What is America 250: The US Constitution Betrayed the Revolution

It’s said that the first victim of war is the truth. That goes for what we naively call the “revolutionary war” too.

The US Constitution Betrayed the Revolution is the fourth video in our America 250: A Revolutionary Perspective series. In 2026 we are being called to celebrate something that didn’t happen 250 years ago. 

The United States of America did not become a nation until 1789 when the federal constitution was ratified by 9 of the 13 independent nations states allied under the Articles of Confederation. When it became the law presiding over all 13 ex-British colonies, it also dashed the revolutionary aspirations of common people who fought in what is properly called the war for independence. Some of those aspirations were reflected in constitutions enacted in 1776, such as Pennsylvania’s remarkably democratic constitution. But it was overturned, along with other more democratic frames of government, when the Federalists shoehorned their preferred property and commerce constitution through the post-colonial ratifying conventions. Without the opponents of the federal constitution – the Anti-Federalists – we would not even have the Bill of Rights.

You can find more on the Revolutionary Perspective at CELDF’s Truth + Reckoning Substack. Subscribe to CELDF’s Substack here. Be sure to follow us there and check out the rest of CELDF.org, where you can learn about our Education, Consulting, and Community Resistance & Resilience programs. Consider supporting CELDF by making a donation that fits your plans.

See more of CELDF’s America 250: A Revolutionary Perspective content here