Transcript
A threads post saying "There has never been another nation ever that has existed much beyond 250 years. Not a single one. America's 250th year is 2025. The next 4 years are gonna be pretty interesting considering everything that's already been said." It has a reply saying "My local pub is older than your country".
Even ignoring how obviously wrong this is about how old other countries are, America turns 250 in 2026 not 2025 lol
They're not being precise with their language, but their point is largely true. What they really mean is that the US has the oldest still active Constitution in the world. The UK has existed in a continuous government for far longer, but they don't have a written Constitution like the US does.
Yeah, it's easy to shit on Americans about being ignorant of history. But this person's point is largely true. The US has had the same constitution in effect for nearly 250 years. It is the oldest written constitution on Earth still in effect. Most nations have revolutions or complete rewrites of their foundational legal documents long before they reach this point.
And this is also why the US has such political instability right now. We have a Constitution that was written for the needs of 250 years ago. It was formed from a series of compromises that made sense in the politics of 250 years ago. At this point, we really should scrap it entirely and start from scratch. Having the world's oldest Constitution really isn't something worth bragging over; it just means you're running obsolete software.
Does a constitution define what a nation is?
In the case of the US, yes. The US started out as 13 independent countries. It was only the Articles of Confederation and later the Constitution that defined the US as a country. Disband the US constitution tomorrow, and the US becomes 50 independent countries.
Even then, not really.
We celebrate July 4, 1776, the creation of our national identity independent from England, not June 21, 1788, when our constitution took effect.
But July 4th is called "Independence Day", because it's the day we got our independence from England. The articles of confederation weren't signed until November 15, 1777, July 4th, 1776 was just the declaration of Independence
The US didn't get widely accepted as a country until a good few years later (within 5-10 years though depending on who you ask)
Yes, that's already what I'm saying. The United States celebrates its Independence Day, not any day that has anything to do with the creation of the Constitution that forms our basis of government.