OPINION: The best part of America is ALL of us
The United States of America turns 250 years old this week. The best part about this great nation is the imperfect but authentic balance between individualism and national unity – an identity, rooted in liberty, that brings the country together.
Opinion-editorial by Summer Lane | July 3, 2026
On July 27, 1776, General George Washington addressed the Continental Army. The Declaration of Independence had been signed just weeks earlier, and Washington, along with many of the Founding Fathers, understood the impetus of the moment.
“The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army,” he told the Revolutionary soldiers. “Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.”
Such stalwart resolve and unyielding courage, even in the face of standing against the British Army – then the strongest empire in the world – is something that still stirs the hearts of patriots everywhere.
The spirit of American independence that was forged in the Revolutionary War was a lightning rod in history. It was a flashpoint amid millennia of tyranny and despotism. It was the birthplace of all that made – and continues to make – America the most unique and admirable country in the world.
One nation, united behind one singular but powerful mission: individual liberty, however messy, and however imperfect.
The War for Independence was written in the hearts of American colonists before it even began. The deep survivalist spirit of the young Americans was no match for the British crown when it attempted to tighten its control over an increasingly lucrative colonial swatch on the East Coast.
“But what do we mean by the American Revolution?” wrote John Adams in 1818, upon reflecting on the Revolutionary War. “Do we mean the American war? The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties and obligations… This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”
He was right. It wasn’t some random occurrence or mere disgruntlement that drove the American Revolution. It was the belief that all men were created equal, and that individual liberty was just as important as national unity. To win independence, early Americans had to embrace both concepts – sovereignty and togetherness.
The Founders believed that rights were granted by God, not by men. This was the crucial foundation for the Republic. “Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature,” said Benjamin Franklin.
The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the years of history that ensued in the aftermath of the American Revolution have left behind a trail of lessons and wisdom.
From the Civil War to the World Wars of the 20th century, America has consistently grappled with what it means to be free, and whether the birthright of liberty is something to be shared or hidden away.
The Founding Fathers were wise – but they didn’t have all the answers. They understood that the Republic they had forged was a mere starting point for a growing experiment. “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people,” said President George Washington, in his Inaugural Address.
America is not just an idea. It is the implementation of that idea by the sum of its people that has brought it to life. It may not be perfect, it may not be unblemished, but it is indeed good, and America’s heritage is honorable. America’s history is rooted in always trying to do what’s right and being willing to start over and begin again. It’s a history of civic involvement and bloody sacrifice and failure and success and endless struggle.
“Of our political revolution of ’76, we all are justly proud,” President Abraham Lincoln declared during an address at Springfield in 1842. “It has given us a degree of political freedom, far exceeding that of any other nation of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of the long mooted problem, as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vegetated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liberty of mankind.”
The birthright of American exceptionalism and “universal liberty” is a shared one among all citizens of this great country. It’s something that bolsters our sense of individual pride and yet simultaneously brings us together.
It is the heritage of our children, the pride of our forefathers, and the promise of things to come for those who are willing to protect the vision of the Revolutionary war fighters.
It is the American miracle. It’s all of us.
Photo: Adobe Stock
