The founding of America was an extraordinary event – a new model of governance for the world and showcasing the personal qualities required to establish such a model.
There are a lot of factors that came together to create the foundation for the American experiment in democracy – our foundation.
Our founding depended on the ability to establish enough solidarity or unity to support the revolution over a number of years. There were a number of factors that had to be overcome – different economies, religions, political interests, social classes, loyalties, cultures, regional identities, large vs. small states, urban vs. rural, etc.
The required (and surprising) common ground came from a number of places, for example:
The founding of America was also a model of the personal and collective qualities required to break free of the dominant model of autocratic hereditary rule and found something completely new.
It was a model for the world of the qualities required to literally put a life on the line and endure tremendous hardships, to establish a way of living that had no comforting history or future certainty on which to rely.
The number of qualities was exceptional, for example:
Our founding was a model of citizens taking responsibility for themselves and their community – the freedom and responsibility of a citizen in a democracy.
America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, imagination, and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
Our beginning was extraordinary, and as you would expect with an experiment in a completely new way of governing there were serious flaws. Unfortunately, racism and slavery were built into our founding documents, structures, and cultural norms and women and Native Americans were not included as full citizens. It was part of our founding DNA.
We are obviously still struggling to deal with those flaws – still struggling to realize the American dream for all Americans. It took constitutional amendments to include women and begin to include people of color. And a decade after our founding we had to redesign the government to get the balances of power right, a balancing act that continues today.
The second foundation block of American Greatness – the continual “no quit” pursuit of a perfect union – has been a long tough journey, but it has continued for almost 250 years.
