Born on the Fourth of July. 250 Years from the United States Declaration of Independence

On July 4, 1776, the adoption of the Declaration of Independence marked the birth of a nation that would profoundly transform the history of the modern world. Two hundred and fifty years after that founding event, the History Library presents a bibliographic exhibition that traces, through a selection of volumes from its own collections, the major turning points of the history of the United States of America: from the Revolutionary origins and the building of republican institutions, to the conquest of the West and the tragedy of slavery; from the Civil War to the struggles for civil rights of African Americans and indigenous peoples; from the economic crises of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the New Deal; from the World Wars to the Cold War, from the Vietnam War to 9/11; through to the political and cultural transformations of contemporary America.

The exhibition aims to offer tools for critical reflection on a complex and contradictory history that continues to challenge the principles of liberty, equality and democracy proclaimed in 1776 — principles that are more relevant than ever as the United States faces new and profound challenges to its national identity and its role in the world.

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