Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, outliving Jefferson and Adams by 6 years. He was also the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration, and, perhaps, the man who had the most to lose by doing so.
Carroll was the wealthiest man in the colonies at the beginning of the Revolution with a fortune estimated at $2 million dollars. He lived to see the fiftieth year of American independence and died shortly thereafter, leaving us with these words:
“I do now here recommend to the present and future generations the principles of that important document as the best earthly inheritance their ancestors could bequeath to them, and pray that the civil and religious liberties they have secured in my country may be perpetuated to the remotest posterity and extend to the whole family of man!”
Our Founders promise and Carroll’s bequest have materialized in the greatest nation the world has ever seen. The principles they established have brought us from thirteen obscure colonies to the world’s only superpower. They have established new standards of life, liberty, and happiness.
Free men and those yearning to be free still look to the United States as the light of the world and the best hope for liberty. Our place in the world is unrivaled and unquestioned.
What makes America great? What is our most valuable asset? Is it our wealth, our natural resources, or our military might? Or is our most precious asset the character of our people?
President Eisenhower said, “Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first happen in the heart of America.” It follows that whatever change is to come to pass in America must first happen in the heart of its people.
Values are not hereditary. Great ideals do not live in the hearts and minds of men simply because they are right. They must be taught. They must be learned and lived.
At the birth of our nation, a citizen approached Benjamin Franklin and asked, “What kind of government have you given us?”
“A republic,” Franklin replied, “if you can keep it.”
The Republic will endure as long as we continue to cherish the ideals of the men who created it. From Bunker Hill to Berlin, the best of our blood have fought to defend democracy. But that is not enough.
The battle for freedom is not reserved for the few or the brave on a distant shore. The battle for democracy must be fought here, as well as there, day by day, with the knowledge that liberty won today may be lost tomorrow.
“There is a new America every morning when we wake,” Adlai Stevenson said, “and that new America is the sum of many small changes.” Our task is to guide these changes and decide what kind of America we want it to be.
“We the people.” The story of America is our story. America will be whatever we are.
