During these red, white, and blue months, YouTube keeps sending me a video clip. It’s King George’s solo from the musical “Hamilton.” Amid endless rapping and stamping of boots and swishing of tailcoats by Founding Fathers, a lone figure walks slowly to center stage, decked in satin knee breeches, ermine cape, and a crown. And he sings.
“You’ll be back,” George III wags to his subjects who have turned in revolt. It’s a catchy tune with a bit of audience participation and a welcome ballad respite from the beatbox. The chorus is memorable, saying “oceans rise, empires fall.”
YouTube apparently thought I needed every performance in its collection: four actors from Broadway, a comedienne, and an eight-year-old boy auditioning for community theater. Yes, we almost had a king, and it was almost George III, the one who went crazy. Twice.
Semiquincentennial minutes
July 4, 2026 marks the 250th year of our America-hood. This semiquincentennial places a new stone of remembrance for the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, where 56 revolutionaries told George they had no allegiance to tyranny. In effect, we won’t be back.
In his introduction of the term “semiquincentennial” during the lead up to this observance, reporter John Dickerson explained the word is derived from the name for a 500th anniversary, and “semi” cuts it in half. It’s a fancy word for 250.
Dickerson referenced the 200th anniversary our nation celebrated in 1976. He mentioned the “Bicentennial Minute” produced by CBS that aired nightly in prime time for two years ahead of that landmark anniversary. I didn’t see all 912 episodes at the time, but I saw a lot of them. The short historical salutes recited by famous people of the day were a cultural phenomenon. John Wayne, Jimmy Carter, Sally Field, Betty Ford, Bela Abzug, Big Bird, and many others saluted the nation.
Watching a dozen episodes recently (thanks again, Youtube), I was struck by how the flag-waving shorts from the Vietnam era were simultaneously pro-Revolution and pro-American establishment. These are same competing cries we hear today.
A new Revolution
Ken Burns, the documentary producer who gave us The Civil War, Baseball, and Jazz, produced a new series on The American Revolution. In an interview for Face the Nation, the filmmaker indicated that he found good things to say, despite this age of dissatisfaction, anger, and resentment. “I think the American Revolution is the most important event since the birth of Christ in all of world history,” Burns said, “turning the world upside down.”
“Before this moment, everyone was a subject, essentially under the rule of somebody else. We had created, in this moment, a very brand-new thing called a citizen, and this has had powerful effects,” Burns said. It “set in motion revolutions for the next two-plus centuries, all around the world, all attempting to sort of give a new expression to this idea that all men are created equal, that they’re endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that’s a big, big deal in world history.”
At our semiquincentennial, we would do well to remember how God used mightily a nation whose people were, in the main, willing to declare allegiance to a heavenly King. The offer still stands. It stands for us, as we espouse liberty, yet struggle to hold our values, moorings, and direction. God’s offer also stands for any nation that allows its people to live by godly standards and biblical principles, even while it refuses to command participation in a particular religion.
That’s what Roger Williams was all about, wasn’t it? The founding pastor of the First Baptist Church in America was also governor of the Rhode Island colony. He wanted freedom of worship for everyone, because he wanted it for himself.
Instead of hammering on the nail that we in the United States have no king, a more accurate point is that Christians are called to serve One King as citizens of one Kingdom. As much as we love our land, we’re actually aliens here.
In his last appearance on the Hamilton stage, King George sits on the sideline munching popcorn while the Founders figure out how to hand off power from President Washington to President Adams. “Good luck,” George says.
His warning that “oceans rise, empires fall” seems relevant today, as our celebration of 250 years of freedom and democracy sails on a turbulent sea. Whether our nation will see its actual quincentennial in another 250 years depends on which king it serves and whose kingdom it builds.
─Eric Reed is editor of the Illinois Baptist