Our idea of the Founders' America and its values is not true. We are
not the heirs of the Founders, but we can be the heirs of Reconstruction
and its vision for equality.
There's a common story we tell about America: that our fundamental
values as a country were stated in the Declaration of Independence,
fought for in the Revolution, and made law in the Constitution. But,
with the country increasingly divided, this story isn't working for us
anymore--what's more, it's not even true. As Kermit Roosevelt argues in
this eye-opening reinterpretation of the American story, our fundamental
values, particularly equality, are not part of the vision of the
Founders. Instead, they were stated in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and
were the hope of Reconstruction, when it was possible to envision the
emergence of the nation committed to liberty and equality.
We face a dilemma these days. We want to be honest about our history and
the racism and oppression that Americans have both inflicted and
endured. But we want to be proud of our country, too. In The Nation
That Never Was, Roosevelt shows how we can do both those things by
realizing we're not the country we thought we were. Reconstruction,
Roosevelt argues, was not a fulfillment of the ideals of the Founding
but rather a repudiation: we modern Americans are not the heirs of the
Founders but of the people who overthrew and destroyed that political
order. This alternate understanding of American identity opens the door
to a new understanding of ourselves and our story, and ultimately to a
better America.
America today is not the Founders' America, but it can be Lincoln's
America. Roosevelt offers a powerful and inspirational rethinking of our
country's history and uncovers a shared past that we can be proud to
claim and use as a foundation to work toward a country that fully
embodies equality for all.
