What’s one lesson, institution, or idea from America’s first 250 years that should help guide its future?
“The challenge of setting up America was how to establish rules of governance among people who disagreed about so much—commerce, religion, slavery, and more. How can those who disagree about what to do agree about who should do it? The answer was a written Constitution, buttressed by principles of law, which attempted to separate fundamental law from ordinary politics. It did so through specific mechanisms such as federalism, the separation of powers, and individual rights, but the separation of fundamental law from ordinary politics is the more basic idea that makes these mechanisms possible. This separation is what helps us hold our country together even as we disagree about what it should stand for.”
—William Baude, Harry Kalven, Jr. Professor of Law, Faculty Director, Constitutional Law Institute
“The United States is an ‘experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people,’ according to the first inaugural address. In that address, President Washington questioned whether we could preserve ‘the sacred fire of liberty’ and a ‘Republican model of Government,’ which he said would require ‘virtue,’ ‘duty,’ and ‘honest and magnanimous policy.’ Fifty years later, President Jackson called time: ‘Our Constitution is no longer a doubtful experiment.’ But Jackson was wrong and even today Washington is still right. Experiments are uncertain. They require learning and responsibility. And the outcome of our great experiment depends on what we demand of our leaders and cultivate in ourselves.”
—Samuel L. Bray, Professor of Law, Walter Mander Research Scholar
“One of the drivers of the United States’ success over the last 250 years has been its strong legal system. Building that legal system has required more than just writing ‘good laws.’ It has required lawyers to understand that, for our democratic society to thrive and our market economy to function, they must behave in a fair, principled, and honest way. America’s future depends, in part, on making sure that the next generation of lawyers takes that responsibility seriously.”
—Adam Chilton, Dean, Howard G. Krane Professor of Law
“For 250 years, America has been a land of two dueling identities. One is based in exclusion and supremacy: that this place must be a land made for and controlled by a select few, and it is through the acts of those few that our greatness occurs. The other is based on inclusion, on embracing diversity, and on an unshakeable belief in the equality inherent in every human being who chooses to make this place their home. If there is any single idea that has guided America’s progress over the last 250 years, and that might ensure our continued success for 250 more, it is that the battle to embody that second vision of a diverse, inclusive and equal country is a difficult one, but it is always one worth fighting.”
—Adam A. Davidson, Assistant Professor of Law
“That the democratic experiment that is America has lasted over 250 years may be a?milestone worthy of acknowledgement, but I don’t feel much like celebrating. As a girl raised in the Jim Crow era, I drew solace from Dr. King’s vision that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice’ and understood that there would be setbacks in our journey toward a more perfect union.?However, the current fragile state of our republic has dimmed my hope and left me deeply concerned.”
—Sharon Fairley, Professor from Practice
“One of America’s most important and unique ideas is the idea of chosen identity. Unlike any nation before it, America declared that belonging is not determined by bloodline, birthplace, or faith, but by embracing a set of ideals—liberty, equality, and self-governance. An immigrant from Lagos, Lahore, or Lima can become as fully American as any descendant of the Founders. This principle of civic nationhood remains America’s greatest strength, and we forget it at our peril.”
—Nicole Hallett, Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic
“In its timing and audience, the Declaration of Independence was a tender of justifications before action was taken, and a recognition that ‘the opinions of mankind’ demand ‘decent respect.’ But why speak before, not after? And why speak beyond borders? The 1790s were a globalized world, no less than ours. Then and now, no nation can by brute force, or indifference to the esteem of others, forge a successful path in the world. All true then, and still so today.”
—Aziz Z. Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law
“A central Revolutionary idea was republicanism (lowercase ‘r’): a robust public sphere, and dedication to the public good. Republicanism was intended to guide everyone in society, but it was especially important for government officials. And no one thought it would be easy, given humans’ tendency to focus on their own wants. Even at the age of 20, John Adams understood this, writing in his diary in 1756, ‘He is not a wise man, and is unfit to fill any important station in society, that has left one passion in his soul unsubdued. . . . These passions should be bound fast, and brought under the yoke.'”
—Alison L. LaCroix, Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law, Associate Member of the Department of History
“There are few things more American than our exceptional First Amendment. And the story of the First Amendment is one of change. To create the robust body of free speech law that exists today, the Supreme Court had to turn its back on existing understandings and create a new jurisprudence. The lesson of that experience is that staying true to the grand ideals of the Framers does not always require staying true to existing but problematic practices. It can require radical reinvention; the courage of the (still unfolding) revolution, one might say.”
—Genevieve Lakier, Professor of Law, Herbert and Marjorie Fried Teaching Scholar
“Looking back over the past 250 years, I would say that the institution that should play a central role in shaping America’s future is the Supreme Court. Especially over the last century, the Court has played a critical role in protecting our most fundamental freedoms, and without those decisions, we would be a much less fair and much less free nation than we are today. Given the current makeup of the Court, though, I definitely do worry about the future.”
—Geoffrey R. Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor of Law
