{{short description|Advisory committee created by Donald Trump}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Donald Trump series}} [[File:The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf|thumb|PDF of the 1776 Commission Report]] The '''1776 Commission''', also nicknamed the '''1776 Project''',<ref>[https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/21/1776-project-desperate-search-enemies-identity-politics-unamerican/ The 1776 Project Is a Desperate Search for the Right Enemies] from Foreign Policy</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/19/1776-report-attacks-concept-foundation-trump-presidency-identity-politics/ The 1776 Project report attacks a concept at the foundation of the Trump presidency: ‘Identity politics’] from The Washington Post</ref> is an advisory committee established in September 2020 by then-U.S. President Donald Trump to support what he called "patriotic education".<ref name="NYTimes">{{Cite news|last1=Crowley|first1=Michael|last2=Schuessler|first2=Jennifer|date=2021-01-19|title=Trump's 1776 Commission Critiques Liberalism in Report Derided by Historians|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/us/politics/trump-1776-commission-report.html|access-date=2021-01-19|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The commission released ''The 1776 Report'' on January 18, 2021, two days before the end of Trump's term of office.<ref>{{cite web |title=1776 Commission Takes Historic and Scholarly Step to Restore Understanding of the Greatness of the American Founding |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/1776-commission-takes-historic-scholarly-step-restore-understanding-greatness-american-founding/ |access-date=18 January 2021 |archive-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120172940/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/1776-commission-takes-historic-scholarly-step-restore-understanding-greatness-american-founding/ |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |url-status=live }}</ref> Historians overwhelmingly criticized the report, saying it was "filled with errors and partisan politics".<ref name=NYTimes/><ref name="WashingtonPost">{{Cite news|last=Brockell|first=Gillian|date=January 19, 2021|title='A hack job,' 'outright lies': Trump commission's '1776 Report' outrages historians|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/01/19/1776-report-historians-trump/|access-date=March 21, 2021}}</ref> The commission was terminated by the successive President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021, his first day in office.<ref name=Shear>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/20/us/politics/biden-executive-action.html |title=On Day 1, Biden Moves to Undo Trump's Legacy |website=New York Times |date=January 20, 2021 |access-date=January 20, 2021 |first=Michael D. |last=Shear |author-link=Michael D. Shear}}</ref><ref>[https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-advancing-racial-equity-and-support-for-underserved-communities-through-the-federal-government/ Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-01-21|title=Biden revokes Trump report promoting 'patriotic education'|url=https://apnews.com/article/biden-revoke-trump-patriotic-education-259b9302ab24bac55fa14676a1a9d11e|access-date=2021-01-22|website=AP NEWS}}</ref> It was re-established by Trump in January 2025.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/29/trump-k12-indoctrination-school-choice-campus-protests-education-00201235 |title=Trump to issue orders on K-12 'indoctrination,' school choice and campus protests|work=Politico |date=January 29, 2025 }}</ref>
== History ==
The 1776 Commission was conceived partly as a response to ''The New York Times''{{'}} 1619 Project,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Remarks by President Trump at the White House Conference on American History|url=https://americanmind.org/features/reclaiming-american-history/remarks-by-president-trump-at-the-white-house-conference-on-american-history/|access-date=2021-01-19|website=The American Mind|language=en}}</ref> which deals with systemic racism and explores American history through an African-American framework.<ref name="NPR">{{Cite news|last=Wise|first=Alana|date=September 17, 2020|title=Trump Announces 'Patriotic Education' Commission, A Largely Political Move|publisher=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/914127266/trump-announces-patriotic-education-commission-a-largely-political-move|url-status=live|access-date=September 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117231424/https://www.npr.org/2020/09/17/914127266/trump-announces-patriotic-education-commission-a-largely-political-move|archive-date=November 17, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=September 17, 2020|title=Trump announces 1776 Commission to honor America's founding|newspaper=The Washington Post|type=video|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/trump-announces-1776-commission-to-honor-americas-founding/2020/09/17/d22341c7-4425-49e7-af6e-6ef3ab9a1689_video.html}}</ref> The first publication from the 1619 Project was in ''The New York Times Magazine'' in August 2019.<ref name="why">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/20/magazine/1619-intro.html |title=Why We Published The 1619 Project |last=Silverstein |first=Jake |author-link=Jake Silverstein |date=December 20, 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 31, 2020 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200131014950/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/20/magazine/1619-intro.html |archive-date=January 31, 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Trump first spoke of giving students a "patriotic education" on September 2, 2020.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 2, 2020|title=Trump pushes for 'patriotic education' in schools|publisher=WCMH-TV|agency=Nexstar Media Group|url=https://www.nbc4i.com/news/u-s-world/trump-pushes-for-patriotic-education-in-schools/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101223624/https://www.nbc4i.com/news/u-s-world/trump-pushes-for-patriotic-education-in-schools/|archive-date=November 1, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Krietz|first=Andrew|date=September 1, 2020|title=President Trump calls for 'patriotic education' in US schools|publisher=KFMB-TV|url=https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/president-trump-calls-for-patriotic-education-in-us-schools/67-fa91b004-8c6c-49ed-84e2-549c39753684|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200903084004/https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/politics/national-politics/president-trump-calls-for-patriotic-education-in-us-schools/67-fa91b004-8c6c-49ed-84e2-549c39753684|archive-date=September 3, 2020}}</ref> He announced plans for the commission in a speech on September 17, 2020, in which he contended that a "twisted web of lies" regarding systemic racism was being taught in U.S. schools, calling it "a form of child abuse".<ref name=NPR/> He reiterated his intention to establish the commission in a proclamation on October 6, 2020.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Trump|first1=Donald J.|author-link=Donald Trump|date=October 6, 2020|title=Proclamation on the Birthday of Founding Father Caesar Rodney|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-birthday-founding-father-caesar-rodney/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120202159/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-birthday-founding-father-caesar-rodney/|archive-date=January 20, 2021|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|access-date=7 October 2020}}</ref>
Various federal laws prohibit the federal government from directly regulating school curricula, which are determined by school districts under rules established by state governments. However, the federal government influences state and local decisions through funding.<ref>{{cite web|date=February 9, 2012|title=Is the US Department of Education Violating Federal Law by Directing Standards, Tests, and Curricula?|url=https://pioneerinstitute.org/education/is-the-us-department-of-education-violating-federal-law-by-directing-standards-tests-and-curricula/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201002180715/https://pioneerinstitute.org/education/is-the-us-department-of-education-violating-federal-law-by-directing-standards-tests-and-curricula/|archive-date=October 2, 2020|publisher=Pioneer Institute}}</ref>
== Establishment ==
thumb|right|Trump's speech on September 17, 2020 thumb|right|'White House Conference on American History' – video from September 17, 2020 On November 2, the day before the 2020 U.S. elections, Trump established the commission by executive order.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kurtz|first=Stanley|author-link=Stanley Kurtz|date=November 2, 2020|title=Trump Establishes 1776 Commission|work=National Review|url=https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trump-establishes-1776-commission/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127124542/https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/trump-establishes-1776-commission/|archive-date=November 27, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Executive Order">{{Cite web|last=Trump|first=Donald J.|author-link=Donald Trump|date=November 2, 2020|title=Executive Order on Establishing the President's Advisory 1776 Commission|url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-establishing-presidents-advisory-1776-commission/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120191421/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-establishing-presidents-advisory-1776-commission/|via=National Archives|work=whitehouse.gov|archive-date=January 20, 2021}}</ref> It would consist of 18 members, appointed by the president to two-year terms, who would write a report on "core principles of the American founding and how these principles may be understood to further enjoyment of 'the blessings of liberty'".<ref name="Gaudiano1">{{cite news |last1=Gaudiano |first1=Nicole |date=November 11, 2020 |title=Trump creates 1776 Commission to promote 'patriotic education' |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/02/trump-1776-commission-education-433885 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124201443/https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/02/trump-1776-commission-education-433885 |archive-date=November 24, 2020 |access-date=November 11, 2020 |work=Politico}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes" />
Trump appointed the commission's members on December 18, 2020,<ref name="Appoint">{{cite web | title=President Donald J. Trump Announces Intent to Appoint Individuals to Key Administration Posts | url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-appoint-individuals-key-administration-posts-121820/ | date=December 18, 2020 | access-date=December 20, 2020 | archive-date=January 20, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120202010/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/presidential-actions/president-donald-j-trump-announces-intent-appoint-individuals-key-administration-posts-121820/ | via=National Archives | work=whitehouse.gov | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Brokaw | first1=Sommer | title=Trump appoints members to 'patriotic education' group | url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2020/12/19/Trump-appoints-members-to-patriotic-education-group/5131608394387/ | date=December 19, 2020 | work=United Press International | access-date=December 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Axelrod | first1=Tal | title=Trump appoints new members to 'patriotic education' commission | url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/530942-trump-appoints-new-members-to-patriotic-education-commission | date=December 19, 2020 | work=The Hill | access-date=December 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last1=Gaudiano | first1=Nicole | title=Trump appoints 1776 Commission members in last-minute bid to advance 'patriotic education' | url=https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/18/trump-1776-commission-appointments-448229 | date=December 18, 2020 | work=Politico | access-date=December 20, 2020}}</ref> and the commission held its first meeting on January 5, 2021.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Crilly | first1=Rob | title=Trump's 1776 Commission hears plea to make Judeo-Christian principles central to American story | url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/donald-trump-1776-commission-history-religion-judeo-christian | date=January 5, 2021 | work=Washington Examiner | access-date=January 10, 2021}}</ref>
=== Goals ===
The commission's goal was to end what it calls the "radicalized view of American history" which has "vilified [the United States'] Founders and [its] founding".<ref name="Executive Order"/> In response to the work of figures such as Howard Zinn and efforts such as the 1619 Project, the 1776 Commission sought to increase "patriotic education" via a centralized federal approach to an American nationalist curriculum.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Howell|first=Tom Jr.|date=November 2, 2020|title=Trump pushes 'patriotic education' with 1776 Commission|work=The Washington Times|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/nov/2/trump-pushes-patriotic-education-1776-commission/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120015107/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/nov/2/trump-pushes-patriotic-education-1776-commission/|archive-date=November 20, 2020}}</ref> This effort is linked to Trump's wider attacks on critical race theory.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Van Dyke|first=Tyler|date=November 2, 2020|title=Trump signs executive order establishing 1776 Commission|work=Washington Examiner|url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-signs-executive-order-establishing-1776-commission|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201116084353/https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-signs-executive-order-establishing-1776-commission|archive-date=November 16, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=How Trump ignited the fight over critical race theory in schools|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/how-trump-ignited-fight-over-critical-race-theory-schools-n1266701|access-date=2021-12-07|website=NBC News|date=May 10, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
The commission was also intended to promote these concepts at national parks, landmarks, and monuments among other federal properties, and federal agencies were instructed to provide grants and initiatives in a way that prioritized those supporting "the American Founding".<ref name="Gaudiano1" />
=== Members ===
The 18-member commission was composed of conservative activists, politicians, and intellectuals, and included no professional experts in American history.<ref name=NYTimes/> Trump appointed the Commission's members on December 18, 2020.<ref name="Appoint"/> The chair was Larry Arnn, the president of conservative Hillsdale College, and the co-chair was Carol Swain, a Black conservative and a former professor at Vanderbilt Law School.<ref name=NYTimes/> Other appointees included his former domestic policy advisor Brooke Rollins; Charles R. Kesler, a Claremont Graduate University professor and editor of the conservative journal ''Claremont Review of Books''; Ned Ryun, a Bush speechwriter; Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA; Phil Bryant, Republican former governor of Mississippi;<ref name=NYTimes/><ref name="CrowleyBlasts">{{cite web|last=Crowley|first1=Michael | title=Trump's '1776 report' defends America's founding on the basis of slavery and blasts progressivism. | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/18/us/trump-1776-commission-report.html | date=January 18, 2021 | work=The New York Times | access-date=January 18, 2021 |author-link=Michael Crowley (journalist)}}</ref> classical historian Victor Davis Hanson; John Gibbs, a former Trump appointee; Scott McNealy, founder of online curriculum company Curikki; Peter Kirsanow, a black Civil Rights Commission member; Thomas Lindsay, a political science professor; Michael Farris, a lawyer and political science professor; Jerry C. Davis, controversial longtime president of College of the Ozarks,<ref name="Crime">{{cite conference|last=Trollinger|first=William V.|title=Crime Against History: Slavery, Race, and the ''1776 Report''|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ace.20562|conference=New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education|date=June 2025}}</ref> and former Congressman Bob McEwen.<ref name="Appoint"/> Trump also selected then-Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson to serve on the committee.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gaudiano|first=Nicole|title=A group tied to Ben Carson and Newt Gingrich is ramping up pressure on Republicans to sign a Trump-inspired 1776 pledge|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/1776-pledge-republicans-sign-ben-carson-newt-gingrich-patriotic-education-2022-1|access-date=2022-01-21|website=Business Insider|language=en-US}}</ref>
== ''The 1776 Report'' ==
=== Contents ===
{{src|The 1776 Report}} The commission released the 41-page "The 1776 Report" on January 18, 2021, two days before the end of Trump's term and the inauguration of Joe Biden.<ref name=CrowleyBlasts/> The report does not include citations or footnotes, and does not identify its main authors.<ref name=NYTimes/> About half the pages in the report were appendices.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Opinion {{!}} The fear at the heart of Trump's doomed "1776 Report"|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-1776-commission-tried-rewrite-u-s-history-biden-ncna1255086|access-date=2022-01-29|website=NBC News|date=January 21, 2021 |language=en}}</ref>
Among other things, the document identifies "progressivism" and "racism and identity politics" as "challenges to America's principles", and likens them to "communism", "slavery", and "fascism". It refers to the pro-slavery U.S. politician and former U.S. vice president John C. Calhoun as "the leading forerunner of identity politics" and criticizes some aspects of the civil rights movement.<ref name=WashingtonPost/><ref name="Brewster"/><ref name="Vazquez">{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/politics/1776-commission-report-donald-trump/index.html |title=Trump administration issues racist school curriculum report on MLK day |website=CNN |date=January 18, 2021 |access-date=January 18, 2021 |first=Maegan |last=Vazquez}}</ref> The document also describes American universities as "often today ... hotbeds of anti-Americanism, libel, and censorship", and criticizes feminist movements.<ref name="Vazquez"/> It concludes with recommendations to promote positive stories and images of the country's founders at home, in schools, and in the arts, among other things.<ref name="Brewster">{{cite web |last1=Brewster |first1=Jack |title=Trump's 1776 Commission—Created To Challenge Controversial 1619 Project— Releases Report On MLK Day |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2021/01/18/trumps-1776-commission-created-to-challenge-controversial-1619-project--releases-report-on-mlk-day/?sh=3e0b600d56fc |website=Forbes |date=January 18, 2021 |access-date=January 18, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 1776 Report |url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf |access-date=January 18, 2021 |archive-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120173527/https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf |via=National Archives |work=whitehouse.gov |url-status=live }}</ref>
=== Reception ===
Historians condemned the report, saying it was "filled with errors and partisan politics",<ref name="NYTimes" /><ref name="WashingtonPost" /> factual inaccuracies, a lack of scholarship, and use of prior work without attribution.<ref name="Nguyen">{{Cite web|last=Nguyen|first=Tina|date=January 19, 2021|title=A big chunk of Trump's 1776 report appears lifted from an author's prior work|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/19/trump-1776-report-plagiarism-460464|access-date=2021-01-19|website=Politico|language=en}}</ref> The American Historical Association (AHA), in a statement cosigned by 47 other historical societies, stated that the report was completed "without any consultation with professional historians of the United States".<ref>{{Cite web|date=20 January 2021|title=AHA Condemns Report of Advisory 1776 Commission|url=https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/aha-advocacy/aha-statement-condemning-report-of-advisory-1776-commission-(january-2021)|access-date=21 January 2021|website=American Historical Association}}</ref> On January 19, 2021, the Association of University Presses released a statement: "While we leave it to historians to offer a detailed rebuttal of the document's inaccuracies – if any should choose to do so – we note that it is plagued by procedural deficiencies that would render it unpublishable as a serious work of scholarship."<ref>{{cite web |title=AUPresses Responds to the 1776 Report |url=https://aupresses.org/news/aupresses-responds-to-the-1776-report/ |website=Association of University Presses |access-date=31 January 2021 |date=19 January 2021}}</ref>
James Grossman, the executive director of the AHA, criticized Trump's push for so-called "patriotic education", writing that genuinely patriotic history is a rigorous effort to study the past honestly and acknowledge complexity, rather than "cheerleading", "nationalist propaganda", or "simplistic and inaccurate narrative of unique virtue and perpetual progress".<ref>{{cite web | last1=Grossman | first1=James | title=Trump is afraid of honest history | url=https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-trump-is-afraid-of-honest-history-20201001-ovgmyail2rdwpl6nfvu7myiz34-story.html | date=October 1, 2020 | work=NY Daily News | access-date=January 18, 2021 }}</ref> Grossman described the 1776 Commission's report as "a hack job" that was "not a work of history" but of "cynical politics".<ref name="WashingtonPost" /> Grossman said, "This report skillfully weaves together myths, distortions, deliberate silences, and both blatant and subtle misreading of evidence to create a narrative and an argument that few respectable professional historians, even across a wide interpretive spectrum, would consider plausible, never mind convincing."<ref name="NYTimes" />
Historian Timothy Messer-Kruse likened the content of the report to "every moldy trope of 1950s fifth-grade civics books" and wrote that it misrepresented the beliefs of founding father John Jay as expressed in Federalist No. 2.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://jacobinmag.com/2021/01/1776-commission-report-racism|title=The Sheer Absurdity of Trump's "1776 Commission" Report Is Hard to Overstate|website=Jacobin|last1=Messer-Kruse|first1=Timothy|author-link=Timothy Messer-Kruse|date=January 19, 2021|access-date=January 20, 2021}}</ref> Historian Eric Rauchway criticized the report for misreading John Winthrop's "City upon a Hill" speech and for the report's claims regarding the civil rights movement. Historian Alexis Coe, a biographer of George Washington, said the report was riddled with "errors, distortions, and outright lies" and mischaracterized Washington's involvement with slavery. Kevin M. Kruse and other historians criticized the report for suggesting that Martin Luther King Jr. would have opposed affirmative action, noting that King in fact endorsed affirmative action during his life.<ref name="WashingtonPost" /><ref>{{Cite web|last=Kruse|first=Kevin M.|author-link=Kevin M. Kruse|date=January 20, 2021|title=Trump's response to reframing Black Americans' place in history is a racist mess|url=https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/trump-administration-s-thinly-veiled-rebuke-1619-project-sloppy-racist-n1254807|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-21|website=MSNBC|language=en|quote=Despite King's vocal advocacy for affirmative action, the 1776 report bizarrely holds him up as the antithesis of those programs and "identity politics" writ large.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120115639/https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/trump-administration-s-thinly-veiled-rebuke-1619-project-sloppy-racist-n1254807 |archive-date=January 20, 2021 }}</ref> Even historians who were critical of the 1619 Project, such as Sean Wilentz of Princeton University, criticized the report of the 1776 Commission. Wilentz described the report as "the flip side of those polemics" and "basically a political document" that "reduces history to hero worship".<ref name="WashingtonPost" /> Historians also noted that portions of the report had been copied without attribution from earlier writings by its authors, including a 2008 op-ed by Thomas Lindsay published in ''Inside Higher Ed'' and a 2002 Heritage Foundation essay and Intercollegiate Studies Institute essay by Matthew Spalding, the commission's executive director.<ref name="Nguyen" />
Commentator Eugene Scott criticized the commission's report for suggesting "that identity politics is something unique to those outside of the Trump administration"; Scott writes that Trump's rhetoric and Trumpism "has been rooted in identity politics": specifically, a prioritization of demographic groups that are "largely White, Christian and appealing to traditional gender norms".<ref>{{cite news|first1=Eugene|last1=Scott|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/19/1776-report-attacks-concept-foundation-trump-presidency-identity-politics/|title=The 1776 Project report attacks a concept at the foundation of the Trump presidency: 'Identity politics'|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 19, 2021|author-link=Eugene Scott (journalist)}}</ref> Writing for ''Slate'', Rebecca Onion described the report as "a screed forwarded by a Fox-poisoned aunt, one that might best be politely ignored" and noted historian Diana Butler Bass's fear that the report was "'a huge gift' to white evangelical Trump supporters, who have long taught this vision of history to children who are enrolled in Christian schools or home-schooled."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Onion |first1=Rebecca |title=Trump's "1776 Report" Would Be Funny If It Weren't So Dangerous |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/01/1776-report-trump-american-history.html |website=Slate|date=January 19, 2021}}</ref> Jeff Sharlet of ''Vanity Fair'' compared the report's section on identity politics to Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik's justification for the 2011 Norway attacks in his manifesto ''2083: A European Declaration of Independence''.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Sharlet |first=Jeff |date=January 19, 2021 |magazine=Vanity Fair |title=The "1776 Report" Is Trump's Last Gasp of State-Sponsored Hate |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01/the-1776-report-is-trumps-last-gasp-of-state-sponsored-hate}}</ref>
Commission members Victor Davis Hanson and Mike Gonzalez defended the report. Hanson argued that the report did not "whitewash the continuance of many injustices" in U.S. history and defended the report's declaration that "progressivism" was at odds with American values,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|author=Victor Davis Hanson|title=Thoughts on the 1776 Commission and its report|work=Tribune Content Agency|date=January 20, 2021|url=https://tribunecontentagency.com/article/victor-davis-hanson-thoughts-on-the-1776-commission-and-its-report/|agency=Tribune Content Agency|access-date=January 21, 2021|archive-date=January 21, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121161210/https://tribunecontentagency.com/article/victor-davis-hanson-thoughts-on-the-1776-commission-and-its-report/|url-status=dead}}</ref> while Gonzalez, a senior fellow of the Heritage Foundation, criticized media coverage of the report and argued that Biden's disbanding of the commission was an outcome of "the woke left" waging a "war on U.S. history".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Gonzalez|first=Mike|title=Biden's Disbanding of 1776 Commission Shows Left's War on U.S. History|url=https://www.heritage.org/american-founders/commentary/bidens-disbanding-1776-commission-shows-lefts-war-us-history|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121010408/https://www.heritage.org/american-founders/commentary/bidens-disbanding-1776-commission-shows-lefts-war-us-history|url-status=unfit|archive-date=January 21, 2021|date=January 20, 2021|publisher=The Heritage Foundation}}</ref>
== Termination and reinstatement ==
On January 20, 2021, hours after he was inaugurated as Trump's successor, President Joe Biden issued an executive order dissolving the 1776 Commission.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/20/politics/biden-rescind-1776-commission-executive-order/index.html|publisher=CNN|title=Biden rescinds 1776 commission via executive order|author=Kelly, Caroline|date=January 20, 2021|access-date=January 20, 2021|archive-date=January 20, 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210120121853/https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/20/politics/biden-rescind-1776-commission-executive-order/index.html}}</ref> The report was removed from the White House website,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Binkley|first=Collin|date=2021-01-21|title=Biden revokes Trump report promoting 'patriotic education'|url=https://apnews.com/article/biden-revoke-trump-patriotic-education-259b9302ab24bac55fa14676a1a9d11e|access-date=2021-01-21|website=Associated Press}}</ref> although the National Archives and Records Administration archived the report, along with the entire Trump White House website.<ref>{{cite web | title=1776 Commission Takes Historic and Scholarly Step to Restore Understanding of the Greatness of the American Founding | url=https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/1776-commission-takes-historic-scholarly-step-restore-understanding-greatness-american-founding/ | date=January 18, 2021 | via=National Archives | work=whitehouse.gov | access-date=January 23, 2021}}</ref> In May 2021, Matthew Spalding, the commission's executive director, announced the commission would resume its activities in a non-governmental capacity.<ref>{{cite web | last1=Drucker | first1=David M. | title=Trump 1776 Commission to meet despite being abolished by Biden | url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/trump-1776-commission-meet-despite-abolished-biden | date=May 21, 2021 | work=Washington Examiner | access-date=May 22, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Meeting of The 1776 Commission|url=https://www.hillsdale.edu/news-and-media/press-releases/meeting-of-the-1776-commission/|access-date=2021-06-22|website=Hillsdale College|language=en-US}}</ref> In November 2021, Jake Silverstein noted in an article for ''The New York Times'' that state level anti-critical race theory laws that had passed following the 1776 Commission's end contained language and intent similar to the 1776 Commission's final report.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Silverstein|first=Jake|date=2021-11-09|title=The 1619 Project and the Long Battle Over U.S. History|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/09/magazine/1619-project-us-history.html|access-date=2021-12-07|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
1776 Action, a 501(c)(4) group headed by Republican operatives that was formed after the dissolution of the 1776 Commission, takes its name from the Commission. The group, led by former aides to Ben Carson and Newt Gingrich, promotes what it calls "patriotic education" and says that it aims to combat "anti-American indoctrination"; it proposes a Trump-inspired "1776 pledge" for officials and candidates. The group has promoted an anti-"critical race theory" bill that passed in New Hampshire, and endorsed candidates in the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election and in school-board races in Iowa.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gaudiano|first=Nicole|title=A group tied to Ben Carson and Newt Gingrich is ramping up pressure on Republicans to sign a Trump-inspired 1776 pledge|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/1776-pledge-republicans-sign-ben-carson-newt-gingrich-patriotic-education-2022-1|access-date=2022-01-22|website=Business Insider|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=LeBlanc|first=Sarah Kay|title=Johnston students, parents protest 'patriotic' pledge signed by district's newest school board members|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/education/2021/11/23/johnston-iowa-students-protest-1776-pledge-board-meeting-march-merle-hay-road-education/8730684002/|access-date=2022-01-22|website=Des Moines Register|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Coltrain|first=Nick|title=What is the '1776 Pledge' that riled up Iowa's Johnston School District?|url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2021/11/24/what-1776-pledge-iowa-johnston-school-board-conservative-group-trump/8748367002/|access-date=2022-01-22|website=Des Moines Register|language=en-US}}</ref> The 2024 Republican Party Platform promised to resurrect the 1776 Commission.<ref>{{cite web |title=2024 Republican Party Platform |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform |website=The American Presidency Project |publisher=University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) |access-date=2024-09-16 |quote=Republicans will reinstate the 1776 Commission... |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240711013339/https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform |archive-date=2024-07-11 |language=en |date=2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> On January 29, 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14190, which reinstated the 1776 Commission.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-01-29 |title=Trump issues orders on K-12 'indoctrination,' school choice and campus protests |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/29/trump-k12-indoctrination-school-choice-campus-protests-education-00201235 |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref>
== See also ==
* 1776 Unites * Censorship of school curricula in the United States * Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities <!-- comparable UK version; link made by David Olusoga https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/02/historian-and-hundreds-of-academics-attack-no-10s-race-report --> * Commission on Unalienable Rights * Founding Fathers of the United States * Historical negationism * National Garden of American Heroes
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite web |last1=Tait |first1=Joshua |title=The Origins of Trump's Slapdash, Last-Second '1776 Report' |url=https://thebulwark.com/the-origins-of-trumps-slapdash-last-second-1776-report/ |website=The Bulwark |access-date=22 January 2021 |date=22 January 2021}} *{{cite journal |last1=Ostler |first1=Jeffrey |last2=Jacoby |first2=Karl |title=After 1776: Native Nations, Settler Colonialism, and the Meaning of America |journal=Journal of Genocide Research |date=2021 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=321–336 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2021.1968143|s2cid=239698995 }}
== External links ==
* [https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/The-Presidents-Advisory-1776-Commission-Final-Report.pdf The 1776 Report] in the National Archives
{{First presidency of Donald Trump}}
Category:2020 establishments in the United States Category:2021 disestablishments in the United States Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Ben Carson 1776 Commission Category:First presidency of Donald Trump Category:First Trump administration controversies Category:United States national commissions Category:American organizations established in 2025 Category:Historical negationism in the United States