As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, these two linked discussions explore the current state of the American experiment in relation to its history. Across these two panels, Anne Applebaum, Jim Naughtie and Sarah Churchwell will ask two intersecting questions: In the first half, what next for American democracy, and the second half, who gets to be American? The discussion will range from the Revolution and the Constitution through the Civil War, Reconstruction, civil rights, and the present crisis of democratic legitimacy and national belonging. Together, they will consider how arguments set in motion in 1776 still shape contemporary struggles over power, citizenship, race, representation, and political myth. At a moment when old arguments have returned with new force, these discussions connect today’s politics to the history that shaped them.