On Public Purposes of Private Schools

As those of us in the United States approach Independence Day tomorrow, we see that our country’s social fabric is frayed, and we know that the nation’s confidence is shaken. It’s not only the cultural left that’s down on the United States. Creative and learned authors on the intellectual right have also grown critical of the American founding and its philosophical foundations. But even in these anxious days, America deserves the thanks of its citizens—including, and perhaps even especially, the religious among us.

Statues of Americans past are much in the news, and my favorite story about an American statue comes from the writer and journalist Andrew Ferguson’s curious 2007 book, Land of Lincoln.

On location in Chicago, Ferguson locates a Thai restaurant whose owners, the Esche family, have erected a small shrine to America’s 16th president. When they arrived in Illinois in 1973, Mrs. Esche had seen the phrase “Land of Lincoln” on all of the license plates, and so she set out to learn about this man who was apparently a figure of significance in their new home. Mr. Esche, translating for his wife, recalled their thinking back then to Ferguson: “She says, in our country it is our custom that we pay respect to the person who is in charge of the country. And here it is Lincoln’s country. He’s the head man in history. You see him everywhere. Everyone loves him.”