A City On A Hill

In 1630, eleven ships left England for the new world.  The ships carried 700 passengers, livestock, and a charter for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  They were Puritans seeking religious freedom and a new life. 

Before they landed, John Winthrop, their leader, articulated his vision of the society they would create.  “All true Christians are of one body in Christ,” he said, “the ligaments of this body which knit together are love.  All parts of the body being thus united…in a special relation as they partake of each others’ strength and infirmity, joy, and sorrow.”

“We must be knit together in this work as one man,” Winthrop said. “We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of other’s necessities…For we must consider that we shall be as a City on a Hill.  The eyes of all people are upon us.”

Winthrop’s vision of America has held fast through the years.  Its fulfillment is in large part what makes the United States unique in the history of the world. America is the only nation composed of people drawn from another place. It is the only nation whose people are not connected by blood, race, culture, or original language.

One of the first acts of the Continental Congress was to pass a resolution authorizing a committee to research and devise a National Motto that would capture this concept.  The task was given to Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams.

Two months later, on September 9, 1776, Congress gave the new nation a name – the United States of America.  The honor of naming our country belongs to Thomas Paine, who has since been called America’s Godfather.  At the same time, Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams reported the recommendations of their committee.

They recommended “E Pluribus Unum” for a national motto – latin for “From the Many One.”  The motto was designed to remind us that out of many states – and many different people – one nation was born.

Fortunately, the assembly that was asked structure that unity contained some of the finest minds and arguably the noblest characters to have ever appeared in the New World.  Fortunately, the assembly had George Washington as its President.

The documents they developed – the Constitution and the Bill of Rights – defined the structure of our government, our citizens’ relationship to their government, and our relationship to each other.  As Americans, we are asked to balance our individual interests with the common good, our ambition with compassion, enterprise with responsibility, liberty with spirituality.

Despite the obvious success of their initial efforts, the founders of our nation continued to express concern for our unity.  “The unity of government, which constitutes you one people,” George Washington said in his farewell address, “is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence…and that very liberty, which you so highly prize.”

At his inauguration after a bitter and partisan election, Jefferson said, “Let us, then, fellow citizens unite with one heart and mind.”  Playing the peacemaker, he reminded the contending forces “every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.”

Concerns for national unity remained well into the 20th Century.  At times, Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama all resurrected Winthrop’s vision and recalled his words; but no one took them more to heart than Ronald Reagan. 

Reagan built his political career around Winthrop’s observation.  Starting in the 1970s, Reagan began framing the story of America from John Winthrop forward. From there, he built a powerful articulation of what has come to be called American exceptionalism. 

Reagan felt “there was some divine plan that placed this great continent between two oceans to be sought out by those who were possessed of an abiding love of freedom and a special kind of courage.”  In 2012, American exceptionalism—as summarized by the phrase “a city on a hill”—became an official plank in the platform of the Republican Party.

In his Farewell Address, President Ronald Reagan recalled John Winthrop’s words one more time.  He said, “I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it.  But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”

That’s how I see it as well.  America is a rag-tag nation, built from the flotsam and jetsam, the scraps and misfits of the world.  At times the pieces don’t seem to fit and our individual interests, our determined pursuit of success and happiness, seems to overwhelm our sense of community.  But when we are tested, we have always come together; the spirit of America rises and there can be no doubt we are one people.

It is when we are challenged that we remember our true interest is a mutual interest. The doctrines that would divide us, the people that put race against race, religion against religion, class against class, and worker against employer are false and doomed to fail.

We know intuitively that everyone is needed.  Everyone can contribute.  Individually, we may only have a small piece of the puzzle but each of us has at least one piece and every piece is essential.

This is where community begins.  Community comes when people see hope where there is fear and decide to join hands, linking themselves with others in a common cause.  Community comes when people decide not to ignore a problem or run away, but to reinforce each other and take on apathy and despair.  Community comes when we realize nothing of real value can be accomplished alone.

Serving others is our common duty and birthright.  Selfishness is at the root of all moral evils.  Selflessness is the goal of human existence.

An individual has not started living until he or she can rise above the narrow confines of their personal interests to the broader concerns of humanity.  A nation cannot survive separate and apart.