Back to www.history.orgWhat is the “Great Debate”
A roundtable discussion moderated by Cathy Lewis, William White, Michael Hartoonian, and Richard Van Scotter.
Debate and Citizenship
The role of debating issues that shape our national civic discourse.
8:29
The Value Tensions
The enduring American values of freedom, equality, private wealth, common wealth, unity, diversity, law and ethics and the tensions these values create in our democracy.
7:50
Private Wealth vs. Common Wealth
Redefining wealth in terms of the individual needs of the citizen and their contribution to the public society.
7:34
Unity vs. Diversity
The revolving diverse immigration patterns of our history that are in tension with our unifying American narrative.
8:07
Freedom vs. Equality
The struggle between freedom and equality and how it affects our personal decisions.
9:03
Law vs. Ethics
How American law, the foundation of our social structure, doesn't always take a moral path.
9:37
Civic Responsibility
Citizenship as engagement in the central core of our society and how that creates a democratic wealthy America.
11:41Americans continually seek, in the words of the Constitution’s Preamble, to form a more perfect union. But we have disagreed throughout our history about just how to achieve this. Every generation has supplied its own answer. This is the “great debate,” an enduring conversation about how to strike the right balance between core values.
Americans share these values, but they exist in tension with each other. Too much of one value creates an imbalance incompatible with our democratic society. For example, one value Americans universally revere is freedom. But if one person had unlimited freedom, we would have a totalitarian state. If all had it, we would have anarchy. So we temper freedom with equality, the notion that rights and opportunities should be spread widely among the members of our society. Absolute equality would also be disastrous to the republic, as it would lead to communism and the repression of individual initiative. So we say that the values of freedom and equality are in tension, and Americans constantly debate how to fine tune that balance.
Similarly, we debate how to balance law and ethics, unity and diversity, and private wealth and common wealth. All our public debates can be viewed through this prism of the Great Debate as citizens push and pull the nation toward one or another value: first one way, then the other, then – sometimes decades later – back again.
You’ll find these debates throughout Colonial Williamsburg CONNECT:
Unity vs. Diversity
We celebrate our unity as one American nation, but we also cherish our diversity. How do these values sometimes clash?
Private Wealth vs. Common Wealth
Accumulating individual wealth is at the heart of our economy, yet we also contribute to the needs of the community. In what ways do we do both?
Law vs. Ethics
We are a nation of laws, but American heroes have protested or even rebelled against laws that were unethical. When is the right time for protest?
Freedom vs. Equality
Too much freedom for some can threaten equality for all. But the quest for equality can limit individual freedoms. How do we find a balance?
Historic Triangle
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