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Hey, throughline listeners, it's Rund here.

And Ramtin.

So, as many of you know, this year marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

On July 4th, 1776, the Declaration boldly announced to the world that 13 British colonies

were shedding the weight of empire and separating from Great Britain under the banner of life, liberty,

and the pursuit of happiness. A new nation called the United States of America was born,

and it would be guided by a radical idea that ordinary people could and should govern themselves,

that the noisy chaos of democracy was worth it and possible.

Like all milestone anniversaries, this year is a chance for us to stop and ask ourselves,

what is the American story? What have we achieved in the past 250 years? Where have we stumbled?

And where are we headed next? These are big questions, especially

right now when the country is arguably more divided than ever on what the future should look like,

or even what counts as American history. Yeah, there's no sugar-coding this. As we approach

to 250th anniversary, there's going to be a lot of celebrations,

and also a fair amount of people who just don't think there's much to celebrate.

Where does this leave through line?

Well, we knew as NPR's history show, we wanted to do something to mark this year.

So we're launching a new weekly minseries that's part of NPR's

America in Pursuit Project. Every Tuesday from now until July 4th, we'll feature a different

moment from our archives that all together will take you on a journey through the last two centuries

...