MS NOW guest and presidential historian Jon Meacham made the case on Wednesday that the U.S.as a "multiracial, multiethnic democracy" was not founded until 1965 in the days leading up to the Fourth of July."You know, we talk about, directly to your point, we talk about this as the 250th anniversary, which it is, of the Second Continental Congress passing the Declaration of Independence, fully beginning the Revolutionary War, which ultimately leads in 1787-1789 to the framing of the Constitution, the inauguration of George Washington, and the beginning of what we would see as a recognizable experiment in self-government, except that a lot of people weren’t included in that," Meacham said on MS NOW's "Morning Joe."He continued, "And in that important sentence about 'all men being created equal,' men had a very particular application in that era.
There’s a very good case to be made, I think, that we were really founded in 1965, that that’s when a multiracial, multiethnic democracy came more fully into being, with the Immigration and Nationality Act, with the Voting Rights Act.And so we’re really about 60 years old, and we’re a developing democracy in a lot of ways."MS NOW GUEST ADMITS 'GREAT TREPIDATION' ABOUT CELEBRATING AMERICA'S 250TH, CLAIMS COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYEDAmerica will celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4th this Friday.
(iStock)However, Meacham, who has previously written speeches for former President Joe Biden, revered America's Founding Fathers as proof that "imperfect people can push us toward more perfect outcomes.""Let’s remember that we have to honor them by following them.We can’t just preach.
We have to practice," Meacham said.MS NOW HOST ROASTED FOR QUESTIONING IF MIKE JOHNSON IS PUTTING 'GOD OVER THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE'In the months leading up to the 250th anniversary of America's founding, several current and former MS NOW hosts have expressed trepidation about the holiday over the nation's history with slavery.Pres...