Washington, DC: U.S. National Archives--
While in the Capital awhile back, I had an hour at day’s end before meeting my son, so I visited the National Archives.
It’s been probably 50 years since I last saw the Declaration of Independence, United States Constitution, and Bill of Rights. These documents aren’t holy writ, but issued in 1776, adopted in 1789, and ratified in 1791 respectively, they remain unique in history and remarkable.
The society these founding documents made possible became, with missteps and serious grievance along the way, the freest, most abundant, grandest-in-opportunity of any nation state on earth.
For all our American faults (and we have several to which we must own up and which we need to change) still, the United States of America remains an incredible land of hope, a melting pot of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, and religion. The ideals codified in these historic documents—freedom of religion, speech, rule of law, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness—make this society possible and viable. The principles and values listed in these three amazing expressions of political philosopy that our forbears created (with the sacrifices of soldiers) what we call a Great Experiment, a pluralistic democratic republic. This we still enjoy today.
The challenge after nearly 250 years is whether we can preserve and pass it on to our grandchildren.
Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2019
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