America’s founding is an inheritance purchased with blood; we owe it our remembrance

As America approaches its 250th birthday, we face a question larger than politics, elections, parties, or personalities.

What will we do with the inheritance we have been given?

Today, powerful cultural voices often encourage Americans to focus exclusively on the nation’s flaws while ignoring its achievements.

The United States of America did not emerge from history by accident. It was purchased with courage, sacrifice, conviction, and blood. Before there was a Constitution, before there was prosperity, before there was even a nation, there were men who willingly placed everything they possessed on the altar of liberty.

Risking it all

One of those men was Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

Today, his name is not nearly as familiar as Washington, Jefferson, or Adams. Yet Carroll occupies a unique place in American history.