No – because courage alone wasn’t what made them successful, nor only “one critical virtue”. You have to look at every aspect of their efforts. They had multiple tasks and multiple goals, along with multiple steps on their path to achieving them.
And by saying that, I have to bring up a topic that is uncomfortable for me, but unavoidable. The simple fact is that they were very religious men. They prayed and sought Divine guidance. Did that make a difference? In my opinion (and please note my specification of “my opinion”), it made all the difference. But that is not to say that it is the ONLY reason they were successful. It was a part of the whole. So we need to study the past more to learn about how, what, and why something works or doesn’t.
Is it possible to bring about a great change without doing ALL that they did? I don’t think so. Trying to pinpoint one thing that they did, thinking that if we do it as well it will make us successful, is just foolish and shortsighted. The same goes for assuming that if we do ALL that they did, that we will automatically be successful. Neither is guaranteed.
We’ve talked about the Constitution, and I want to bring up the Declaration of Independence, because it’s one of my favorite pieces, and because it clearly explains the thought processes of our forefathers.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
They knew what they were doing. They understood PEOPLE, as well as GOVERNMENT. They understood that “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Whether we believe it our not, we (Americans as a whole) have given our consent for the government to function the way it does. Previous generations gave their consent.
So it seems to me, that our education should include the things that our forefathers knew and understood. Not the facts that they knew and understood, but the concepts that are timeless. So my questions are: How can you teach those concepts? And why haven't we learned them?