“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
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Those are some of the most famous words in American history. They come from the Declaration of Independence.
On July 4, 1776, the second Continental Congress unanimously approved the declaration, which severed the American colonies’ ties with the British Crown. The United States was born.
To commemorate the nation’s 250th birthday, we asked a group of Central Floridians to write brief letters to America’s Founding Fathers, updating them on how the U.S.A. has progressed – and letting them know what still needs to be accomplished.
Among our group are elected representatives for local, state and federal government as well as a college student and an immigrant business owner.
Here’s what they wanted to tell the Founding Fathers:
Pursuit of a ‘more perfect union’ matters
Orlando native Buddy Dyer is the city’s longest-serving mayor, first elected to the office in 2003. He previously served in the Florida Senate. Here is his letter:
I write to you not only as the Mayor, but as a representative of a city (and larger Central Florida community) that did not exist in your time – yet is a place that serves as a testament to both the promise and complexity of the nation you imagined.
You envisioned a country where ordinary people could shape their own destiny. If you were to visit Orlando today you would find a place built on that very ideal, a community that’s made great not by inherited power, but by imagination, entrepreneurship, and the belief that people can come together to create something remarkable. What was once a modest settlement surrounded by lakes and orange groves has become a global crossroads, welcoming millions of visitors each year and serving as home to people from every state and nearly every nation.
We are a city powered by dreamers. Our economy is built on hospitality, technology, healthcare, education, aerospace, simulation, and increasingly, innovation. We are home to people who arrived seeking opportunity and to families who have called this region home for generations.
We are living proof that communities can reinvent themselves while remaining grounded in shared values. We are living proof that prosperity depends not only on economic growth but on ensuring that opportunity reaches every neighborhood. And, we are living proof that diversity is not a weakness to be managed but a strength to be embraced.
While we have achieved extraordinary progress, Orlando (and our beloved United States) remains unfinished, and far too often imperfect, as we fall short of our highest ideals.
But, perhaps that’s also a reality you envisioned when you started this great American experiment, that it’s the pursuit of a “more perfect union” that matters more than anything.
In Orlando, we are proud of the way we pursue that dream and the way we reflect and embrace our American story.
People want a nation as great as its promise
Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost was first elected to Congress in 2022 at age 25, the first Gen Z member of the U.S. House. Here is his letter:
Dear Founding Fathers,
For 250 years, America has been an unfinished experiment.
The ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were not guaranteed to everyone in 1776, and that work still remains today.
Generation after generation refused to accept that our story was complete.
Workers organized for fair wages. Women demanded the right to vote. Civil rights leaders marched for equality. People gave their lives in service to the freedoms we continue to defend. Young people continue to stand up for a more just future.
They did not love America because it was perfect. They loved it enough to make it better. Because what the people want is simple: a nation as great as its promise.
But we celebrate this milestone at a time when our fundamental rights and democratic institutions are under attack.
Every generation has faced a moment that asked whether America would live up to its ideals. This is ours.
Patriotism isn’t bald eagles, beer, or a slogan on a hat. It’s an act of love. It’s believing this country can be better and refusing to stop fighting until it is.
Love isn’t passive. It’s relentless.
And because we love this country, we fight for the freedoms that make it worth loving: the freedom to vote, to live with dignity, and a future where opportunity, equality, and justice are guaranteed for everyone.
We celebrate today not because our work is done, but because our story is still being written.
The next 250 years belong to all of us.
‘History has a remarkable sense of irony’
LaVon Bracy Davis has been a member of the Florida Senate since 2025 representing Orange County. She previously served in the Florida House starting in 2022. Here is her letter:
Dear Founding Fathers,
Two hundred and fifty years ago, you were writing the Declaration of Independence. At that very same moment, my ancestors in South Carolina and Georgia were living under another declaration: the declaration that, in the eyes of the law, they were property even as you wrote that all men are created equal.
You asked the world to believe in liberty while denying it to people who looked like me.
I have often wondered whether you believed liberty could coexist with slavery, or whether you simply accepted that contradiction as the price of founding a nation.
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History has a remarkable sense of irony. The words of equality you wrote became the very words generations of Black Americans used to demand freedom, citizenship, voting rights, and justice. Your ideals outlived your compromises.
Did you ever imagine that the descendants of those you enslaved and excluded would one day invoke your own words to demand the equality you denied them?
Today, I write as both a descendant of enslaved people and a Florida State Senator. I now stand in a legislative chamber casting votes on behalf of the people of Florida. I am living evidence that America is capable of becoming more than it once was.
So, how has the nation turned out? Today’s headlines tell a complicated story. We have made extraordinary progress while continuing to battle efforts to restrict hard won freedoms, diminish opportunity, and question whether the promises of liberty and justice truly belong to everyone. America has become more than it was, but not yet all it promised to be.
Your Declaration gave America its promise.
May it not take another 250 years for us to finally fulfill it.
250 years later, descendants remembers their names
Amy Lockhart is a member of the Seminole County Commission, first elected in 2018. She has served as chairman of the commission and was previously a member of Seminole’s School Board, also serving as its chairman. Here is her letter:
Dear Heman Amy,
As your 5th great-granddaughter, I often wonder whether our nation fulfilled your hopes after you fought from Bunker Hill to Saratoga, helping secure the liberties that generations of Americans would inherit. Did you imagine that, 250 years later, your descendants would still remember your name and give thanks for your sacrifice?
America has never been perfect. We have known triumph and heartbreak, unity and division. Yet the ideals for which you risked everything – that all people are endowed with God-given rights, that liberty requires courage, and that self-government depends upon an engaged citizenry – have endured through every generation.
The freedoms you secured have allowed your descendants, and millions of other Americans, to raise families, worship freely, serve their communities, and pursue lives of purpose. Those blessings are neither accidental nor guaranteed. They endure only when each generation chooses to protect them.
Your generation entrusted us with more than a nation; it entrusted us with the responsibility to preserve our constitutional Republic through civic virtue and faithful stewardship.
Serving my own community in public office reminds me that my service is possible because of yours. I hope to honor your legacy by helping preserve the liberties you fought to secure.
Thank you for believing in a future you would never see. Your courage still echoes through your descendants and the enduring promise of America.
America ‘created opportunities for people like me’
Asawin “AJ” Jockkeaw is a native of Bangkok, Thailand, and has been a U.S. citizen since 2004. He is the chef/owner of Meng’s Kitchen in Orlando’s Milk District. Here is his letter:
Dear Founding Fathers,
As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, I write to you as a regular person and an immigrant who has come to call this country home. Though I was not born here, but I have experienced firsthand the ideals you set in motion centuries ago.
One of your greatest accomplishments was establishing a nation built on principles rather than background on birthright. The ideas of liberty, equality and self-governance have created opportunities for people like me to build a life with dignity and purpose. The freedom of speech, religion and opportunity continue to make this country a place of hope for many around the world.
At the same time, I believe there’re area where more consideration might have made lasting difference. The promise that “all men are created equal” was not fully realized at the founding, and it’s meaning has had to expand over time. Issues of equality, inclusion and fairness continue to challenge the nation even today. I often reflect on how different America might be if these principles had been applied more broadly from the beginning.
However, your decision to create a system capable of growth and change remains one of your most important contributions. The Constitution has allowed future generations to improve and refine the nation, striving to better reflects its founding ideals.
After 250 years, the United States remains a work in progress imperfect, yet full of opportunity. As someone who chose this country to call home, I am grateful for what you created and hopeful for what it continues to become.
Women weren’t at the forefront 250 years ago
Emmy Bailey is a senior at UCF majoring in journalism “with a dream of telling people’s stories.” She was born and raised in Orlando. Here is her letter:
Dear Founding Fathers,
Two hundred and fifty years later, I am part of the generation that will soon lead the nation you designed. I doubt you expected it to look like this. We have self-driving cars and computers that can make a dog sing any song, yet as a 20-year-old woman, I feel entirely lost. I have a fierce passion to make this world better, but I keep hitting a ceiling that was built way before I was born.
Women were not at the forefront of your minds 250 years ago. Somehow, we still aren’t.
I live in fear that my body is going to be taken away from me. I sit in doctors’ offices arguing that something is wrong, begging to be heard. And the fear doesn’t stay in the exam room. I am exhausted by the trade-off of just existing in public, either isolating myself for peace of mind or going out and risking what this world will do to me. The catcalling walking down the street. Watching my back at every turn. Covering my drinks at parties.
We stood up. We fought. We earned the right to vote. We earned the right to our own bodies. But in a world that has “changed so much,” why is my generation fighting for these rights all over again? I fear for what my little cousins and the next generation of girls will have to endure.
You laid the foundation. We’re still fighting for true liberty from inside the house. We have to keep showing up and defending the next generation of women.
What do you think?
What would you like to tell the Founding Fathers about America today? Let us know. Please email your brief letters to [email protected]
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