What does e pluribus unum mean to you?
On July 4, 2024, a look at the contrasting views of the USA's motto from Walt Whitman vs Donald Trump.
Holidays are good times for reflection. Among other things, today I’m thinking about our diversity and our unity- important themes that define who we are. e pluribus unum, it says on our cash: out of many, one.
I don’t want to dig into what Project 2025 has to say about this today. Instead, I’ll let the great American poet of the Civil War generation, Walt Whitman tell us what he thought. Then I’ll give Donald Trump time to rebut.
Whitman
e pluribus…
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.-I hear America Singing
…unum.
This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.
-preface to the 1855 edition of Leaves of Grass
Trump
e pluribus…
They're destroying the blood of our country. That's what they're doing. They're destroying our country
— Donald J. Trump
…unum.
I am your retribution
May all those in the thrall of this madman find their path out. For them, and for us all, Happy 4th.