Texas Review of Law & Politics, Volume 20, Number 2, Spring 2016 Page: 176
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Texas Review of Law & Politics
know the circumstances of our conception were imperfect, and it
took a great Civil War to preserve our nation as one dedicated to
the proposition that all men are created equal. America had its new
birth of freedom. Our nation was born again in the blood of our
countrymen in a war whose dead nearly outnumber those killed in
all our other wars combined.20 To quote the fifth stanza of The
Battle Hymn of the Republic "As He died to make men holy, let us die
to make men free."2' Without their sacrifice, America would have
failed, and it would have suggested that no free nation can long
endure.
But we did not fail. We fought for the principle of justice. We
showed the world that a free nation such as ours can endure and
that it is worth fighting for. That is one reason why our founding
and the Civil War are so important, and why they belong not only
to us Americans, but to all mankind for all the ages. That is why
America has been a beacon of hope and aspiration throughout the
world. Look at everything that has resulted from the simple,
brilliant light of human equality put upon a hill. From an uncertain
birth, our Constitution is now the oldest written governing charter
in the world.22 We govern ourselves as free men and women from
the Congress to the school board. Despite all our sharp political
differences, we transfer power peacefully between parties and
people. America based its politics on the natural rights of mankind.
We got our politics right, and many material blessings flowed from
that.
In just 170 years, America went from a global backwater to the
greatest superpower in history. 23 Not only do we possess the world's
largest and most advanced economy, we also provide one of the
highest standards of living ever known to the working man, with
unlimited opportunity for advancement and success.24 In America,
available at http://bit.ly/1R60wCR [https://perma.cc/RV8S-34PH]).
20. Jennie Cohen, Civil War Deadlier Than Previously Thought?, HISTORY IN THE
HEADLINES (June 6, 2011), http://bit.ly/1VeLTW2 [perma.cc/5G3D-P2U4].
21. Civil War Music: The Battle Hymn of the Republic, CIVIL WAR TRUST,
http://bit.ly/1R6R1oR [perma.cc/PE6V-BV9F] (last visited Mar. 17, 2016).
22. John H. Killian, Constitution of the United States, SENATE.GOV.,
http://1.usa.gov/lmZ9h9Q [perma.cc/HY9M-4DE2] (last visited Apr. 7,2016) (stating that
"the United States Constitution is the world's longest surviving written charter of
government.").
23. Ian Bremmer, These Are the 5 Reasons Why the U.S. Remains the World's Only Supeipower,
TIME (May 28, 2015), http://ti.me/1LN9EN4 [perma.cc/3E9S-R9XL]; GEORGE C. HERRING,
FROM COLONY TO SUPERPOWER: U.S. FOREIGN RELATIONS SINCE 1776 (2008).
24. Gross Domestic Product 2014, THE WORLD BANK DATABANK, http://bit.ly/liz15uj
[perma.cc/WM9T-DTP9] (last visited Apr. 7, 2016) (ranking the United States' Gross
Domestic Product highest in the world as of 2014); Human Development Report 2015, UNDP176
Vol. 20
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University of Texas at Austin. School of Law. Texas Review of Law & Politics, Volume 20, Number 2, Spring 2016, periodical, March 2016; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth838701/m1/22/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.