The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement

“So too is much of history: the overshadowing suns—the men with the best military strategy, the people with the most ships, those with vast fortunes and political power—they eclipse the beauty that is there, waiting for us in the quiet predawn hours.”

In the Introduction to The Small and the Mighty, McMahon explains how those who are most remembered in history are often those who have the best or most socially acceptable story. History is most likely to honor those who belong to the ruling social class, while marginalized individuals are more quickly forgotten.

“With astonishing regularity, Americans have held fast to these ideals, despite the clickbait stories that portend calamity. And America has too often fallen short of these standards. Both of these things are true at the same time. America has been just, and it has perpetuated injustice. We have been peaceful, and we have perpetrated acts of violence. We have been—and are—good. And we have done terrible things to people who didn’t deserve them. It has been the land of the free while simultaneously sanctioning oppression.”

In this passage, McMahon describes the duality of American history and identity. The United States has both lived up to its own ideals and betrayed them, often simultaneously. In McMahon’s view of History as a Continuum of Progress, we are never only one thing, but the overall trajectory is toward justice.

“The ideals outlined in the Constitution represent our national purpose, the raft we must cling to in the storm, the breath in our lungs, the beat in our chest: Just. Peaceful. Good. Free. Ordinary people conjured this mission. Ordinary men like Gouverneur Morris.”

Here, McMahon reminds her readers that Gouverneur Morris and the other so-called “Founding Fathers” were flawed individuals just like the rest of us. Nevertheless, the guiding principles that Morris wrote have accompanied us for over 200 years and will continue to light the way forward.