I was born on July
4, 1776, and the
Declaration of
Independence is my
birth certificate.
The bloodlines of
the world run in my
veins, because I
offered freedom to
the oppressed.
I am many things and
many people. I
am the United
States.
I am 213 million
living souls, and
the ghost of
millions who have
lived and died for
me.
I am Nathan Hale and
Paul Revere. I
stood at Lexington
and fired the shot
heard around the
world. I am
Washington,
Jefferson, and
Patrick Henry.
I am John Paul
Jones, the Green
Mountain boys, and
Davy Crockett.
I am Lee, Grant, and
Abe Lincoln.
I am the Brooklyn
Bridge, the wheat
lands of Kansas, and
the granite hills of
Vermont. I am
the coal fields of
the Virginias and
Pennsylvania; the
fertile lands of the
West; the Golden
Gate and the Grand
Canyon. I am
Independence Hall,
the Monitor and the
Merrimac.
I am big. I
sprawl from the
Atlantic to the
Pacific...my arms
reach out to embrace
Alaska and
Hawaii...three
million square miles
throbbing with
industry. I am
more than 5,000,000
farms; I am forest,
field, mountain and
desert. I am
quiet villages...and
cities that never
sleep. You can
look at me and see
Ben Franklin walking
down the streets of
Philadelphia with
his bread loaf under
his arm. You
can see Betsy Ross
with her needle.
You can see the
lights of Christmas,
and hear the strains
of "Auld Lang Syne"
as the calendar
turns.
I am Babe Ruth and
the World Series.
I am 110,000 schools
and colleges and
330,000 churches
where people worship
God as they think
best. I am a
ballot dropped in a
box, the roar of a
crowd in a stadium,
and the voice of a
choir in a
cathedral. I
am an editorial in a
newspaper, and a
letter to a
Congressman.
I am Eli Whitney and
Stephen Foster.
I am Tom Edison,
Albert Einstein, and
Billy Graham.
I am Horace Greeley,
Will Rogers, and the
Wright brothers.
I am George
Washington Carver,
Jonas Salk and
Martin Luther King
Jr. I am
Longfellow, Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Walt
Whitman and Thomas
Paine.
Yes, I am the
Nation, and these
are the things that
I am. I was
conceived in
freedom, and, God
willing, in freedom
will I spend the
rest of my days.
May I possess always
the integrity, the
courage, and the
strength to keep
myself unshackled,
to remain a citadel
of freedom and a
beacon of hope to
the world.
I am the United
States!
Otto Whittaker
1955