Fran Leskovar gives Setauket Gang presentation Sept. 2019
With our Presidential Election in November, Constitution Day in September, and the Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, Collins Library is pleased to host a series of blog posts by Fran Leskovar.
Very often Americans do not realize the greatness of our Constitution and often take it for granted. But our Constitution is more than just a document outlining the system and the limits of our government based on theories of John Locke, Montesquieu, or ancient Roman and Greek systems of the polity. It is a symbol of our national unity and American identity characterized by the dedication to liberty, rule of law, resilience, and belief that, in America, nothing is beyond our reach. But most importantly, it is a document that entrusts us, “the People,” with a responsibility to protect it, defend it, and continue developing a “more perfect Union” based on our four freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. As the guardian angel of this “land of the free and home of the brave,” President Abraham Lincoln, told us in his famous Gettysburg Address, “it is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they have, thus far, so nobly carried on…that this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” In that spirit, let us remember on this Constitution and Citizenship Day all of our heroes– known and unknown– native sons and daughters, first-generation citizens, and newly arrived members of our family who dedicated their lives to our country, our values, and our Constitution. Let us also remember the words of late President John F. Kennedy to not ask ourselves what our country can do for us but rather what we can do for our country. And, finally, let us continue to believe in this nation, our Founding ideas, and American dream. We live in republic, to paraphrase Senator John McCain, “where we are more alike than different” and share the common heritage and responsibility given to us by our Founding Fathers with the three simple words in our Constitution, “We the People.”
– By Fran Leskovar
About Fran Leskovar
Fran Leskovar is a two-time recipient of the University Summer Research stipend. His work on the American Revolutionary War espionage has been presented at the AHSS Symposium and Board of Trustees Symposium here, at the University of Puget Sound, and to the national audience at the prestigious Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium at the John Hopkins University and University of Washington Undergraduate Symposium. Fran Leskovar is currently publishing his paper titled “The American Revolutionary Intelligence: The Culper Ring and The Notion of Liminality” in the Macksey Undergraduate Journal. Besides his interest in the American Revolution and early years of American state, Fran Leskovar has a considerable background in the history of Cold War and European history. This summer, he has been working on a paper titled “‘Playing Hapsburg:’ The Hapsburg Monarchy and The post-Yugoslav Croatian Society” in which he explains why such a strong sentiment for the Hapsburg past exists in the post-1990s Croatian society.”
For additional thoughts on democracy and voting, check out these related posts:
https://blogs.pugetsound.edu/collinsunbound/category/spotlight-on-the-constitution-voting-rights-and-elections/