Thoughts on the 250th from me and my colleagues

Happy 4th of July, and happy 250 years of declared independence! Leading up to this date, the law school asked me and a number of other faculty for very short responses to this question: What's one lesson, institution, or idea from America's first 250 years that should help guide its future?

My answer was about constitutionalism:

The challenge of setting up America was how to establish rules of governance among people who disagreed about so much—commerce, religion, slavery, and more. How can those who disagree about what to do agree about who should do it? The answer was a written Constitution, buttressed by principles of law, which attempted to separate fundamental law from ordinary politics. It did so through specific mechanisms such as federalism, the separation of powers, and individual rights, but the separation of fundamental law from ordinary politics is the more basic idea that makes these mechanisms possible. This separation is what helps us hold our country together even as we disagree about what it should stand for.

And here was Sam’s:

The United States is an “experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people,” according to the first inaugural address. In that address, President Washington questioned whether we could preserve “the sacred fire of liberty” and a “Republican model of Government,” which he said would require “virtue,” “duty,” and “honest and magnanimous policy.” Fifty years later, President Jackson called time: “Our Constitution is no longer a doubtful experiment.” But Jackson was wrong and even today Washington is still right. Experiments are uncertain. They require learning and responsibility. And the outcome of our great experiment depends on what we demand of our leaders and cultivate in ourselves.

You can read all of the others at the law school website.