The following are the prepared remarks of William Barclay Allen upon receiving the 2024 Bradley Prize, an award to “honor scholars and practitioners whose accomplishments reflect The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation’s mission to restore, strengthen, and protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism.”
It humbles me to stand in an assembly of giants looking eye to eye. I am reconciled to the circumstance only by the reflection that I stand on the shoulders of giants. Moreover, the thoughts that hold my attention at present are amplified by the reflection. For, while our nation boasts a long succession of heroes, it remains the curious fact that it does not receive its dynamic thrust from its heroes. The dynamic thrust of the United States derives from those ordinary souls whose extraordinary patience and self‐confidence constitute the foundation of such longevity as we have enjoyed. This was manifested most dramatically in the great struggle to end the scourge of slavery, but it has been a recurrent theme from the origins of American civilization.
