Neither a Birthday Party nor a Funeral: How the Council is Preparing for America's 250th

On July 4, America will mark the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence.  

The moment arrives at a time of disruptive US diplomacy, rapid technological change, and war on a scale that we have not seen in several decades. American leaders and citizens are deeply polarized.  "As you may have noticed, we're not in the mood to have a birthday party," Walter Isaacson remarked during a recent visit to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.  

But our members often remind me that America has a remarkable ability to reinvent, renew, and reimagine itself. Thus, as we approach the US Semiquincentennial, the Council is homing in on an obvious but important question: What are the sources of America’s global power and influence, and what is at stake as the country concludes its 250th year?  

America’s history as an innovator and military power is unparalleled. Its economy has been the source of tremendous envy, but it has also compelled many people to leave their homes in search of a more promising future on American soil. No US city has been more deeply shaped by the complexity of America’s role as an immigrant nation than Chicago.   

One word I have continually heard associated with the United States, both at home and abroad, is freedom—freedom to speak freely, reinvent oneself, make a better life, or earn a bigger salary.  But ‘freedom’ is a complex word in America. It has been denied to many. And for others, it has proven difficult to attain. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlined four freedoms: freedom of speech and expression; freedom of worship; freedom from want; freedom from fear. But today, America’s freedoms—and the four Roosevelt called to be upheld—are coming under pressure and are contested at home and abroad. 

Given its fundamental significance and the success of Chicago’s leading institutions in navigating the complex history of freedom in the United States, it seems right that the Council will begin its America at 250 Global Forum by focusing on the first freedom. I will be in conversation with University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos and Georgetown University Professor David Cole. Alivisatos leads a university famous for a set of guidelines known as the Chicago Principles, which define the university’s commitment to freedom of speech and academic freedom. Cole is one of the nation’s leading constitutional legal scholars and served as the national legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union for six years.   

Across the forum, we will continue to look at the source of America’s global power and influence. The Council was founded in 1922 to lead a conversation about America’s international role at a time when isolationism was gaining a strong foothold across the Midwest. The international order that the United States built after World War II was based on formal treaty alliances, extensive partnerships, and a robust set of multilateral institutions designed to envision and embed a rules based international order—one that held the prospect of greater international peace and security, a robust system for international trade and development, and global public goods across multiple issues (not least global food security, an issue that connects America’s heartland to the rest of the world).  

Today, the order has been disrupted, if not entirely abandoned, by the United States. And politics no longer stops at the water’s edge. Indeed, Chicago Council polling confirms that Americans are divided on many key issues in foreign policy.  

Concerns of an isolationist America that led a group of women and men in Chicago to create the Council have been overtaken by a fear that America is no longer bound by international law or the Constitution. These concerns are not unfounded, as the United States has used its military power to unseat sitting heads of state in an attempt to reorder international relations in the Middle East and Western Hemisphere. Thus, at the forum, Princeton University Professor John Ikenberry, former US Permanent Representative to NATO Ambassador Julianne Smith, and New York Times Correspondent David Sanger will assess the sources of American power and the choices that will shape the next chapter of US leadership.  

Together, we will spend the day looking at some of the greatest tensions in America’s global positioning today, including the nation's turn away from free trade and pursuit of a highly disruptive policy with tariffs (as US Senator Rand Paul noted during a visit to the Council earlier this week). Amid USMCA negotiations, former US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, University of Chicago Professor Raghuram Rajan, and former Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico Julián Ventura will talk about the future of the international trade and its role in shaping America’s global power and influence.  

Later, Columbia University Professor Jack Synder, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard, and Northwestern University Professor Priyanka Motaparthy will lead us in considering the role of human rights in shaping America’s power and influence abroad. We will also take a close look at America’s past and present role as an immigrant nation, and the national and global consequences of American innovation on frontier technologies at a time of geopolitical competition. 

The America at 250 Global Forum promises to be dynamic, stimulating, and challenging, bringing together leading policy makers, scholars, and business leaders from across the United States and beyond.  

I look forward to seeing you there.