The following is a foreword from the forthcoming book "The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals."

Commentators sometimes note that there are two types of countries. One type remains the same as it was a thousand years ago. The same groups of people argue against the same groups of people. Those arguments sow divisions within society. Those groups often fight wars against one another, and the nation itself makes little progress. 

The other type of country is one based on core documents. Those documents lay out important values, including democracy, human rights, equality, and the rule of law. Those values endure and serve as guideposts for the nation over time. And even when that nation proves itself imperfect, its people draw on their shared values to call on the nation – and its government – to live up to its creed. 

The second story is the story of America. We are a Nation, not of a single racially similar people; we are a Nation where very different kinds of people live together under legal and ethical documents. Our Nation’s canonical documents – the Declaration of........

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