Charters of Freedom: Documents that define U.S. politics and government

Val and I were in Washington, D.C. for a week. He attended a training course in the city and I was on vacation mode, fresh from boot camp. While he was in class, I took the time to learn more about U.S. history.  

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Last year, I watched National Treasure but I hadn't been to Washington, D.C. nor seen the Declaration of Independence in person. In the movie, the protagonists found a clue to some secret treasure hidden in the opposite side of the parchment on which the Declaration was written, setting them off to a treasure hunt. 

I was so excited to visit the Library of Congress, thinking that the Declaration was there but a docent told me that it's actually on display at the National Archives building. The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution—the founding documents of the U.S.—are all housed in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom and are available for public viewing. However, photography is not allowed inside the National Archives building so I wasn't able to take photos of these special documents. The Rotunda was also dimly lit, making photography difficult... I even did not see the paintings adorning the walls properly. This section of the building was cooler than the rest of the space. Dim and cool conditions help preserve the documents.

Aside from the founding documents, I found insights from how the U.S. applied what these documents contain into real-life applications... these documents are the performance indicators against which each administration must measure up, in my opinion. The goals set by the Founding Fathers have not been achieved in their entirety, I learned. 

Declaration of Independence

The text was so faint that I couldn't read the text. Thomas Jefferson is the premier writer of this document. The most famous lines are in the preamble:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of happiness.

Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, recognised that the U.S. was defined not in 1789 with George Washington's presidency; rather, it was defined when it declared independence from the British Empire in 1776. The declaration was theoretical because despite the proposition of equality, slavery existed (particularly in the southern states). Lincoln took the first bold political step by abolishing the slaves through federal law (and ignited the Civil War over this moral economic question). But it would take several more decades in which coloured people were segregated, subjected to violence, and discriminated against before they stood up and fought for equality that should have been theirs for the taking centuries ago. It took many people, the most prominent of whom were Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, to obtain the legislation that recognised the civil rights of coloured people in the U.S. Although protected by law, racial minorities are still being victimised through systemic bias and violence. Women of (any) colour are still experiencing pay gaps in different industries. When will the U.S. realise its 243-year old proposition of equality for all? 

Constitution of the United States

Reading the document, I had the impression that the Constitution is a contract which people (or states) who join the nation agree upon. It begins with,

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a perfect a more perfect Union...

The Constitution was not perfect when it was first ratified. In fact, George Mason (one of the more obscure Founding Fathers) vehemently was against it because it lacked a bill of rights. The first 10 amendments were to add this list of rights that citizens of the U.S. enjoy now. Seventeen more ratified amendments were made on the Constitution. These amendments (aside from the Bill of Rights) included defining who U.S. citizens are, abolishing slavery, ensuring the right to vote to citizens regardless of ethnicity and gender, and limiting the number of times a person can be elected President. 

Going through the other exhibits made me realise that "We the People" was not necessarily inclusive and the amendments were intended to make the Constitution so. And its interpretation is probably in a state of flux right now because people's needs change, technologies require new regulations and personal protections, and culture changes. 

Bill of Rights

This is the collective name for the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. The First Amendment is printed very prominently in Newseum. Though Americans enjoy freedom of religion and of speech because of this amendment, it is important to realise that not all countries grant such freedoms to its citizens and going to these "stricter" countries means respecting and abiding by their laws. It is also important to consider that because of these freedoms, activists were able to fight for what their stakeholders need.

Among the contents of the Bill of Rights, some are more more controversial than others. Many are timeless and universal (in the context of the U.S.) but some may need updating. If George Mason were alive today and sees the Bill of Rights as it is applied these days, I wonder how he, the foremost advocate for the Bill, would react. 

Two hundred years ago, the U.S. was just an experiment in self-governance. The three documents, the Charters of Freedom, were the beginnings of that 243-year old nation. They contain the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the amendments made by later leaders. It was a great experience for me to visit the National Archives and see a glimpse of people's experiences through documents (e.g., news articles, books) in the context of the Charters of Freedom.