We Americans of all people have been most aware of ourselves, most alive to our special character, our revolutionary tradition, our hospitality to human aspiration, our creation of a constitution and a manner of political life which, if it was not without precedent, is nonetheless unique in scope and in ambition. What we did in 1778 changed human affairs, and that will not be forgotten.

But let us consider what we have become. Powerful, to be sure. But important? That is something else. To be important—important not for the moment but important to human history—is not an inevitable result of power or size.