To my cherished readers,
My editor challenged me to contemplate 250 years of the American experience and to anchor that reflection in the U.S.-Spain relationship or, more broadly, the transatlantic connection. All within eight hundred — or twelve hundred — words. A formidable task I’ll likely fall short of in one way or another, but after much contemplation and comparatively little writing, I’m a month overdue, so let’s give it a try.
Make no mistake: the United States of America is an idea brought to life by the courage, creativity, and conviction of our Founding Fathers. The very essence of that idea was celebrated on the Fourth of July. You see, the American Revolutionary War actually began in 1775 with the battles of Lexington and Concord. The military conflict concluded in 1781 with the Battle of Yorktown, and the war formally ended in 1783 with the Treaty of Paris.
“Our founding document was built upon hope for the future more than it was grounded in reality”
The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. Ultimately, our founding document was built upon hope for the future more than it was grounded in reality. That’s the essence of this nation: its greatest visionaries have always been dreamers looking forward to forging a future that surpasses their own dreams.
This is the land of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, among the other Founding Fathers. Yet it is also the country of Crispus Attucks, a former slave and a sailor of Native American and African descent, who became the first American to perish in the Boston Massacre of 1770. The poet John Boyle O’Reilly remembered him as “the first to defy, the first to die.” Our independence was also secured by other courageous figures such as James Armistead Lafayette, a slave who spied for George Washington’s Continental Army and who served as a volunteer under the Marquis de Lafayette. There are others, such as Abigail Adams, the wife of Founding Father John Adams, whose letters to him during his time in the Continental Congress and while he served as an ambassador abroad significantly influenced his thinking. Adams’ counsel to her husband is a reminder that when someone serves in a conflict, their family also makes a profound sacrifice.
The Founders were intricate figures. Thomas Jefferson condemned slavery in an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, but this was ultimately cut from the final text. Jefferson himself infamously owned enslaved people. Slavery undoubtedly was America’s original sin.
It took a new generation of Founding Fathers and Mothers to grapple with this matter across the years, notably President Abraham Lincoln, President Ulysses S. Grant, and the renowned abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass. Many Americans have had to fight for their civil rights over time, whether through peaceful protest or through the courts and advocacy before Congress.
Whether at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 in New York; Bloody Sunday on March 7, 1965, in Selma, Alabama; the Delano Grape Strike in 1965 or the East Los Angeles walkouts in 1968; the Stonewall riots on June 28, 1969; or the Longest Walk in 1978, Americans have long organized and fought for their rights. The courage of generations past and the ongoing vigilance of Americans today have yielded significant legislative and judicial advances.
“The courage of generations past and the continued vigilance of Americans today have led to key legislative and judicial advances”
At their core, the United States’ identity rests on a nation where individuals can shape the lives they pursue and where their freedoms are safeguarded by law. It has taken time for the United States to live up to its founding promise because this country is not perfect. If no single person is perfect, how could an entire nation be perfect? It cannot. But what is perfect are the founding ideals of this country, and what inspires is how countless people have fought over 250 years to ensure those ideals, dreams, and rights apply to all.
Beyond diplomacy
What does the U.S. 250th anniversary mean for Spain? To be frank, I’m not certain. Yet I know we have shared a great deal over time. The contributions of Bernardo de Gálvez have been heralded extensively by others and highlighted by the Spanish Embassy here in Washington, D.C., across social media. His deeds mattered, yes, but so do those of others whose names we may not know, including Americans and Spaniards today.
Perhaps what’s most important at this moment for the U.S.-Spain relationship are the efforts of individual citizens from both nations to connect with one another. It’s encouraging that there are dedicated government officials and diplomats working to deepen ties between the two countries, but it is also vital to recognize the contributions of students, business leaders, writers, and artists who have helped shape the bilateral relationship into what it is today.
“It is important to recognize the efforts of students, business leaders, writers, and artists who have made the bilateral relationship what it is today”
Programs such as Fulbright and NALCAP in the United States and Spain, respectively, have done much to foster understanding between the two nations. Foreign direct investment and trade between the two have created jobs and prosperity for people on both shores of the Atlantic. Millions around the world have found inspiration in reading the works of both Miguel de Cervantes and Ernest Hemingway. And King Felipe VI of Spain is a proud Georgetown University graduate.
Moreover, roughly 13 percent of people in the United States speak Spanish, and the U.S. dollar traces its lineage to the Spanish milled dollar. And just a month ago, fans of soccer — Americans and Spaniards alike — gathered in restaurants, cafes, bars, and community centers across the United States to cheer for Spain as they claimed the World Cup title, a tournament co-hosted by the United States. In the end, the histories of the United States and Spain are inseparably linked.
The strongest pillar of the U.S.-Spain relationship is its people. It’s no secret that the governments of both nations are navigating a difficult period. Yet, as someone who spent last year in Spain and who knows many Spaniards living here in the Washington, D.C. area, I remain hopeful that the best is yet to come for relations between our two countries.
