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Watershed Moments in History
Celebrating Independence Day, 1776 to Today
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As we approach America's 250th birthday, we need to rededicate ourselves to the task of achieving the vision enshrined in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
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Truths. Equality. Rights. Life. Liberty. The pursuit.
We celebrate July 4th to honor this vision.
Yet a big part of this celebration requires that we reinvigorate the teaching of America's founding principles and history in our schools, from K12 through college. It is critical that our young people learn about the country they call their home and how its revolutionary system of self-government gives them the freedom to create the kind of life they want to live.
While our history shows many struggles to achieve that vision, it also shows significant progress. We need to do much more to end discrimination and ensure everyone is afforded the same opportunities. But the pervasive lack of civic education combined with today’s divisive politics around race and identity threatens to reverse that progress rather than continue it.
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While our Founders risked their lives to forge this vision and create the nation that Americans enjoy today, their successors, too, relied upon the Declaration's founding principles to ensure that our nation "shall not perish from the earth."
Delivering his Gettysburg address in the midst of a ferocious civil war, President Abraham Lincoln promised Americans a "new birth of freedom" by striving to realize our nation's founding principles.
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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt channeled this vision in his last message to the American people. He told the nation that "the only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."
The America our founders struggled to create requires that Americans today faithfully sustain that vision.
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This July 4th, we should be reminded of President Ronald Reagan's admonition to educate our young people about our nation's founding principles:
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It has to be fought for and defended by each generation."
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America's founding principles have brought and will continue to bring our nation through many trying times. Our hopeful and tireless strivings to realize these principles act as the most precious gift we can give to this or any future generation of Americans.
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At the Jack Miller Center, we are driven by these founding principles. We hope that you will support our mission to bring America’s founding principles to more young people across the nation.
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In recognition of Independence Day, we put together a collection of resources, articles, and commentary by JMC fellows on the Declaration of Independence and the ways it has contributed to our nation's political identity. We hope you enjoy it. And happy July 4th!
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The battle for the soul of our nation will be won or lost in our
classrooms ™ — Jack Miller
At the Jack Miller Center, that battle is our sole mission. We are the boots on the ground, working to bring the American political tradition and history back to the classroom. Please consider a tax-deductible gift to JMC. Your donation, large or small, is an investment in the future of our country—for you, for your children, for your grandchildren.
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If you think your friends or contacts would be interested in this article, please forward this email or share on your social media!
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About the Jack Miller Center
The Jack Miller Center is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission to reinvigorate education in America's founding principles and history. We work to advance the teaching and study of America's history, its political and economic institutions, and the central principles, ideas and issues arising from the American and Western traditions—all of which continue to animate our national life.
We support professors and educators through programs, resources, fellowships and more to help them teach our nation's students.
www.jackmillercenter.org
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