OUR DETERMINED DEMOCRACY: FORGING A MORE PERFECT UNION

The theme of the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies, “Our Determined Democracy: Forging a More Perfect Union,” recognizes our nation’s continual journey toward the goals set out in the Preamble. When drafting the Constitution, our Founders had the wisdom and foresight to know that our young nation would face great challenges in the years ahead. The inaugural ceremonies are not only a hallmark of American governance but also a fulfillment of our Constitutional duty and an assurance to all people of our unbroken commitment to continuity, stability, perseverance, and democracy.

On April 30, 1789, at Federal Hall in New York City, George Washington took the oath of office to become the nation’s first President. Since that time, every four years our nation has continued the tradition of an inaugural ceremony to mark the commencement of a new presidential term or to transition to a new presidential administration. This great American ritual has occurred in times of peace, in times of turmoil, in times of prosperity, and in times of adversity. 

Today—January 20, 2021—the country and the world witness the 59th Inaugural Ceremonies at the United States Capitol, a peaceful transition of power conceived by the nation’s founders and rooted in the Constitution. Today’s ceremonies serve as a keystone of American governance, fulfilling a constitutional duty and giving assurance—to all people—of a continued and unbroken commitment to the continuity, stability, and perseverance of our democracy. 

Our founders had the wisdom and foresight to know that the nation would face great challenges. They understood that our country was not perfect. The Constitution provides the processes by which a determined democracy might improve upon itself, to form not a perfect union, but to strive towards a more perfect union. As we witness this time-honored tradition of a presidential inauguration, we reflect upon generations of Americans who, determined to forge a more perfect union, worked to fulfill that worthwhile and, at times, elusive goal.

More than two hundred years ago, in 1805, as Thomas Jefferson delivered his second inaugural address, an expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, with the assistance of a Lemhi Shoshone woman named Sakakawea as guide and translator, made its way westward to the Pacific Ocean, exploring the vast Louisiana Territory purchased during Jefferson’s first term. Jefferson celebrated the expansion of the country as a means of preserving and protecting the nation. “The larger our association, the less will it be shaken by local passions,” he reasoned, “and in any view, is it not better that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children, than by strangers of another family?” Overcoming incredible odds, Lewis and Clark’s perseverance and Sakakawea’s courage in the name of exploration and the pursuit of knowledge led to increased opportunities for the generations that followed.

As our nation grew and new states joined the Union, the issue of slavery shattered national unity. In 1861 Abraham Lincoln delivered his first inaugural address to a country on the brink of civil war. Calling for caution and patience, Lincoln hoped above all for peaceful resolution and common purpose, appealing to “the better angels of our nature.”

Frederick Douglass, a formerly enslaved man and a prominent and powerful abolitionist speaker also appealed to the better angels of his fellow Americans. He and his wife Anna had harbored people escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad. When civil war began, Douglass recruited African American troops to fight for the Union. In 1863, when President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, eventually freeing more than 3.5 million enslaved men, women, and children, Douglass responded, “We are all liberated by this proclamation. Everybody is liberated. The white man is liberated, the black man is liberated, the brave men now fighting the battles of their country against rebels and traitors are now liberated. . . . I congratulate you upon this amazing change—the amazing approximation toward the sacred truth of human liberty.”

Douglass attended Lincoln’s second inauguration in 1865, during the waning days of the Civil War, and heard Lincoln appeal to his fellow Americans to help heal the nation. “With malice toward none, with charity for all, . . . let us strive on to . . . do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Though Lincoln would not live long enough to witness the nation reborn, Douglass would continue to move the nation toward embracing its ideals that “all men are created equal.”

Less than a half century later, Theodore Roosevelt, in his inaugural address of 1905, declared that no people on earth had more cause to be thankful than Americans, but he added that the rapid  industrial expansion following the Civil War that accounted for “our marvelous material well-being” had also caused much social anxiety. “There is no good reason why we should fear the future,” he reassured Americans, “but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach these problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright.” Roosevelt’s words appealed to a generation of progressive-era reformers committed to make the nation live up to its professed hope for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Responding to the challenges presented by the industrial era, social reformer Jane Addams devoted her life to addressing the needs of the nation’s less fortunate. She established Hull House on Chicago’s west side, the first settlement house in the country, to provide vital community services, including child care, job training and placement, English and citizenship classes, libraries, and theater, music, and arts classes. A devoted suffragist, Addams, like Frederick Douglass before her, challenged the nation to live up to the expressed ideals of its founders that all people are created free and equal. “What would George Washington say,” she asked the Union League Club of Chicago in 1903, “if he found that, among us, there were causes constantly operating against that equality?” Her belief in cooperative efforts to address social ills led to a lifetime of work in pursuit of a more perfect union.

While generations of Americans have experienced the unique opportunities and challenges of their era, the promise of democracy has remained constant. In March of 1921, following the twin hardships of World War I and the Great Flu Pandemic, President Warren G. Harding addressed the nation, noting that despite these recent upheavals, “we contemplate our Republic unshaken, and hold our civilization secure. Liberty—liberty within the law—and civilization are inseparable, and though both were threatened we find them now secure; and there comes to Americans the profound assurance that our representative government is the highest expression and surest guaranty of both.”

Amelia Earhart demonstrated unwavering commitment to the pursuit of liberty when she challenged barriers that had limited women’s opportunities for decades. Born in Kansas, the independent and adventurous Earhart graduated from college, then served as a nurse during the First World War. Through dedication and determination, Earhart earned her pilot’s license in 1921. Just seven years later, she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Earhart defied expectations throughout her life. “Women must try to do things as men have tried,” she implored. “When they fail, their failure must be but a challenge to others.” Earhart’s remarkable career inspired other women to overcome longstanding obstacles, particularly in the field of aviation.

As the 20th century progressed and the United States entered the modern era, John F. Kennedy used his 1961 inaugural address to inspire a generation of Americans to combat the “common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.” He encouraged scientific exploration in the pursuit of greater human knowledge. “Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths and encourage the arts and commerce,” he declared. Mathematician Katherine Johnson contributed to that effort in infinite ways throughout her professional career. Johnson grew up under the crushing inequalities of Jim Crow-era racial segregation. By sheer force of will and extraordinary intellect she secured a position as a “computer” at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Her calculations helped to land the crew of Apollo 11 on the moon—then return them safely home. Johnson’s remarkable perseverance and unique professional achievements embodied the promise and potential of greater equality for all.

The experiences and achievements of Lewis and Clark, Sakakawea, Frederick Douglass, Jane Addams, Amelia Earhart, and Katherine Johnson reflect the efforts of tens of millions of Americans who have contributed to the common good. We are a nation of individuals determined always to do better. This 59th Inaugural Ceremony is part of a vital tradition of presidential inaugurations symbolizing our centuries-long commitment to that determination and to the continuity, stability, and preservation of our democracy. The American people, by observing this national ritual and in countless acts of individual courage and conviction, continue to move this nation ever closer to a more perfect union.