Commemoration

On July 4th, Americans have a tradition of commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Commemorate means “brought to remembrance” and implies respectfully doing something to celebrate this memory. I have adopted a tradition from my uncle of reading the document each year. I find consulting primary sources an invaluable exercise. While doing so may not be as showy as a fireworks display, it successfully avoids the hazards of polluting the air, risking wildfire, terrorizing animals and children, and creating toxic trash.

The Declaration is a powerful and enduring document. Its assertion that “all men are created equal” is a principle but not a practice in the American experiment of democracy. About a decade after the Declaration was signed, another document was drafted to codify the arrangement of a federal government. The Preamble of the Constitution opens with “We the People” - powerful, enduring, and more inclusive than the language in the Declaration. As with any text, there is more than one way to interpret this document. We have seen a landmark example of interpretation this past week.

It is often the case that order matters. The order in which things are listed can reveal the priority of the authors’ values. The Preamble continues,  

…to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

All of these values are processes, not ends. Can the people of today endeavor to keep a unity of spirit in the bond of peace? Can we recognize, practice, and codify that there can be diversity without division and unity without conformity? I think the revolution confronting us now is to include but go beyond the Enlightenment values and institutions of the 18th century. If we desire to secure a posterity that would commemorate us, we must ensure that the blessings of liberty apply to all.