Its peculiarity consists, not merely in its brevity, but in the fact that from the beginning it has been informed by an idea.

From the beginning Americans have been anticipating and projecting a better future.

From the beginning the Land of Democracy has been figured as the Land of Promise.

Thus the American's loyalty to the national tradition rather affirms than denies the imaginative projection of a better future.

An America which was not the Land of Promise, which was not informed by a prophetic outlook and a more or less constructive ideal, would not be the America bequeathed to us by our forefathers.