Embassy of The United States
Yerevan, Armenia
11 June 2005
The Honorable John M. Evans
U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia
The Continuing Effect of the American Revolution
I am delighted to be with you this evening at the American University of
Armenia. There is nothing more important to the development of any society
than education, and this relatively new university is already making a solid
contribution to this old, but newly independent land, the Republic of
Armenia. I am proud that the United States Government supported the
establishment of this institution, and continues to support its quest for
full accreditation. The State of California, among the fifty states of our
Union, is a proven leader in public education, and this university’s
connection with the University of California seems to me a most appropriate
and fortunate one.
This evening I want to address a subject that has been much in the news
following the Rose Revolution in Georgia eighteen months ago, the contested
elections in Ukraine last fall, and the recent events in Kyrgyzstan and
Uzbekistan. I have borrowed the title of my talk from the eminent British
historian Arnold Toynbee, who delivered a lecture in Williamsburg, Virginia,
a cradle of the American Revolution, forty-four years ago today, on June 10,
1961. Toynbee entitled that lecture “The Continuing Effect of the American
Revolution.” The subject was relevant then, and it is newly relevant again
today. I will state my conclusion here at the outset: the principles of the
American Revolution continue to reverberate down through the centuries to
our own day, but it is the primarily the power of those principles and
ideals, and not the power of today’s American Government and its embassies,
that is bringing change to countries around the world, and to this region in
particular.
There has been much loose talk and conspiracy theorizing in the post-Soviet
media about the so-called Rose, Orange and Tulip revolutions and what
brought them about. There has been considerable speculation about what
country in this region might be “next in line” for a revolution in the
streets. One hears and reads that U.S. embassies have been turned into
headquarters for fomenting such revolutions, that millions of dollars have
been channeled to groups plotting to seize power. I have not yet heard it
alleged that the United States has sent anyone into this part of the world
in a sealed train, but it would not surprise me to hear such a thing.
These allegations are, of course, entirely unfounded. The United States
Government is not embarked on a campaign to destabilize the newly
independent states of the former Soviet Union, which we count among our
friends. The United States does not advocate mob violence in the streets or
unconstitutional or illegal activities of any sort. To the contrary, we
believe whole-heartedly in the principle that the citizens of a democratic
state should choose their new leaders via the ballot box, through free and
fair elections. And we are unabashed about saying so. We also are unashamed
of the fact that we have extended material support to governments,
parliaments, political parties and non-governmental organizations in this
part of the world to help them establish the conditions in which democracy,
and free and fair elections in particular, can flourish. Far from giving up
on this part of the world, and making the condescending assumption that
populations of the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union are
somehow “not ready” for democracy, the United States has persisted in its
encouragement of the development of true democratic institutions. The
people — the voters – of Armenia and other countries in this region deserve
no less.
But let us go back for a minute to the eighteenth century and the American
Revolution, and to Arnold Toynbee.
It has been said that the division between the English-speaking peoples of
the world that took place in the last quarter of the eighteenth century was
a tragedy for mankind. Be that as it may, one effect of the American
Revolution was to alienate Americans from their English cousins. It is
indicative that Toynbee was only the second Englishman to be invited to
address the annual Prelude to Independence celebration in Williamsburg. John
Kennedy was our new president at that time, and Toynbee’s main purpose was
to explore the question of whether the United States would prove true to the
principles of its own revolution, as Kennedy had recently indicated in his
inaugural address that it might. Toynbee pointed out that every revolution
since 1776 had owed something to the American Revolution. He warned that if
America did not choose to lead humanity toward a more free, just and
democratic future, others would claim that right. He noted, in 1961, that
the majority of mankind was suffering not only from political injustice, but
from social and economic injustices as well. He called on the United States
to take the lead in what he called the “American-born world revolution of
our time.”
Let us look back at the American Revolution itself. The men who made the
Revolution were educated men, lawyers mostly, steeped in the thinking of
John Locke and other theoreticians of what was, at that time, the most
advanced political culture in the world. They were Englishmen still, very
hesitant, for the most part, to break with the Mother Country until a series
of ill-advised actions taken by the Government of Lord North drove them to
the extreme expedient of declaring their independence. England herself had
gone through a bloody civil war and the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688. Many,
if not most, of the principles of the American Revolution were already
established in English precedent. But like most revolutions, the American
Revolution had its origin not only in the thinking and writing of
philosophers and intellectuals, but in a spark provided by a real political
crisis. In the American case, it was the imposition of taxes and customs
duties, on tea and other goods, that ignited the conflict. The high-handed
actions of the British Crown and Parliament revealed and made actionable
their lack of accountability to the citizens they presumed to govern. “No
taxation without representation” became the fighting slogan of the American
Revolution.
The men who made the American Revolution were, with the possible exceptions
of John and Sam Adams in Boston, Thomas Paine in Philadelphia and Patrick
Henry in Virginia, not hot-blooded or inclined to violence. It took several
years for the trans-Atlantic dispute over taxes and import duties to reach
the point of no return. But when the first shot rang out at Lexington and
Concord in the spring of 1776, it was indeed, “a shot heard ’round the
world.”
Although it began as a dispute over taxes and import duties, the American
Revolution ultimately gave voice to certain principles that were said even
at the time to have universal applicability, and which have, indeed, proven
to have universal appeal. It is those principles, and not the machinations
of the American foreign policy apparatus, that account for the “continuing
effect of the American Revolution.”
Toynbee noted in his speech in Williamsburg in 1961 that Britain herself was
actually the first country to profit from the liberalizing impetus of the
American Revolution. France’s Revolution may have been stimulated in part by
the American example, but its excesses had a chilling effect on most of
Continental Europe. Once recovered from the trauma of dealing with Napoleon,
Great Britain went on to adopt the Reform Bill of 1832, and the 19th century
saw Britain become the leading example of a limited constitutional
monarchy — albeit without a written constitution, which eloquently
demonstrates that the spirit of democracy, and the daily implementation of
democratic principles, may well be more important than what is written down
on paper.
The American Declaration of Independence signed on July 4, 1776 in
Philadelphia contains principles that have echoed down the centuries. The
idea that “all men are created equal” and are “endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights” was put forward as a universal claim. It has
been cited by revolutionaries seeking to break the bonds of oppression from
South America to Africa to Asia.
Having unleashed these revolutionary ideas into the world, the United States
has at various times taken greater or lesser interest in propagating them
overseas, but it has never wavered in its basic commitment to them. And the
spirit of democracy that we attempt to live by, that we try to demonstrate
in our daily lives and in our political life, is contagious.
The idealist and student of American history Woodrow Wilson was perhaps the
most outspoken of our Presidents on the desirability of “making the world
safe for democracy,” as he put it. But in our own time, President Reagan and
President Bush have renewed the call for liberty that first was heard in the
Declaration of Independence. In his Second Inaugural Address, President Bush
stated clearly that “it is the policy of the United States to seek and
support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation
and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.” This is
not a call to revolution in the streets; rather it is a challenge to all
citizens of the world to engage in the hard, daily work of perfecting the
democratic institutions of their own countries, to make governments fully
accountable to their citizens, to reinforce the rule of law and to ensure
respect for the individual. This challenge is in many ways more demanding
than a simple call for revolution, because it asks of each of us that we
contribute our time, efforts and skills in the arts of public discourse to a
never-ending struggle.
Let me quote Professor Toynbee once again. As he put it, in an echo of
Winston Churchill’s famous phrase, “.democracy has proved itself by
experience to be the least unsatisfactory of all political regimes that have
been devised so far.” But he went on to say that “Democracy, in the sense of
representative self-government. . .has been indigenous in only a few
countries; and, even in these countries, it has taken ages of time, and
successions of efforts and sacrifices to bring democracy to maturity.
Democracy is difficult to achieve and to maintain, because it requires for
its successful operation the active cooperation of a large contingent of
able, experienced, and public-spirited citizens. . . The supply of citizens
of the kind that is democracy’s lifeblood has never been sufficient even in
the handful of countries in which democracy is indigenous and more or less
effective.”
This, of course, is where education comes in, and where a university of this
kind can play a major role. Not that democracies should be run by
intellectuals, but an educated citizenry that can engage in civilized debate
and think about the important issues facing society, and not just about
where the next meal is coming from, is essential.
The job of building and perfecting democracy is never completely done. As
President Bush said recently, “the path to a free society is long and not
always smooth.” Speaking at a dinner of the International Republican
Institute recently, the President recalled the history of our own country,
noting that “the American Revolution was followed by years of chaos” and
that “it took a four-year war, and a century of struggle after that, before
the promise of our Declaration [of Independence] was extended to all
Americans.” And, the President said, “No nation in history has made the
transition from tyranny to a free society without setbacks and false starts.
What separates those nations that succeed from those that falter is their
progress in establishing free institutions. So to help young democracies
succeed, we must help them build free institutions to fill the vacuum
created by change.”
Let me relate what I have been saying — and what the President has said —
to the Republic of Armenia.
The job of building democracy in the Republic of Armenia has been well
started. The main principles of freedom and democracy have found their
expression in the Constitution and major legislation that is now on the
books. But what still needs work is the job of building and strengthening
the institutions that make a democracy function as it should. The United
States remains committed to helping Armenia — its government, courts,
parliament, political parties and citizens — build, strengthen and refine
the free institutions of which President Bush has spoken. Over the next few
years, and in particular in the time remaining before the elections of 2007
and 2008, the United States will work actively with our Armenian partners to
help make those institutions as good as they can be, for the good of the
people of Armenia, and for the advancement of freedom in the world. As
President Bush said on May 18, “This is the challenge of a new century. It
is the calling of our time. And America will do its duty.”
Thank you for your attention.