Striving for a more perfect union

Joint resolution of Congress proposing constitutional amendment abolishing slavery. (Library of Congress)

Freedom is the founding principle of the United States. That means freedom from colonial rule and freedom rooted in personal liberty, exercised in a country governed by the rule of law and not a crown.  

I have long embraced this ethos, perhaps even more deeply because I am a descendant of Africans brought to these shores in chains in 1619 and enslaved for another 247 years. 

My inspiration as a citizen and former public servant springs from the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, which begins with the words, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union …” The American ideal has always meant striving to form that more perfect union. It is not a wish, but rather a promise. 

U.S. history is replete with struggles over whether and how to include those who were not considered part of “we the people” when the Constitution was written in 1787. That struggle – often painful, always unfinished – has nonetheless been the source and symbol of America’s greatest strength. We are a nation that draws immigrants fleeing oppression, while also inspiring freedom fighters and defenders of democracy around the world. 

I had the privilege of serving for eight years in the George W. Bush Administration – as a special assistant to the president on the National Security Council, as U.S. ambassador to South Africa, and as assistant secretary of state for African affairs. Through sustained effort, skillful diplomacy, and the responsible use of U.S. power and prestige, we ended wars, arrested the spread of pandemic diseases, and advanced global prosperity. 

Throughout those years, I consistently witnessed a certain truth in action: that the marginalization of communities, entrenched inequality, and the denial of basic rights are reliable precursors to civil conflict and war. Autocratic, capricious, and corrupt rulers cannot establish legitimacy or forge the social contract needed for lasting peace. 

Reflecting on these lessons, and on America’s progress as it marks its 250th birthday, requires an honest recognition of the fact while the United States is exceptional in many respects, it is not unique. Our own striving for a more perfect union has repeatedly been interrupted by periods of marginalization, inequality, and the denial of rights. 

Following the great liberation of 1865 and the ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments – which abolished slavery and guaranteed citizenship, due process, equal protection, and voting rights for African Americans – a more perfect union seemed in the making. Yet that progress proved short-lived. Reconstruction ended after the disputed presidential election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden. The resulting Compromise of 1877, accepted by Republicans to secure the presidency, effectively abandoned the federal enforcement of civil rights in the South. It enabled Southern Democrats and White supremacists to strip African Americans of their rights and to unleash terror on their communities. 

Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. on Aug. 28, 1963. (National Archives and Records Administration / Rowland Scherman)

The Jim Crow laws that followed endured for nearly a century, until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – landmark achievements born of sustained struggle by Americans determined to claim the Constitution’s promise. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded the nation, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” What is often unsaid is that this bending is never automatic; it functions only when driven by active human effort and persistent struggle. 

As a U.S. diplomat, I often drew on the histories of the Civil Rights and suffrage movements – which led to the 19th Amendment’s guarantee of the right to vote to women – to offer hope in countries gripped by social division, upheaval, and conflict. The American example demonstrated that ending violence is not achieved simply by laying down arms; lasting peace requires confronting and rectifying past injustices and striving for justice for all citizens. 

I also pointed to America’s role in defeating fascist Germany and Italy in World War II and to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s commitment to advancing democracy worldwide, as articulated in the Atlantic Charter. Roosevelt sought to replace empire – the dominant political model of the existing international order, where might made right – with a more egalitarian, liberal, rules-based system grounded in self-determination and national sovereignty. 

The United States emerged as a beacon of liberty, respected for its leadership and for providing the collective goods to establish the post–World War II international order. As that system now frays, our 250-year diplomatic history offers a clear lesson: Durable alliances and effective coalitions are built through hard work and careful statecraft. They are not built through the kind of bullying rhetoric or coercive threats that have been dangerously overused of late.  

America’s foreign and national security interests depend on more than military power; experienced diplomats and soft-power initiatives like the Marshall Plan and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) have played key roles in shaping global affairs and strengthening the country’s international standing. 

At home, I had been looking forward to sharing with my 85-year-old mother – a lifelong coin collector – the U.S. Mint’s plans for commemorative coins marking our nation’s 250th birthday. What should have been a moment of shared pride instead became one of disappointment when I learned that the Trump Administration had removed designs honoring Frederick Douglass, the women’s suffrage movement, and Civil Rights activist Ruby Bridges. 

The harm of these decisions goes beyond omission or historical distortion. It strips away powerful national symbols of what truly make America exceptional: our ongoing struggle to become a more perfect union. These stories embody the promise set forth in the Constitution’s preamble: to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Erasing them diminishes not only our understanding of the past, but also the example we offer the world – of a nation still striving to live up to its founding ideals.