Photograph by Malcolm Hill via Pexels

In the history of this country, only three American citizens have had a national holiday established in their honor: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr. The best way to think about all three of these national heroes might be through the lens of the one document that binds all Americans together, whatever, their race, religion, region, or political party might be. I am referring to the United States Constitution. In the Preamble to that document these words are found: “To secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.”

In one way or another, that phrase forced each of those three men to consider who is and is not covered by “ourselves and our posterity.” To whom was the promise of liberty and freedom intended? During the lifetime of George Washington, “ourselves and our posterity” was limited to white males over the age of twenty-one who were either free or indentured. The right to vote, the right to own and transfer property, and the presumptions of equal justice under the law was only enjoyed by a sliver of the national population. “Ourselves and our posterity.” Washington did not think that his wife Martha enjoyed those same privileges. He could not imagine that the enslaved persons living and maintaining his lifestyle at Mount Vernon were a part of that constitutional provision. “We the people of the United States” preferred and privileged “we the white male adults of the United States.” 

When Abraham Lincoln came along, the question of ourselves and our posterity was front and center once again. In 1858, when he accepted the nomination of the Republican Party for a seat in the Illinois State Senate, he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. This government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.” Five years later, as President of the United States, Lincoln tried to expand the scope of liberty and freedom to “ourselves and our posterity” by issuing the Emancipation Proclamation that outlawed slavery in states that were in rebellion against the Union as of that time. Supported by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, formerly enslaved men were given the right to vote and the promise of equal protection under the law. The voting rights of women was not established in this country until 1920 through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

There were two flaws with Lincoln’s attempt to expand “ourselves and our posterity.” The first, of course, is that the Confederate states that were in rebellion against the Union between 1861 and 1865 rejected the notion that Lincoln had the authority to abolish slavery in their states. He was no longer their President; Jefferson Davis was their leader. The second problem with Lincoln’s proclamation is that he allowed slavery to continue in the border states of Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. Not all African Americans were included in this attempt to expand “ourselves and our posterity.” 

Now consider the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. In his final speech at Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968, he said, “All we say to America is: ‘Be true to what you said on paper.’” That was a reference to both the Declaration of Independence that said, “all men are created equal,” and the U.S. Constitution and who is included in “ourselves and our posterity.” As a result of his heroic leadership, the 1964 Civil Rights Bill and the 1965 Voting Rights Act took major steps toward including African Americans as full citizens of this country.

However, regarding the progress made under Lincoln, it must be remembered that post-Reconstruction beginning in 1877 completely took away all the citizenship rights of the formerly enslaved in this country, imposing instead a society of rigid, racial segregation and racialized violence. In the post-Civil Rights era, there is a similar attempt to turn back the clock today. Civil Rights protections are being rolled back by the newly inaugurated Trump administration. Birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, is being challenged. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs (DEI) are being outlawed at the federal agencies and voluntarily abandoned by many employers and institutions in the private sector. Undocumented persons and immigrants who have not become fully naturalized citizens are in danger of being caught up in Trump’s mass deportation efforts. All these efforts are an attempt to redefine and severely restrict who is included in “ourselves and our posterity.”

Christian Nationalism, the MAGA movement, and Project 2025 are all doing their best to return the United States to the power demographics of 1787 where white, heterosexual, Protestant males over the age of twenty-one are the real Americans, and those outside of the profile must find their place in a subordinate role. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968. Here we are today, 57 years later, remembering his dream while we live through the nightmare of a second Trump administration. To anyone who might object to what I have written here, I ask two simple questions. First, who do you believe deserves all the rights and privileges of American citizenship? Second, who do you think should be able to “secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity”? The future of the United States of America hangs on how the majority of its citizens answer these two questions.