We often think of July 4, 1776, as being America’s one and only founding. But if we were to look back over our whole history, we just might discover that our nation has been founded several times.
I’ve been reading a fascinating book, While Time Remains: A North Korean Defector’s Search for Freedom in America, by Yeonmi Park. Ms. Park is a human rights advocate, international bestselling author, and forceful activist for the freedom and liberty we espouse in America.
Near the end of her book, she makes a compelling case for there being four foundings of America. I found her rationale quite interesting. From an immigrant who grew up in poverty, sex enslavement, and bondage, her perspective on America is refreshing and innovative. My thoughts on this topic were inspired by Ms. Park (pages 165-167).
The First Founding was the establishment of a Colony by the Pilgrims. We might include the first real American document, long before the Declaration of Independence, being the Mayflower Compact. These sixteenth century refugees came to America for religious liberty from the religious oppression of England. They believed they were founding a New Jerusalem in the New World. This was arguably the first founding of America.
The Second Founding was the signing of the Declaration of Independence from the British King. This founding was marked by the Revolutionary War to win independence by force of arms and the passage of the Constitution. Though the signing of the Declaration and Constitution provided the greatest documents for a democracy ever written, they actually only covered a portion of the population. First only to landowning aristocrats and white male citizens. The establishment of slave holding states coupled with non-slave holding states into a united thirteen states posed problems. And thus, a third founding would be necessary.
The Third Founding of America was the Victory of the Union over the Confederacy in 1865. Ms. Park writes, “It was the victory of the idea of a United States over the attempt to break up the country into multiple separate warring states, like in Europe. The Union’s victory re-founded America as a united country free of slavery and free of civil war” (page 166). But the end of the Civil War still did not mean that our Constitution truly gave freedom to black Americans. The Jim Crow South was created and the basic freedoms of speech, education, voting, and access to opportunity were still barred to most blacks.
The Fourth Founding came through the Winning of World War II and the Civil Rights Movement. The men who fought together in World War II, black and white, came home to a segregated nation. Yet it was the beginning of a new outlook, a new vision for America through leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement from 1945 into the late 1960s.
We need a Fifth Founding of America. We are living in troubling times. The transition from an industrial to digital and services economy has left many Americans without opportunities. The shipping of jobs to China and elsewhere is hurting our working class and creating anger and frustration. Illegal immigration on a scale unprecedented in world history has flooded the U.S. and put pressure on our social services. With crime, poverty, and homelessness increasing in all our major cities, we are desperately in need of a new founding. Our nation cannot hold up under such pressures—and I’m only naming a few.
We are at a breaking point! We need a new kind of leader in America. We need men and women with the wisdom and fortitude not unlike our founding fathers. We need men and women of faith, who love God and our nation. We need creative leaders not shackled by the past, yet grounded in our traditions, who love liberty and believe in our founding documents. We are desperately in need of new Washington, Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt types!
We need common people who will go to school board meetings, caucuses, city council meetings and fight for freedom. We need fathers and mothers to coach teams, lead churches, and guide civic organizations. Who knows. Might it be from such places that the next King, Jefferson, or Adams might emerge?
Pastor Steve
