Nick Perencevich is a retired physician and lives in Concord.

An underground movement led by the likes of brewer Sam Adams and physician Joseph Warren burst armed out of the woods onto the Lexington, MA, town green on April 19, 1775 to confront King George’s army and fight for American Independence.

Soon after they chose their military leader, George Washington. The war was on but it didn’t go well and reach clarity until 14 months later in Philadelphia when 56 white, relatively wealthy men from 13 colonies signed a remarkable document on July 4, 1776. The Declaration demanded separation from the King and stated that all “men” were created equal and had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Those wealthy white men who didn’t agree eventually headed to Canada or back home to England. I don’t think the likes of Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or even Bill Gates would have stuck around and signed on. Those first minutemen from Lexington and Concord (the other Concord) became known as the patriots, a name given to those then who opposed the King.

200 years later on April 19, 1975, now called Patriots Day in Massachusetts, Boston and the country were in a happy and thankful mood. The war in Vietnam had ended and, months before, a constitutional crisis had been avoided with the resignation of President Nixon. Despite winning 49 states in his re-election and having a majority of his party in the House and Senate, his criminal actions in Watergate led to Congress’s planned impeachment and his removal from office. The Supreme Court also weighed in against his executive privilege. He resigned before he would have been removed.

President Ford, his successor, pardoned Nixon and urged the country to forgive, move on and heal. In that spirit, he came to Boston, prayed in the Old North Church, where two lanterns had been lit to warn Paul Revere before his midnight ride, and was there at 5 a.m. the next morning on Lexington Green to watch the battle re-enactment. It was the official start of the American Bicentennial.

Fast forward to the Semiquincentennial — or 250th anniversary celebration — of the battle at Lexington and Concord this April 19. Maybe 250 is not as sexy at 200 or 300. Maybe unlike Ford, Trump and our current national government don’t want to spend the time and money. Certainly, the country is not in a happy and thankful mood, and Ford’s urging us to forgive didn’t work. Patriots are, according to the GOP, those who bow down to the “man who would be King.”

It’s unlikely this Congress will sprout a spine like the Nixon Congress did and hold “the King” accountable. Trump was able to forgo the end result of two impeachments. The Supreme Court’s immunity privilege over criminal prosecution ruling last year is not a good sign, but Justices Roberts and Coney-Barrett might still set things right.

So, there is not much to celebrate this April 19 or July 4. However, the antidote to the 900-page Project 2025 is still that one-page Declaration written 249 years ago.

Sure, we are not all men. But our founding principle document says we’re all equal, which means we keep on trying to make a more perfect union. It’s that principle that was so unique back in 1776 and that I hope still is our north star. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — what is that all about today?

Life today means to me preserving life as best we can with health care, universal health care. Liberty means freedom, not just for oneself but freedom for all, especially to be able to vote without fear. The pursuit of happiness for me means allowing humans to flourish through education, universal public education. Where is that in the 900 pages?

The Constitution was designed to evolve, after all, we have 27 amendments. Amendments 13-15 tried to clean up our original sin of slavery, and Amendment 19 dealt with discrimination against women voting. It seems Project 2025 would like to throw those out. Unlike the Constitution, the Declaration doesn’t evolve. It establishes the principles that we, as a nation, live by.

Sam Adams would today suggest we keep our powder dry and form a new underground to oppose our now domestic King. He would be proud of his home, Massachusetts, because it still celebrates Patriots Day as an official holiday, makes the Red Sox play in the late morning so that everyone can see the end of the Boston Marathon and, of course, still holds the early morning re-enactment in Lexington and Concord.

He would also be proud that it was only Massachusetts that didn’t vote for Nixon in 1972. He would want us to still call ourselves patriots, the Minuteman, the kick-the-King-out type. And he would, of course, enjoy his beer.