We call it the American Experiment. Yet too often we celebrate it without studying it, invoke it without interrogating it, and inherit it without improving it. A republic designed to learn from experience cannot afford to ignore its own lessons from history.
As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the country faces a deeper question than how to celebrate its founding. Do we still know how to learn from it?
The anniversary arrives at a moment of deep uncertainty. Trust in institutions is low. Civic knowledge is thin. Our politics often reward immediacy over reflection. And yet the challenges we face concerning division, leadership, and self-government are not entirely new. They are the recurring tests of a diverse, democratic republic.
But if we have faced these tests before, why don’t we seem to remember how we met them?
A choice is before us. This can be a moment of nostalgia or a moment of learning and renewal. It can be a celebration of what was, or a serious effort to recover the habits of mind that sustain a republic.
At Monticello—the home of Thomas Jefferson and a place where ideals were both declared and tested—an alliance of 44 Presidential Centers and civic organizations gathered in 2024 with a single purpose: to ensure that this anniversary accomplished something more than commemoration. 2026 must challenge us as citizens to analyze our past to inform the future. From that meeting, the In Pursuit initiative was born as a solution to the problem.
It became clear that the place to begin was the presidency—not focusing on politics or partisanship, but as a long-standing case study in democratic leadership under pressure. Presidents and first ladies have confronted issues of war and peace, expansion and fracture, moral crisis and disunion. Collectively, their experiences offer a rare perspective over time.
What distinguishes their most enduring contributions is not the offices they held, but the character they demonstrated: patience in uncertainty, discipline in crisis, the modesty to listen, and the resilience to endure. These are not abstract principles or virtues. They are the pragmatic foundations for democratic leadership, relevant to all of us, no matter our station in life.
That is why In Pursuit gathered leading historians, journalists, and public figures to distill lessons from these historically recognizable figures. The lessons they have identified are meant not for unquestioned admiration, but for application.
George W. Bush reminds us, through the example of George Washington, that leadership’s greatest strength is not bravado but humility. Joseph Ellis points to Abigail Adams as proof that enduring change requires both courage and patience, often in unequal measure. Jack Rakove draws from James Madison the enduring wisdom that process, not perfection, sustains legitimacy in a republic.
Each week of the project, a new lesson emerges—not as a relic of the past, but as a guide for the present. History is not a set of perfect models. It provides us with examples of wisdom, failure, and consequence. The most instructive moments are not always the triumphs. The tension between principle versus pragmatism or restraint versus action is where we can learn from our past leaders.
The stories being told aren’t meant to remain on the page. They are being carried into classrooms, libraries, civic forums, podcasts, and communities across the nation. Through teachers and scholars, through historians and citizens, these lessons are reaching millions, inviting citizens to engage with our past, not as passive spectators but as participants in an ongoing American experiment.
When Jefferson wrote about the “pursuit of Happiness” in the Declaration, he did not describe a solitary quest. He described a shared endeavor—a recognition that individual flourishing is inseparable from the well-being of others. Happiness, in the American sense, is not only a right; it is a responsibility. Ultimately, happiness is a cooperative enterprise we help each other achieve. That requires learning and thoughtful engagement.
That idea lies at the heart of this effort. Like so many defining movements in our history, it began not in the halls of power, but among private citizens—men and women without title but in possession of a conviction to renew our attachment to founding principles and to apply them to modern challenges. As such, this project emerged from a voluntary group of leaders—in a spirit of continuous improvement.
The American Experiment does not run on autopilot. It requires attention, reflection, and, above all, participation.
As we approach this historic anniversary, the question is not whether we will celebrate. It is whether we will learn. Not whether we will look back, but whether we will move forward, guided by the successes and failures that have carried us this far.
The past isn’t finished with us. The only question is whether we are willing to learn from it.
Colleen Shogan is CEO of More Perfect’s In Pursuit, Senior Advisor to Stand Together, and the former 11th Archivist of the United States. Both are Senior Practitioner Fellows at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
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