Fifty years later, Jimmy Carter’s acceptance speech at the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York City, delivered during America’s Bicentennial, still resonates today: “America’s birth opened a new chapter in mankind’s history. Ours was the first nation to dedicate itself clearly to basic moral and philosophical principles: that all people are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that the power of government is derived from the consent of the governed.”
