Compass Points - The Next 250
The United States continues the voyage.
Compass Points - The Next 250
The United States continues the voyage.
July 5, 2026
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Over the last week, as we counted down to the 250th celebration of the United States, Compass Points readers have generated online and off a cornucopia of comments, insights, and analysis. Compass Points appreciates all readers who in their own ways are continuing to build the discussion about a stronger Marine Corps, and also thanks all our readers who served as seminar leaders this week by providing topics, articles, and comments. Many thanks!
Sunday is a good day for reflection.
This Sunday, is a good day to reflect on the first 250 years of the United States, and the prospects for the next 250 years.
The colonialists declared their independence from Great Britain and created the first self-governing nation. Our founders declared, with very little evidence, that ordinary people could not only run their own lives, they could steer the course of a nation. We are still embarked on that great voyage of discovery. Still seeking to find if ordinary people can make enough good decisions for themselves and for the nation to keep the ship afloat.
The Declaration of Independence concluded by appealing for divine assistance;
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And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
-- US Declaration of Independence, (excerpt)
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Again and again, the founders in pledging all they had, cried out for divine assistance.
In 1774 at the opening of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, our founders began with a prayer.
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First Prayer of the Continental Congress, 1774
O Lord our Heavenly Father, high and mighty King of kings, and Lord of lords, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers on earth and reignest with power supreme and uncontrolled over all the Kingdoms, Empires and Governments; look down in mercy, we beseech Thee, on these our American States, who have fled to Thee from the rod of the oppressor and thrown themselves on Thy gracious protection, desiring to be henceforth dependent only on Thee. To Thee have they appealed for the righteousness of their cause; to Thee do they now look up for that countenance and support, which Thou alone canst give. Take them, therefore, Heavenly Father, under Thy nurturing care; give them wisdom in Council and valor in the field; defeat the malicious designs of our cruel adversaries; convince them of the unrighteousness of their Cause and if they persist in their sanguinary purposes, of own unerring justice, sounding in their hearts, constrain them to drop the weapons of war from their unnerved hands in the day of battle!
Be Thou present, O God of wisdom, and direct the councils of this honorable assembly; enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation. That the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that order, harmony and peace may be effectually restored, and truth and justice, religion and piety, prevail and flourish amongst the people. Preserve the health of their bodies and vigor of their minds; shower down on them and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seest expedient for them in this world and crown them with everlasting glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior.
Amen.
Reverend Jacob Duché
Rector of Christ Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
September 7, 1774, 9 o’clock a.m.
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Nearly one hundred years later, in just a few words at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln described what was at stake.
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. . . that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
-- A. Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (excerpt)
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From our founders in 1776, to Lincoln at Gettysburg, to today, why is an experiment in self-government important? Why do human beings instinctively value and strive for freedom? One answer is that freedom is the gift that links God to nations and links God to man. Every animal, tree, and rock of the physical world comes pre-programmed. Each can only do as their programming dictates.
Humans are the exception. Humans possesses the divine spark, not only of life, but of choice. Each person and each nation has the power to choose. Both nations and individuals at times, choose merely to indulge their own selfish whims, wants, and passions, but, sometimes, humans choose to struggle toward their divine destiny.
Both nations and individuals must be free to seek and free to choose the better path forward. Will they choose to align with a lower power or with a higher power? Every free person is an ambassador of something. A person might be an ambassador of avarice and ambition. Or, a person might choose to be an ambassador of light.
It was 250 years ago yesterday when the founders of the United States made a dangerous choice. They choose to be free. In the 250 years since then, the citizens of the United States have struggled to make good choices in their own lives and good choices for the Nation. The journey continues. The struggle continues. Despite the struggle, will Americans choose freedom for the next 250 years? If the United States continues “with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence,” the future will still be messy, but the outcome is assured.
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