TEN MORALLY DEFINING MOMENTS IN AMERICAN HISTORY
F ar too frequen- tly in our
to our founding promise that all men are created equal. Here are 10 morally defining moments in American history that made our nation the greatest coun- try in the history of the world. Signing of the Declaration of Independence Unlike nations that preceded the United States, America’s founding was not grounded in ethnicity, reli- gion, or ancestry. Instead, America is rooted in a set of universal prin- ciples animated by, in the words of the Declaration, “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God.” Signed on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Indepen- dence made the radical pronounce-
ment that “all men are created equal” and “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien- able Rights” a set of “self-evident” truths that form the basis for demo- cratic self-government. Or, as Abra- ham Lincoln later put it, the principles that give life to the American consti- tutional order are “applicable to all men and all times.” Despite what many on the left might claim, there is no greater obstacle to racism, oppres- sion, or tyranny than the powerful words set forth in the Declaration.
national political life, America is smeared as hopelessly back- wards, bigoted, and evil. In recent years in partic- ular, many Americans have been engulfed by the false narrative that their country, history, and tradi- tions are forces for corruption and vice that must be repressed and defeated. An honest study of American history, however, reveals that our national story is not one of deep-seated racism or oppression. Rather, the American story is one of defying the odds, overcoming adver- sity, and faithfully striving to live up
Ratification of the Constitution
Ratified in 1788, the US Constitution translates the timeless principles laid out in the Declaration into a concrete
26 • AMAC Magazine
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