And a nation, like a person, has something deeper, something more
permanent, something larger than the sum of all its parts. It is that
something which matters most to its future--which calls forth the most
sacred guarding of its present.
It is a thing for which we find it difficult--even impossible--to hit
upon a single, simple word.
And yet we all understand what it is--the spirit--the faith of America.
It is the product of centuries. It was born in the multitudes of those
who came from many lands--some of high degree, but mostly plain people,
who sought here, early and late, to find freedom more freely.
The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history. It
is human history. It permeated the ancient life of early peoples. It
blazed anew in the middle ages. It was written in Magna Charta.
In the Americas its impact has been irresistible. America has been the
New World in all tongues, to all peoples, not because this continent was
a new-found land, but because all those who came here believed they
could create upon this continent a new life--a life that should be new
in freedom.
Its vitality was written into our own Mayflower Compact, into the
Declaration of Independence, into the Constitution of the United States,
into the Gettysburg Address.
Those who first came here to carry out the longings of their spirit, and
the millions who followed, and the stock that sprang from them--all have
moved forward constantly and consistently toward an ideal which in
itself has gained stature and clarity with each generation.
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