Pursuing Shared Civic Purposes amidst Division and Diversity in Modern America

The severe political polarization that besets contemporary America cannot be successfully diminished unless Americans advance narratives of common identity, stories of peoplehood, in which most can see their aspirations and values expressed. America as an ongoing democratic project is one such narrative. Still better is the story told by the antislavery constitutionalists, including Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, who saw America as dedicated to securing basic rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for all people, of all colors, everywhere.