Jon Meacham: History Isn’t Comforting, But It Can Be Inspirational

It's been a week since a bruising presidential election, and Canon Historian Jon Meacham has some words of wisdom from our history.

Speaking to MSNBC, Jon reached back into our collective history for something to help this wounded nation move forward. It’s worth mentioning that he was not speaking as Canon Historian, but in his day job as Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian at Vanderbilt University. Here’s an excerpt:

“One of the things I try to say to friends who are on that edge of despair is: history isn’t necessarily comforting, but it should be inspirational. Because fallen, frail and fallible people, like you and me, managed to produce a country that was fairer, freer, and more just. And they weren’t any better than we were. 

There was never a ‘once upon a time’ in American history, and there’s never going to be a ‘happily ever after’ because this is a human undertaking. There’s not a magical moment, there’s not a place where there is perfection within time and space. 

So what we have to do, I believe, is bear witness to that ideal. The ideal that Lincoln called an equal and open share, an equal shot. And it’s going to be really hard; it’s always been really hard.”