While Mamdani used the occasion – sitting behind George Washington’s desk – to trash the country that took him in and has given him so much, Vance’s speech focused on all the good that America has done for its citizens and for the world.
We celebrate 250 years of proving what a free people can achieve by the providence of our almighty Creator,” he said. Vance went on to urge the country to unite on America’s 250th birthday and remember exactly why and how it was founded. “We are a people formed by generations of self-governance and personal industry. We are formed by Frontier Assembly Hall and Congregation, by River Valley and Prairie and Factory Floor,” Vance shared.
“We are formed by the conviction that we are bound to one another, not only by bloodline or creed alone, but by a common character, a shared faith, a shared future,” he said.
“We celebrate 250 years of America facing the future without fear
The VP, speaking on the USS Kearsarge in New York Harbor with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, told military members and other attendees to “reject the two-dimensional view” that ignores the historical figures of all walks and ethnicities who contributed to the greatness of the country.
Not as citizens divided against each other, but as a common people working towards a common future.”
“When we won our independence, we were led by General Washington to liberty and greatness, but marching ahead of them were thousands of boys from all over the new nation who gave Washington’s military genius its foundation and its firepower,” he said.
“Everything that we have done, everything that we have done as a country, we have done together
“When we saved the world in World War II from tyranny in the 20th century, of course we needed great military leadership and tactical genius from our generals, but we also needed Rosie the Riveter, Iowa farm girls who built the machinery of war and the sweethearts they sent to a world away to storm the beaches at Normandy,” Vance continued.
“All of us have a part. All of us had our part,” he said. Advertisement
🚨 JD VANCE JUST NOW: "REJECT the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and its greatness."
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 4, 2026
🔥
"Everything that we have done, everything that we have done as a country, we have done together. Not as citizens divided against each other, but as a common… pic.twitter.com/VgMjg8j40w
Vice President JD Vance tells the story of General George Washington reading the Declaration of Independence to his troops before battle in 1776.
— Overton (@overton_news) July 4, 2026
“They needed to know EXACTLY what they were being asked to fight for.”
Vance says those same words still stir our hearts and remind… pic.twitter.com/cy1OUGIFGV
.@VP: "You will hear a couple small but loud voices today speak obsessively not of our national greatness, but of our national imperfections… They will tell you that America is just another country where the weak struggle against the strong, and if they acknowledge that there… pic.twitter.com/ZcyJS65p9R
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) July 4, 2026
“Reject that America is a place for zero-sum thinking, because it’s not. Our history is one of people carving a great civilization out of the wilderness,” he said.
“When we went to the moon, of course our great astronauts flew the rockets and our great men of science and engineering built them, but there were clerks and janitors and welders like my grandfather who each played their distinctive American part,” the Veep went on
“Reject the view of your nation that sees only its sins, but not its grace and greatness.”
