BEING AMERICAN IS AN IDEA: The 14th AMENDMENT
The Fourteenth Amendment really embodies a lot of these questions of, who is American, what does it mean to be American, and what are the rights that come with being American in a country where being American is an idea, not just heritage.
— Mabel Rosenheck
I heard Mabel Rosenheck on the PBS Newshour, talking about a new museum in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The museum celebrates the life and legacy of Thaddeus Stevens. And as Ms. Rosenheck spoke about Mr. Stevens’ fight for the Fourteenth Amendment, she used these words:
being American is an idea, not just heritage
She spoke it as if it were just something to say, in passing - as if it were well-understood, “self-evident” as Jefferson might have said.
But this is a profound truth from Ms. Rosenheck. We would do well to pause and reflect on this
being American is an idea
What is the American idea?
We’re tempted to run to the Declaration of Independence, that 250-year-old piece of parchment, and read the sacred words aloud. But we can read the words here today in our 21st-century language. We can read the words in the Democratic Creed.
What’s the American idea? It’s Equality, Democracy, Freedom, Justice, and Opportunity for every person, everywhere.
It was striking to hear this historian from Pennsylvania say something so casually yet so profound and so important. Something that we think too little of.
Being American is an idea, not just heritage
You can’t be an American just because of who you are or where you’re from. You have to believe in America’s ideals - in America’s values. And when you abandon any of those values - when you abandon equality, or government by and for the people - when you abandon freedom for all, justice for all, opportunity for all - it’s fair to ask: are you still American?
Ms. Rosenheck was talking about Mr. Stevens, a champion of the 14th Amendment. Today, that part of our Constitution is under question, so it’s time now to remind ourselves of what it means to be an American. Ms. Rosenheck said it simply:
Being American is an idea.
Let’s keep that idea alive.
New museum spotlights Thaddeus Stevens' abolitionist legacy | PBS News https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/shaping-history
