As we mark 250 years of America, it’s worth remembering just how radical the whole idea of self-government really was back in 1776.
Out of the fire and steel of a revolution, a declaration was made that we are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights, and that in the newly independent United States, there will be no kings or lords, no serfs or subjects, but only citizens, each of us free to pursue our own version of happiness and determine our collective fate through an elected representative government.
It had not been done before, and the success of this experiment was never a given. In forming our union, the founders fell terribly short of the Declaration’s promise, leaving slavery intact, allowing states to restrict the franchise to white men who owned property, but in drafting a constitution and a bill of rights, they did have the foresight to provide us with a framework that allows each generation to make our union more perfect.
And over more than two centuries, through petitions and protests, marches and strikes, moral appeals from the pulpit and conversations at the family dinner table, men and women from all walks of life of every color, every faith, and every region took up the cause of democracy and made it their own, until “We the people” came to include not just some of us, but all of us.
Now we can’t get complacent – we still have so much work to do to protect our democracy and build a future that is more equitable for all.