America is often described as a nation of immigrants, a “melting pot” of different races, ages and ideologies. This diversity is what makes American culture special and unique.
It is also what often fuels disagreement — the rise of what James Madison in Federalist Paper No. 10 called “factions” — and makes compromise an indispensable American civic virtue.
For the past 13 years, my own life has been a compromise of sorts — with soccer and schoolwork each competing for my attention.
When I’m not in the classroom, I’m on the soccer field. My life is a careful balance between the two; in order to achieve this balance, however, I must compromise “luxuries” like social life, time with my family,and even sleep. I sacrifice, I compromise, so I can have a future.
The word “compromise” often rests uneasily in our minds. As Americans, we often see it as a sign of weakness or of a lack of resolve. We forget sometimes that our government was founded on compromise.
Our very Constitution is often referred to as a “bundle of compromises” because none of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention — with strong differences of opinion on representation, slavery and the rights of states — got exactly what he wanted.
The Madisons, Morrises and Hamiltons who hammered out this Constitution foresaw the need for compromise in the future and acted accordingly.
Indeed, the “elastic clause” of the Constitution gives Congress the flexibility to make compromises between factions by “making all laws necessary and proper.”
The Constitution even provides for its own amendment. What are the 27 changes to our Constitution if not compromises among the people, the states and the federal government?
No American, past or present, embodies this civic value of compromise more than Henry Clay. Christened “the Judas of the West” by Andrew Jackson after the election of 1824, Clay often receives little recognition for his valiant efforts to resolve the crises that confronted the young nation.
When it appeared that conflicts over boundaries, tariffs — which came to a head in 1832 when South Carolina attempted to nullify federal law — and the expansion of slavery threatened to tear the United States apart, Clay helped maintain peace and prevent civil war.
It is a testament to his success that he became known not as “the Judas of the West,” but as “the Great Compromiser.”
It pains me to see how far our nation has drifted away from the civic value of compromise. The United States rarely attempts to compromise with other nations, relying instead on its military and economic power to fight battles that should be fought with diplomacy.
As a result, it has antagonized much of the world as well as many of its own citizens.
Like Henry Clay, I, too, live a life of compromise.
Just as I struggle to find the balance between the different aspects of my life, so too must the United States learn to compromise more often if it is to have a future.
Andrew Rys, a senior at Oakton High School, was a first-place prize winner in the 2007-08 “Being an American” essay contest (www.beinganamerican.org) sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute in Arlington. This is adapted from his winning essay.
