""Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.""
""They fought, they bled, they struggled, they died for us. They built this country for us. America, in all its glory, is their gift to us, handed down across the generations. It belongs to us. It's our birthright, our heritage, our destiny. If America is everything and everyone, then it is nothing and no one at all. But we know that's not true. America is not a 'universal nation.'""
On Nov. 19, 1863 Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, opening "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." A contrasting claim frames America as a white homeland, asserting white European settlers forged the nation for themselves and their descendants and that America "belongs to us" as birthright, heritage and destiny. That claim denies universal nationhood, rejects an inclusive, citizenship-based national identity, repudiates constitutional egalitarian principles, and argues public policy should prioritize white descendants' interests.
Read at Slate Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]