In Pictures: A day for a bigger ‘us’ – and a bigger US

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Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
Children dressed in Colonial garb, including one posing as Benjamin Franklin, ride on a Fourth of July parade float in Hingham, Massachusetts, in 2021.
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There are other nations as wealthy as the United States – others as large, as free, as diverse.

But there is no other nation that is all of these things together.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

Independence Day is a time for Americans to blow on the coals of their mutual love and loyalty and recognize something larger than themselves. These photos illustrate the many ways that patriotism shapes American culture.

That makes the United States an unprecedented experiment for the human race. Can a nation that reflects the world in all its diversity thrive and remain free and grow?

In a profound though imperfect way, the founders made a statement that still echoes down the centuries: that devotion to larger ideals – of justice and freedom – can forge common cause even over deep and unyielding differences. Abraham Lincoln is almost universally viewed as the greatest American president for the conviction and humility of his devotion to this idea. To break apart – to say our differences can defeat our union – is to make a grave statement about more than a nation, but a hope of all humanity.

The U.S., with its “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” does not matter merely as a global power or a financial engine or a national identity.

It matters because in its success or failure is a referendum for the world.

On the battlefield at Gettysburg in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made a plea for which he would later give his life: “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

He was talking about something more than American democracy. Look at these photographs beautifully chosen by Monitor photographer Melanie Stetson Freeman. They tell a unique story.

There are other nations as wealthy as the United States – others as large, as free, as diverse. But there is no other nation that is all of these things together.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

Independence Day is a time for Americans to blow on the coals of their mutual love and loyalty and recognize something larger than themselves. These photos illustrate the many ways that patriotism shapes American culture.

That makes the United States an unprecedented experiment for the human race. Can a nation that reflects the world in all its diversity cohere? Can it thrive and remain free and grow?

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
Immigrants take the oath of allegiance to the United States at a naturalization ceremony at Boston’s Faneuil Hall in 2018.

The United States alone offers an answer. And for that reason, the U.S., with its “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” does not matter merely as a global power or a financial engine or a national identity. It matters because in its success or failure is a referendum for the world.

The historical tricorn hats. The patriotic hay bales. The trumpet player. The farm. The new citizens. The nostalgic diner. The Boy Scouts. The bold belt buckle. The Azalea Festival princess. In each of these powerful images are forces that would both bind and divide Americans. Differences of culture or region or race. Mutual pride or fellowship or joy.

In a profound though imperfect way, the founders made a statement that still echoes down the centuries: that devotion to larger ideals – of justice and freedom – can forge common cause even over deep and unyielding differences. Lincoln is almost universally viewed as the greatest American president for the conviction and humility of his devotion to this idea. To break apart – to say our differences can defeat our union – is to make a grave statement about more than a nation, but a hope of all humanity.

Independence Day is a time for Americans to blow on the coals of their mutual love and loyalty and recognize something larger than themselves. In its highest sense, a nation is not an expression of a single ethnicity or of a thousand clamoring political wills, but of the incomparable power of finding an ascending “us.” 

Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
The American flag is proudly displayed near a barn and silos at a farm in Wisconsin.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
A young princess with her tiara attends the Azalea Queen’s coronation at the Azalea Festival in 2015 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
Maverick Club Rodeo queen Sierra Pillmore wears a belt buckle emblazoned with her title during the Maverick Ranch Rodeo on Aug. 3, 2013, in Cimarron, New Mexico.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
Arnold’s Drive-In still had servers on roller skates bringing food to your car in Decatur, Indiana, in June 2009.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
A member of the Jeanerette Senior High School Tiger Marching Band performs at an annual Sugar Cane Festival parade on Sept. 28, 2014, in New Iberia, Louisiana.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff/File
Hay bales spell out “God bless America” at a dairy in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, in 2020.
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