U.S. borders—the resilience of liberty endures, supported—largely—by Americans themselves.

Americans May Be Historically Ignorant, but We Love Liberty

“Nearly half (46%) of Americans don’t know what America’s 250th anniversary commemorates,” Emily Ekins reports of a national survey of 2,253 Americans by the Cato Institute, conducted in collaboration with Morning Consult. “A little more than half (53%) correctly answered that it was the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.”

The survey also reveals encouraging news. When asked what they’d most want children to learn from America’s 250th anniversary, the top choice was the notion that freedom is rare and must be protected.

When prompted to select “the top core values and ideas that Americans believe define our country,” the leading choice was “freedom and individual rights.”

Seventy percent of respondents believe the founding principles still hold relevance today.

The results align with a June AP-NORC poll that found majorities agreeing that voting rights, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms are “extremely” or “very” important to the United States’ identity as a nation.

There is plenty of commentary about dissatisfaction with the country’s course and some Americans’ lukewarm or episodic enthusiasm for the nation—sometimes tied to which political faction is in power. That outlook is disheartening and worrying. Yet it is clear that many still prize the liberty at the heart of this country’s founding principles.

The Nation’s Robust Protections for Individual Liberty Carry On

“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,” Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that we celebrate on Independence Day.

Decades later, in an 1819 letter, Jefferson emphasized that “rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’; because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual.”

Compare this celebration of liberty with the more cautious language of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which “guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”

Any restriction on liberty can be justified by a determined government official. In the end, a pledge of freedom within laws shaped and altered to suit political fashions offers no real guarantee.

And that is the condition many places in the world inhabit: no real certainty of freedom. Freedom House’s most recent annual report notes that “global freedom declined for the 20th consecutive year in 2025.”

The United States slipped backward in that assessment, as did many other nations. Nevertheless, the U.S. remains a haven for free expression, even as other supposedly liberal democracies—particularly in Europe—step away from the idea of discourse free from state interference.

Americans are not immune to the worldwide growth of government and the associated erosion of liberty. Yet a majority still esteems the principle of individual liberty, helping to preserve the reality—even if it remains under ongoing threat.

A Troubling Strain of Tolerance for Authoritarianism

That said, the same Cato/Morning Consult survey yields troubling insights. Emily Ekins notes that “four in ten Americans think it’s acceptable if a president they support stretched the Constitution to get what they want,” and “a quarter (25%) say the Constitution should be interpreted more flexibly so government can act more decisively and quickly to solve problems.”

Checks on presidential power and on government more broadly are essential to safeguarding liberty; bypassing them would be a grave mistake.

Even more disconcerting is that while many respondents prefer capitalism to socialism (52% vs. 37%), Gen Z shows a notable tilt toward socialism (53%) over capitalism (45%). More than a third of Americans under 30 (38%) view communism favorably. Capitalism—based on voluntary exchange and individual choice—stands as the economic expression of freedom, while socialism and its openly totalitarian form in communism are not compatible with liberty. The growing attraction to these systems among younger Americans is a cause for concern. This corroborates the survey finding that nearly six in ten believe the country has shifted away from its founding principles, and 56% fear the United States could cease to be a free nation within the next half-century.

Celebrate Liberty While You Can

It is prudent for Americans to worry about freedom’s future, given its global decline and the younger generation’s greater appeal for state-led control. Yet the very fact that most Americans worry about liberty’s prospects indicates a deep, enduring appreciation for the nation’s founding ideals, which is essential if freedom is to endure.

“Freedom is a fragile thing and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction,” warned then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California in 1967.

Liberty remains under pressure both worldwide and at home. Still, it remains a principle that a majority of Americans value and practice. On the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, that commitment is worth celebrating.