America at 250:
“…her ability to repair
her faults”
America at 250: “…her ability to repair her faults”
When Alexis de Tocqueville traveled to a freshly-minted America he wrote: “The greatness of America lies not in being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”
He found a people deeply engaged in just that—in the project of a newly free people self-governing. In towns and hamlets across the land, people were meeting and talking and deciding on things—they were building, and they were repairing.
In Tocqueville’s time, this was unlike anything the world had ever known. Over the last 250 years, previous generations of Americans have brought this light of freedom to farflung corners of the globe, yet in our time this idea is fading for many Americans. There’s a new cynicism, even nihilism.
But not for our a new generation of citizenship, one you may not know much about yet, but are about to. We think they’re what’s next.
All year we are celebrating the founding of this country—of the people, by the people and for the people. We hope you’ll join us in our journey.
UNUM: Democracy Reignited is funded in part by the Federation of State Humanities Councils with support from the Mellon Foundation and Florida Humanities. (Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of our funders.)
Living Right by Alexis de Tocqueville
In “Democracy in America”, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote of the uniquely American habit of “forever forming associations.” There’s good reason for that. In a new country without a king, someone was going to have to make a few decisions.
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