Today marks the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Tonight, as the indefatigable patriot Robert Reich reminds us, bells will ring at Boston’s Old North Church, where lanterns signaled Paul Revere to warn the Minutemen (one-if-by-land) of the approaching British troops. It’s the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first two battles that roused 16,000 New Englanders to continue to fight for their independence from a monarch, beginning the Siege of Boston. By the following March, the British had fled.
Across the country, churches will be ringing bells to remind us that this country was formed on principles of freedom from tyranny, independence, and fair representation. The rights the patriots were fighting for were for white men, of course, who went on massacre natives to gain their land and enslave Africans to provide free labor to grow their personal wealth. But the arc of history in this country has been aspirational toward the goals of equality and representation, and over the past 250 years—until the past few weeks—we have made great strides in making all people equal in the light of the law.
Tomorrow, there will be protests all over the country, We (the People) Dissent, organized by 50501. There are so many things to protest —ravaging our national parks, willfully speeding the climate crisis, unlawfully detaining and deporting immigrants, deadly restrictions on women’s choice and health care, gutting the institutions and safeguards that hold up our democracy, allowing tech bros to scrape our data, imperiling our futures by threatening our delicate international trade balances, denying and defunding science, manipulating the stock market, putting our retirement and society security at risk, ignoring the rule of law—take your pick. Just show up. It comes down to protecting democracy from rapacious fools.
I’ve never really considered myself patriot, until now. The anniversary of the American Revolution reminds me, though, that I was, briefly, a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).
I joined for one reason, which was to help out my beloved Uncle John with his research. I called him “uncle,” but he would point out that actually I was his first cousin, once removed. He was a stickler for those sorts of things because he was very interested in genealogy, and had traced our family lineage back to England to sometime around Henry VIII before the trail ran cold. That is, he traced the patriarchy back that far. As far as I can tell he turned up a bunch of farmers, no one who seemed to have made any personal dent in history—except, maybe, my ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War.
So when Uncle John asked me, not long before he died, if I would join the DAR to help him verify an unclaimed soldier of the Revolutionary War, I hesitated—I had always associated the DAR with Republicans in hairspray—but said yes. It turns out that an unclaimed soldier is sort of a big deal in genealogy circles. It’s someone who fought against the British whose lineage was lost; claiming him as an ancestor honors his service and connects him to people in the present. Uncle John, while a member of the Sons of the Revolution, couldn’t give our ancestor, Aaron Miller, that kind of legitimacy; only the DAR could do that. Only the women have the power.
Miller was not the only ancestor who fought in the Revolutionary War whom Uncle John, with his visits to cemeteries and tombstone-reading, had unearthed. We are related to several, as well as to a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a farmer named John Hart, who did a lot of public service and died pretty much penniless. I come from a lot of farmers with a penchant for public service, all the way to my father.
This lineage is not something I’m necessarily proud of, just a fact. I have taken great pains during my life to distance myself from the sense of WASP entitlement that seems to go along with it, and am embarrassed about descending from people who relentlessly and cold-heartedly dehumanized the natives who lived on this land, not to mention their own women. A lot of the evils of this country can be traced back to the Puritanism of people like Cotton Mather, preachers who were racist and misogynist, and whose followers became evangelicals who riled up the masses into believing that you could buy your way into heaven if you lined their pockets. Trump comes directly from this cynical tradition. Then there are all the Founding Fathers whose beliefs in equality and liberty stopped at white male property-holders, and who countenanced slavery. It doesn’t take an American Studies major (like me) to smell the rot underneath the American Dream—a stench that was mainly covered up by lilac-scented politenesses until our present administration, when the boil has burst and the putrescence is out in the open.
So it was weird, to say the least, to go to a DAR meeting. Back in 2012, I attended a meeting in the Presidio in San Francisco, an outpost that dates back to 1776 itself (and which Trump hopes to develop into a “Freedom City” for the highest bidders). As I suspected, everyone was white (though the DAR welcomes descendants of Native and Black soldiers who fought in the Revolution), and dressed in a kind of muted preppy way that shrieked conservatism. They were all nice to me and thrilled that they could boast a new unclaimed soldier for their chapter.
The meeting was numbingly dull. We started by saying the Pledge of Allegiance, something I had resisted doing throughout public school, supported in my rebellion by my mother, who was to the left of Noam Chomsky. Then we read the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, as well as the Constitution. I presented my papers and was welcomed to the group. That was about it before we adjourned for cake.
I went to a second meeting, where I was inducted, and my soldier was claimed and celebrated. I remember little about the ceremony except that it went on a long time. They gave me a pin declaring my membership, Uncle John was pleased, and when I told them I was a writer, they asked if I would volunteer to write their newsletter. I fled.
But recently I have been thinking about what standing for patriotism, one of the DAR’s core values—along with education and historic preservation— means. The Right and MAGAs have coopted the American flag as a symbol of freedom—to have guns, evade taxes, and accumulate wealth unfettered by conscience or scruples.
I checked the DAR website to see what they think patriotism is. They define it mostly in terms of action and service: volunteering, supporting veterans and soldiers, educating people about the Constitution, and welcoming new naturalized citizens.
That mission is a far cry from the current administration’s gutting of programs for veterans, turning away and imprisoning immigrants, even those already guaranteed admission to the country; cutting services to our historic parks, and doing absolutely nothing to spread their wealth to anyone else for any reason that won’t gain them flattery and obeisance. As for the Constitution?
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
Trump and the red hats have done everything to destroy our union, to create injustice, to insure domestic chaos, provide only for the defense of themselves, destroy general welfare, and generally fuck the Blessings of Liberty.
That’s the opposite of patriotism.
The artist Wendy MacNaughton summed up the state of the country right now. You can follow @wendymac on Instagram.
Another thing I noticed on the DAR website is they’ve started a project called “E Pluribus Unum,” translated to “Out of many, one,” which has been a US motto since early days. “But in practice, the history of the country has often overlooked the participation of certain groups, including the vital contributions of people of color and women to the War of Independence and the founding of the United States.” They’ve launched a Patriots of Color database to bring back the contributions of these forgotten soldiers and others who helped the cause, and began organizing for their own cause.
Finally, the DAR website affirms its commitment to equality: “Our National Society encourages and celebrates a diverse membership, and we embrace the opportunity to support our members of color. DAR reaffirms to the membership and the public alike that our organization condemns racism. Bias, prejudice and intolerance have no place in the DAR or America.”
I wonder if Trump is going to cancel its nonprofit status for being a bastion of DEI?
Patriotism once meant fighting against tyranny and monarchy, and fighting for an imperfect democracy that has evolved since (though folks in Puerto Rico, Washington, DC, and populous states with two Senators aren’t exactly enjoying representation for their taxation).
We have to take back our flag, and our patriotism. We have to honor our history, and the people who fought not only to be free of tyranny but free from slavery, and discrimination based on gender (including transgendered people), race, sexual orientation, religion, economic status, disability, age, weight, and other differences from white “Christian” men.
Next July 4, 2026 will be the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Let’s make sure it’s still around by then.
Upon inheriting the meticulously researched and (huge) family tree, my dad and I were pretty excited to find out the first of our ancestors was from Normandy. That is to say, moved up and became a knight, land owner, Etc, . Fast forward until 1650, when 2 brothers are documented as arriving in this land , eventually to become the U.S. There were several men with our name recorded as fighting in the Revolution, The War of 1812, the Civil War, WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. MY FATHER served our country for 5 years. Caring for mom in hospice was an honour and a privilege. She made sure I had every opportunity. When she passed, my dad and I were even more best friends along with husband and kid.
My parents were the best and my grandparents ( on both sides as well) Grandma hoped I would be a DAR someday . I wasn’t sure if she was or not. It doesn’t matter because in their “rules “ book? EFFIN
ADOPTED CHILDREN do not count. My parents could not have children. How dare !
HOW DARE these self righteous women suggest that it is only blood that makes a family!! How dare they suggest my mother and father were any thing less than my parents! There is some woman out there who carried me in her womb for my folks. Don’t know her, not interested to. She is non person I feel nothing. Maybe a bit of thanks - for being in the right time and place for my folks to fetch me. Again, I had really thought your group would be great but I’m disgusted. Who thinks this kind of stuff? What year is this?
This is blatant hypocrisy and absolute DISCRIMINATION, and I can’t be the only one that this has happened to! I hope everyone reads this and writes a long letter that it is the greatest INSULT to my parents and I hope I never meet one you It’s not blood that makes a family!!!!
I really hope in one of your little meetings, you bring this up. Because my dad’s lineage could blow you away.
It’s 2025. Does this actually need to be said.
It’s Fathers Day. I am by myself, crying so hard from his loss. The only comfort I have is thinking about how he would take you down for suggesting his little girl was anyone’s but his baby. And if my mom was there? Better start running “Ladies “. Run fast.
I’m not a joiner anyway.
Apologies to taking up anyone’s time but if you insist on insulting my parents and me, I give it back.
Thank for use of your excellent article. I needed this space badly. Truly- I thank you.
Thanks for this Laura. My grandmother was a member of the DAR and when I got big time into genealogy I thought I check it out. I went ahead and proved the lineage and then started getting calls to join my local chapter. But I had the history of the DAR and its earlier racism stuck in my mind, plus a similar idea of what the women would be like. Plus, I do not salute the flag. So, I didn't join them. But I agree that "being patriotic" seems to be a very good way to be!