Jared Crawford
Director of Communications, Hall of Giants
Every Fourth of July, Americans gather beneath fireworks, wave flags, and celebrate the birth of a nation unlike any other. We remember July 4, 1776, when fifty-six courageous individuals signed a document declaring that liberty was worth risking everything.
But Independence Day must be more than a celebration of our past. It must serve as a reminder of the ideals that will shape our future.
As America prepares to commemorate its 250th birthday, we have a unique opportunity to reflect not only on what our Founding Fathers accomplished, but on all that they made possible.
The Founders were extraordinary political leaders. The thing we forget is that at the time they signed the Declaration – risking their lives and their fortunes – they were men who had already spent years as innovators, problem solvers, and business owners. When they challenged the British Crown and embraced danger and uncertainty, they did so from the belief that ordinary people, when given freedom, could accomplish extraordinary things.
Those same principles have inspired ten generations of entrepreneurs and transformed America into the world’s greatest engine of innovation.
From small-town shopkeepers to groundbreaking inventors, from family-owned farms to global companies, the American story has always been written by people willing to dream bigger than their circumstances. In the Old World the founders left behind, those circumstances at your birth defined your possibilities for the rest of your life. The founders believed something different was possible for all, a nation where opportunity was limitless. They could not promise prosperity to all. What they could do was create the conditions where all could pursue happiness and the chance to flourish. Over the past 250 years, millions of Americans have taken that chance and found that flourishing.
The story of America’s founders and the story of American entrepreneurship cannot be separated. One created the freedom, while the other demonstrated what free people could achieve.
At Hall of Giants, we believe these stories deserve to be preserved and celebrated together.
The museum we are building isn’t about the successes of the past. It’s about the enduring American spirit that has fueled innovation for 250 years. It’s about using story to inspire the next generations of creators, inventors, and entrepreneurs. In a nation where pundits claim our best days are behind us, the Hall of Giants is a reminder of what can and still will be.
As we travel across the country during the America 250 celebration, we’ve been reminded that this spirit thrives in every corner of this great nation. In big cities and small towns alike, we meet folks who rise before dawn to build new business – and work late to keep a family enterprise thriving for the next generation.
These stories each have their own unique particulars, but they share a common theme: the commitment to build, to invest, and to grow. These are the stories of people dreaming big in a land that invites them to dream limitless dreams.
Independence Day doesn’t just mark a successful rebellion against foreign rule. It marks our commitment to opportunity, and the chance to grow free from old prejudices and old limitations. That American spirit has endured 250 years. It is our responsibility to ensure it continues for the next 250. At Hall of Giants, we take that responsibility to preserve and inspire as a sacred trust.
And this Independence Day, we ask you to join us in thanking an entrepreneur.
Because America’s greatest achievements have always begun with someone willing to build.