Happy Fourth of July! 

247 years ago The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the continental congress. They declared that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”. At the time the Declaration of Independence was written, and America was formed, this statement only applied to white men. However, as Thomas Jefferson pointed out “The generation which commences a revolution rarely completes it.”

In July of 1848, at the Seneca Falls Convention, the Declaration of Sentiments was written, saying, “We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men and women are created equal…”.

In 1865, the same year the Civil War ended, the 13th Amendment was passed, saying, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

In 1868, Amendment 14 was passed, granting all people born in the US citizenship, and making it so no state could “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Although this originally meant former slaves, as time went on the definition of “any person” was expanded to include literally any person.

In 1870, people were constitutionally guaranteed the right to vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” when the 15th Amendment was passed. 

72 years after the Seneca Falls convention, in 1920, all women got the right to vote when the 19th amendment was passed, declaring the right could “not be denied or abridged…on account of sex.”.

As pointed out in the first season of The West Wing, the dollar bill has a seal that “is meant to be unfinished, because this country's meant to be unfinished. We're meant to keep doing better. We're meant to keep discussing and debating and we're meant to read books by great historical scholars and then talk about them…”

We are meant to keep growing as we have throughout our country's history. That is why it is so important for people of up-and-coming generations to watch shows such as The West Wing. We are meant to be inspired, to learn, and to look back on history and ask “What’s next?”. We are the next piece of our country’s uncompleted revolution to make our union more perfect.

Days like the Fourth of July not only remind us of the strides in liberty made by those before us, but are meant to make us think about how we will one day do more to secure the blessings of liberty for all in our country.