John T. Broderick

By John Broderick

The nation's founders approached their work in Philadelphia with great seriousness on that sweltering July day two and a half centuries ago. Upon departing Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin reportedly noted that they had created a Republic, if it could be preserved. The Declaration, endorsed despite major personal risks, outlined serious grievances, firm pledges to liberty, and bold assertions. Foremost was the principle that all people are born equal and granted by their Creator with certain inherent rights. Despite the force and vision of the Declaration of Independence, none of its remarkable provisions took effect automatically or appeared fully in the daily lives of the settlers.

Seven additional years of difficult war against steep odds and with major losses followed that July day. The Constitution, approved with New Hampshire's support in 1788 five years after the Treaty of Paris concluded America's costly struggle, set the framework and reach of the fresh three-branch system along with bounds on its central authority. Yet the forward-looking and daring statements on individual rights in the Declaration of Independence stayed mostly unwritten. The founders left it to the people to bring them to life. Our forebears responded.

The Bill of Rights, approved in 1791, updated the recently adopted Constitution to deliver key and pioneering details on the rights and benefits of America's residents, or at least some of them. In time further amendments arrived aimed at strengthening and shielding every individual citizen.

One point stood out clearly from our founding papers: in our fresh democratic republic the citizens, eventually covering all of us, would serve as its sole rulers with firm loyalty to our Constitution. It fell to us, the people, to deliver on its pledges and turn its goals into reality. We held the reins. And with that great power and duty came mutual duties. Chief among them was the need for us to stay informed. There existed truths, some but not all obvious, along with solid facts and conditions. To endure we had to grasp them and respect them.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1816, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” In sum, he believed that a nation could not long exist both ignorant and free. Jefferson saw ahead. He warned that if we failed to stay alert and active in the demanding tasks of citizenship, liberty would fade. The distinct nature of our country would mirror the nature of its citizens. Shared knowledge, broad information and honest intent formed its vital supports.

As a country now we appear less informed, less active and less alert than the past urges us to be. In a recent CATO Institute poll just 50 percent of those under age 30 could name the three branches of government, 67 percent did not grasp why the colonists sought independence and 52 percent could not name the country from which we separated to form a new nation. Forty-six percent of adults did not know what America marked on its 250th Anniversary.

A recent national poll also showed that 60 percent of registered Republicans still hold that the 2020 election was taken. Sixty-one courts ruled otherwise and the Republican Attorney General of the United States after a full review reached the same conclusion as the courts.

America's main challenge lies not with outside rivals or home and foreign threats but with our rising, self-satisfied lack of knowledge here. Unless we unite as a country with honesty, regard, insight, modesty, dependable facts, and a readiness to meet our shared issues with evidence, truth, and honest intent, we may bring Jefferson's deepest worry to pass. Democracy is not assured.

John T. Broderick Jr. is the founder of the Warren B. Rudman Center for Justice, Leadership and Public Policy at UNH Law and formerly served as Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. Most recently, he co-founded Pivot Point Mediation, a trauma informed private practice.