Lifting the Lamp Beside the Golden Door
by W. D. Ehrhart As I write this—July 4th, 2023—our nation is celebrating the 247th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. English settlers had first arrived along the Atlantic seaboard in 1607, and were soon joined by Dutch, Swedish, French, and more English settlers. The Spanish had already colonized Florida and what is today New Mexico. William Penn attracted Welsh and a large number of German settlers. Early on, others began arriving from Africa in chains. Even the people who were here when the Europeans arrived came from somewhere else, though a lot earlier. We are indeed, as has so often been said, a nation …