Our Semiquincentennial
As we approach the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, pictured above in the iconic painting by John Trumbull, we selected a quotation for this week’s acrostic from … the Declaration of Independence. We beg the indulgence of our solvers for not including an author’s name in the puzzle. For one thing, the Declaration, though drafted initially by Thomas Jefferson, had many authors in the end. For another thing, an author’s name would not have fit, given the NYT format for acrostics!
The upcoming semiquincentennial (that’s a mouthful) has, sadly, become rather politicized, at least from our vantage point in Washington, DC. We nevertheless hope that all of us can find ways to celebrate the occasion free from polemics. At a recent family gathering, Jane’s sister posed a simple question to the assembled: What do you appreciate about our nation? A range of responses included baseball, Broadway, living among people from virtually everywhere on the planet, and the National Parks.
How would you answer that question?
As for the acrostic, we expect that you have uncovered a number of references to the Declaration of Independence, including several of the words drawn from one of its most famous passages, which begins “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” And we squeezed in a few other terms harkening back to the Revolutionary War.
For those who haven’t seen it, we commend The American Revolution, a recent film by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, and David Schmidt. Here’s the trailer: