The Dawning of Hope

Born in a well-lit council room in a beautiful brick building in Philadelphia, our nation was conceived out of an unheard-of political ideal and shaped by five words which have echoed off the walls and streets of every town throughout the nation: All men are created equalHowever, when the men at Independence Hall dared to forge a new nation against impossible odds, their iconic phrase was little more than a fantasy to such a diverse group of fragmented people. Plantation owners. Slaves. Factory owners. Child laborers. Merchants. Indentured servants. Poor farmers. Privateers and pirates. Sailors. Politicians. Average people from all religions, all social classes, and all countries. A fragmented, dissonant people attempting to form a cohesive, harmonious orchestra. Average people pursuing an extraordinary goal: All men are created equal Meanwhile, the world watched America, the Great Experiment, with incredulous and scoffing eyes. A host of admirers, skeptics, emulators, and naysayers looked on, watching to see if the petulant colonists would succeed in their fool's errand or simply fall apart in their ineptitude. This is the dramatic story of America's successes and failures in its quest to achieve the highest possible ideal for mankind: All men are created equalA five-word phrase that left an indelible mark on the world by offering every unique individual something they had always searched for: hope.