As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, there is a remarkable little piece of history worth contemplating. In 2009, researchers at the Library of Congress examined an early draft of the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. Using advanced imaging technology, they discovered that Jefferson had originally written the word “subjects.” Then he crossed it out and replaced it with “citizens.” The change was seemingly small, but its meaning was revolutionary.
The Declaration asserted that our rights are inherent to us as human beings. Government exists to protect those rights and derives its legitimate authority from the consent of the governed.
In other words, political power would no longer flow from a monarch or ruler down. It would flow from the people up. We would be citizens, not subjects.
Today, we understandably spend a great deal of time talking about the rights that come with American citizenship. We defend freedom of speech, religious liberty, due process, property rights and the right to vote.
Those freedoms are precious and have helped make possible the extraordinary prosperity and opportunity we Americans enjoy. But there is another side of citizenship that receives less attention: our responsibility.
A free society cannot survive simply because its citizens demand their rights. Self-government only works when people are willing to participate in governing. That means learning how our government actually works. It means voting and actively participating in our communities. It means serving on school boards, coaching Little League teams, volunteering at churches and food banks, helping neighbors and participating through civic and charitable organizations.
It also means learning how to disagree without treating one another as enemies. Our political system was never designed to eliminate disagreement. Americans have been debating politics for 250 years. The Constitution itself was born from vigorous disagreement and compromise.
But there is a difference between disagreement and contempt.
Citizenship requires humility. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom. Sometimes our political opponents have a point. Sometimes our preferred leaders have a blind spot. Sometimes, new evidence should cause us to reconsider an old assumption.
Often, these habits of knowledge, service, civil disagreement and humility are forgotten necessities of our republic. That is one important reason for public higher education.
This year, as America marks its 250th anniversary, Idaho State University is celebrating its 125th. For exactly half of our nation’s history, ISU has been educating Idahoans. Our responsibility as a public university is not to tell students what to think. It’s to help them learn how to think: to examine evidence, encounter different ideas, communicate clearly, disagree respectfully and use what they learn to strengthen their professions, families and communities.
At ISU we hold ourselves to the same standard of citizenship we ask of our students. As Idaho’s state university, we should continually ask not what Idaho can do for us, but what we can do for Idaho. Our Contract for Idaho demonstrates our public commitment.
Just as ISU and our nation now move beyond important milestones in 2026, our institutions are not finished products. But we can remember the principles and ideals of citizenship that brought us to these celebrations.
At the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was famously asked what kind of government the delegates had created. “A republic,” he answered, “if you can keep it.”
Keeping a republic was never meant to be somebody else’s job. Nor is ensuring the education and training of our populace.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, Jefferson crossed out “subjects” and wrote “citizens.” With that change came extraordinary freedom, but also extraordinary responsibility. The next chapter of the American experiment will not only be decided in Washington, D.C., and in state capitols. It will be actively shaped in communities, households, and classrooms across Idaho and the rest of the nation, by ordinary citizens willing to listen, learn, serve and participate.
The American experiment, our Republic, has been entrusted to us. Now it’s our turn to keep it.
This was adapted from remarks delivered by President Wagner on August 26, 2026, as part of Idaho State University’s commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary.
