I confess I feel conflicted about wholeheartedly celebrating America’s upcoming 250th anniversary- and I suspect I’m not alone. American history is a complex mix of realized ideals and those still unfulfilled.
I am very proud that the founding of my nation was based on far-seeing and revolutionary ideals from its very inception. The American government’s legitimacy was based on “We the People..” -not kings, not aristocratic bloodlines, not supposed “God-ordained” rulers that had been the norm of power for centuries. This new revolutionary American order established a Constitution and Bill of Rights that guaranteed freedoms for ordinary citizens that were unprecedented in their scope- freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, petition, and due process. The constitutional framework of checks and balances among executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government were put in place to prevent tyranny.
America has often fallen short of her original ideals. Those inspiring freedoms proclaimed in 1776 were largely applied to white male property owners. Slavery in particular was woven into our foundation from the very beginning. The unpaid labor of millions of enslaved people helped build America’s economic success up to the Civil War in 1861. Though slavery ended, racial discrimination continued to shape US economy and society long afterward through segregation and discriminatory laws. While the United States has made much progress in expanding civil and voting rights, some argue that recent changes to voting laws are evidence that the struggle for equal political representation still continues.
Additionally from America’s founding, its very lands were wrested from the original indigenous inhabitants, often through broken treaties, and systemic displacements of peoples and environments. One stark symbol of the gap between America’s national ideals and reality is the near-eradication of tens of millions of bison herds across North America in the 1880s, until only 300-1000 bison remained. The bison’s decimation was cultural destruction on a mass scale for countless Native nations, never to be fully recovered.
Over its history, America has struggled with affording all its people the same rights that it fought for during the Revolutionary War. Here are just a few examples:
- Slavery was not abolished until 1865, and voting rights regardless of race were not established until 1870.
- Though some states granted voting rights to women, it was not until 1920 that the Nineteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution allowed all American women to vote.
- During WW II, although some German and Italian nationals were interned as possible security risks, it was 120,000 Japanese people- two-thirds of whom were citizens- that were the ones targeted for mass incarceration in internment camps. Families lost farms, businesses, careers, savings, and properties.
To America’s credit, there have been many official attempts to recognize wrongs done, and to acknowledge freedoms not rightly extended to Americans over our 250 year history:
- There was a formal U.S. government apology in 1988 to the Japanese community, along with compensation of $20,000 per surviving internment camp internee. Some saw this Japanese American Internment Apology & Reparations Law as too little, and too late for many. But at the very least, it was an official admission of injustice, and the government’s recognition that fear and prejudice had overridden constitutional principles.
- In 2009, Congress quietly included an official apology to Native peoples in the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2010. It was added as a rider- not debated as a standalone apology bill. It recognized ill-conceived policies, broken treaties, and mistreatment committed against indigenous people. However, tribes weren’t consulted beforehand, it came with no meaningful policy changes or reparations, and carefully stated it could not be used for legal claims or lawsuits.
- That apology was seen as symbolic but insufficient- similar to the 1980 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Black Hills lands had been illegally taken from the Sioux nation, despite an 1868 Treaty. The government said the Sioux were entitled to financial compensation with interest. Many of the tribal governments view the land as sacred, never for sale, and require the land to be returned. (This would primarily involve western South Dakota’s land and a small portion of northeastern Wyoming). The unclaimed award settlement remains held in trust today by the federal government. The original $17.1 million has accrued interest to well over $1 billion.
Our constitutional federal republic struggles with conscience, and has a capacity to acknowledge wrongdoings- and sometimes effect changes from the process. It is significant and heartening when honest confrontations take place over founding ideals not realized.
As America approaches its 250th birthday celebration, I can proudly celebrate with many fellow citizens- over many achievements attained. My nation has offered civil liberties to people arriving here seeking peace and opportunities for success and prosperity. U.S. citizens have always expected the peaceful transfer of leadership power that has been our democratic cornerstone. Our system allows for ways to change laws, to amend, to expand rights to formerly excluded groups. Freedoms of speech and religion are still protected. For now, Americans retain the right to criticize their government without fear of legal punishment- a freedom that remains rare in many other countries.
Our triumph and tragedy, progress and oppression are symbolized in this quote revealing our nation’s ongoing struggle to draw closer to our best ideals:
“I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves, and I watch my daughters, two beautiful intelligent black young women playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.”
First Lady Michelle Obama, 2016
So perhaps the real 250th anniversary is not simply to celebrate the best of what America has been, but to celebrate what America is striving to become. Patriotism does not require the forgetting of historical injustices, and confronting them does not mean rejecting our nation. Representative government, equality before the law, individual rights, liberty- these are our founding principles. And I have no conflict with those principles- they are aspirations worth commemorating during this 250th anniversary.
My America is an unfinished project.
Photo by RDNE Stock Project