This year, America is celebrating its 250th birthday. What a year to remember! As we look back on how this country came to be, we look into our founding documents and what made them. Although not written with the founding of our country, our nation’s creed symbolizes all that a true American should be. In case you have not read it recently, here it is.
I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a democracy in a republic, a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.
I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.
History
In 1916, as the United States was on the brink of World War I, the New York commissioner of education, Henry Sterling Chapin, decided to hold a nationwide writing competition to encourage patriotism among the American public.
His goal was to establish a national creed that would find “the best summary of the political faith of America.” The winner of that competition was William Tyler Page, a 49-year-old longtime congressional employee. The Maryland native had begun his career in public service as a page in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1881 at age 13.
Page, a descendant of John Tyler, the 10th president of the United States, and Carter Braxton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, researched several documents and speeches from the country’s history for inspiration. This included the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” George Washington’s “Farewell Address,” and the national anthem.
His winning entry, which earned him a $1,000 prize, was described by the competition’s officials as “brief and simple but remarkably comprehensive of the best in American ideals, history and tradition as expressed by the founders of the Republic and its greatest statesmen and writers.”
