We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.

Two hundred and twenty-one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars, statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787. (1-3)

Democracy has always been a great big experiment. In many ways, it feels a lot like the moment in grade school when you made a baking soda volcano, and all your hard work was good for only one explosion.

But unlike your volcano, democracy was an inspired experiment into the unknown. And, in the beginning of his speech, Obama gives us a brief history lesson to remind us of that. Average Joes, farmers and shoemakers and blacksmiths, worked together to defeat the British army, the most powerful army in the world, and that sentiment—that Americans have the power to do anything—has defined patriotism in this country ever since.

Obama tapped into those feelings, the ones that run in our veins and make us ugly cry whenever we hear "The Star-Spangled Banner." He wanted to remind us of our values, of the things we strive to achieve—and he wanted us to remember that average Joes can still make a really big impact.