In calling for independence 250 years ago, Thomas Paine said, “The birthday of a new world is at hand” and “we have it in our power to begin the world over again.” Moreover, he emphasized, “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind [and] the Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.”
Ever since then, the people of the United States have celebrated and rallied to that cause; and millions upon millions of people from around the world have come to make this country their home.
Why? This year, in addition to the usual cookouts and fireworks of the Fourth of July, the Semiquincentennial invites us to reflect upon exactly what that “cause of greater worth” is.
First, let us consider what that cause is not. “It is not a matter of birthplace, or creed, or line of descent,” said President Theodore Roosevelt. “Americanism is a question of principle, of idealism, of character.”
And that great cause upon which the United States was founded 250 years ago and which the people of this country have taken such pride in, the recurring refrain in so many patriotic speeches, songs, and poems, is – freedom. President Abraham Lincoln famously proclaimed that this nation was “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Similarly, we pledge before the flag that we are “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” and we sing, “sweet land of liberty, let freedom ring.”
Freedom, equality, justice, unity – this is the glorious heritage of the great American experiment. Then we read the impressive 1852 Fourth of July address of Frederick Douglass, which shocks one back to the historical reality and should be taught in every classroom.
This famed orator, born in slavery, was unable to join in the national celebration because he was not included in it. “The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me,” he told his audience. America was false to that past, he accurately said. Instead of the joy of the day, he heard “the mournful wail of millions” in heavy chains, and the Fourth of July revealed to the enslaved, “more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.”
And yet, notwithstanding the dark picture Douglass presented of the sinful state of the nation under the evil of slavery, he did not despair. In fact, he drew encouragement from the “great principles” of the Declaration of Independence and he referred to the Constitution as a “great liberty document.” Thus, his mission, Douglass later said, was to call this nation “to trust the operation of their own principles,” and thereby hasten the day when the principles of liberty and humanity would become a reality in this country.
The great thing about the United States is not that we have been a perfect Union of liberty, equality, and justice for 250 years. We are not; and we never have been. The greatness of America lies in the realization that, as President Gerald Ford put it at the Bicentennial, “The American adventure is a continuing process.”
Recognizing our historical imperfections and sins, the greatness of this nation is in aspiring and striving to be a “shining city on a hill.” As Ford further said, “The struggle for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is never truly won. Each generation of Americans, indeed of all humanity, must strive to achieve these aspirations anew. Liberty is a living flame to be fed, not dead ashes to be revered.”
Although a small minority of the population at the time of the Founding, Catholics have made a considerable impact in the history of the United States, and we still have an instrumental role to play. This Semiquincentennial year, one of the most needed functions is to continually call our neighbors and civic officials to return to and live up to the nation’s highest ideals of unity, equality, justice, and genuine liberty, as Frederick Douglass did.
Another invaluable way to celebrate this 250th jubilee is to simply be a good Catholic Christian in our lives 24/7: Be a sign of communion and love one another in truth, do good and resist evil, safeguard human dignity and promote the common good, showing solidarity especially for those on the peripheries. In the present day of disunity and rancor, it is also an absolute necessity to cultivate a culture of inclusion, reconciliation, social peace, harmony, and a greater appreciation for the gift of human diversity.
In doing this, we are not imposing our Catholic faith on anyone, we are merely helping the United States to be what it is meant to be. At the same time, we recognize that the Lord walks with us and – as did the signers of the Declaration of Independence – we rely upon the protection of His Divine Providence.
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
Mark Rothe is an employee of the Archdiocese of Washington’s Pastoral Center.
