On Wednesday, March 19th, 2025, Jon Meacham, a Presidential Historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, was the main speaker at the 28th Boe Forum on Public Affairs at Augustana University. He delivered a speech called “What Has America Learned?” and spoke about the history of our country and government, emphasizing what this country has learned and is still learning during its almost 250-year history. During the speech, he spoke about the divisions in our country and how we can move past these divisions to become a better government. Meacham also touched on the current state of the U.S., speaking about how our system isn’t truly broken, and how our government has never looked the way it does today. So, what has America learned from our own short but complicated history?
At the beginning of his speech, Meacham compared the present to 100 years ago, in 1925. He pointed out that the citizens of the 1920s U.S. also had issues with their government and that problems have always appeared in every government. He did this to disprove that the “good old days” were never even that good. He said, “The eras we wish to commemorate are the eras we constrict the Declaration of Independence.” These eras that people wish to commemorate are lessons we have learned from our history, such as the Civil War, defeating communism, the struggle for women’s rights, building up capitalism, segregation, and so much more. Meacham said that he believes our democratic country started with the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s when we began to recognize the people in this country as equal citizens. He believes that to face our issues in our government, we must “see our constitution as a sacred covenant and see each other as equal children”.
In his speech, Meachem stated, “We are established based on patriotism and not nationalism, “ and added later, “This country has learned that when we are patriotic, we are proud.” As a country, we have built our government and stationed our faith over a sense of devotion and attachment to the country, instead of placing loyalty and national interests above all else. Countries everywhere have developed and are tied together based on historical events and beliefs. America is often said to be united under pride, democracy, opportunity, history, diversity, and freedom. Based on some studies done by the Pew Research Center, 52% of Americans said the U.S. is one of the world’s greatest countries, alongside others. An additional 23% said the U.S. stands above all other countries. Roughly a quarter of the rest said that other countries are better than the U.S. America can often be depicted as the ‘origin and face of freedom’; however, based on the Human Freedom Index, America doesn’t make the top 15.
America’s democracy holds firm; however, are the people we put in office disrupting the system? Meachem answered this question with a single statement: “The system isn’t broken, we are broken.” One of the most challenging things that Americans face today is involvement with political backboards. It is hard to see the political truth without the use of corruption. When looking at President Trump, before his first term as President, which lasted from 2017 to 2021, he divided the Republicans and Democrats more than any incoming chief executive in the prior three decades. When President Trump was first elected, he enacted a tax cut that favored the wealthy over the average worker. He pushed immigration policies that hurt all workers and blocked workers from accessing courts. He then tried to take affordable healthcare away from millions of people, as well as undercut key worker protection agencies by nominating ‘anti-work leaders.’ Trump left office in 2021 with the lowest percentage of approval rating from US adults of his presidency. Trump’s overall rating never passed 50% and fell to 29% in his final weeks in office.
To keep the system stable and working, American Presidents have to both mold and be a reflection of society. One Augustana student asked Meachem if Trump’s reflective nature holds for society, or does it mold it? Meachem responded, saying that both notions are true and that President Trump is a mirror of who we are as a society.
In his speech, Meachem referred to several previous presidents, including Andrew Jackson. Meachem stated that Andrew Jackson believed in the rule of law. After his speech, an Augustana student asked Jon Meachem if he saw parallels between President Jackson and Trump. Meachem responded, saying that when Jackson lost his first presidential election in 1824, by taking the loss seriously and moving on, he respected the fundamental infrastructure of the Constitution, which was only 38 years old at the time. Andrew Jackson’s respect for the Constitution correlated with his respect for the country. Many people have started to speculate that Trump’s path is beginning to look like Andrew Jackson’s in 1828. For example, when Jackson won his election in 1828, he began to force the removal and relocation of Native American communities from their ancestral land. This is similar to Trump’s acts to remove and deport illegal US immigrants, gang members, as well as “necessarily” deporting legal US citizens and residents, according to the Trump Administration. Jackson continued to disregard public outcry and judicial decisions, acting with unconstrained authority.
According to CBS News, “An 1832 Supreme Court ruling – Worcester v. Georgia – established tribal sovereignty, yet Jackson refused to enforce the ruling and the displacement of the Cherokee people continued.” Despite these actions, President Jackson kept the nation strong and left a permanent imprint on America’s politics, history, and presidency. Within his eight years of presidency, he had taken personal followers of his who had elected him, and he molded them to form the country’s most durable and successful political party. The party’s organization and discipline would continue to serve in the future, acting as a model for all others.
The main points that Meacham went over that night may have left some confused or scared about the future of this country. Meacham did not discourage these worries, but instead, told us to reflect on our history. “History is a diagnostic guide,” Meacham stated. “We can look back to figure out how better to equip ourselves for the present and the future.” He also encouraged people to remember what American Democracy means. He believes we can live in a better tomorrow by reflecting and remembering. “Lend a hand if you may need a hand. That’s American Democracy.”
Sources:
https://millercenter.org/president/jackson/impact-and-legacy
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/01/29/how-america-changed-during-donald-trumps-presidency/
https://www.epi.org/publication/ten-actions-that-hurt-workers-during-trumps-first-year/
