Becoming an Inclusive Republic

Cordell Carter examines some of our country’s founding documents from 1776 to modern times. Maybe these texts can be a common point of departure for the start of deeper conversations with people who hold views different from your own. Take a deep dive into this video and texts and consider the questions: Who is “we”? How has our notion of “we” evolved? Where do we go from here?

Presented to students on October 15, 2020.

Featuring Cordell Carter, Esq.

Cordell Carter, ‘98, is executive director of the Aspen Institute Socrates Program.

Reading for this session

U.S. Declaration of Independence

Federalist No. 10: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection

United States Supreme Court – Dred Scott v. John F. A. Sandford (1857)

“What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass

“I Have a Dream,” by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“How the White Working Class Lost Its Patriotism,” by J.D. Vance // The Washington Post, July 25, 2016

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Seneca Falls Declaration,” sentiments and resolutions, 1848

Eleanor Roosevelt, “The Struggle for Human Rights,” speech delivered September 28, 1948

U.S. Constitution, “Landmark Legislation: Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Nineteenth Amendments,” 1789

Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman?” Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio, speech delivered December 1851

Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Why I am a Republican,” Saturday Evening Post, April 11, 1964

Sonia Sotomayor, “A Latina judge’s voice,” speech delivered October 26, 2001

Robert Bellah, “Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life,” 1985, selection

Francis Fukuyama, “Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment,” Stories of Peoplehood, 2018, Chapter 13, pp. 158-162, selection

Adam Kersch, “American Patriotism Is Worth Fighting For,” The Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2019

Note: Online access to some resources is unavailable to the general public and some articles are behind a paywall. All these resources are likely available without cost via public library access.