Nearly four centuries ago, our ancestors laid the foundation of what is now America. We have fought many wars, lost many battles, failed and prospered. America was transformed into the strongest and freest nation in the world by some of the most determined and independent people in history. However, determination and independence are not the most unique qualities of an American, although they are two strong qualities. An American is a leader, someone who does not follow in someone else's footsteps but makes his own. Leadership has been a constant feature in America since the first Europeans set foot on its soil. It took the leadership of the settlers, our ancestors, to form successful colonies that eventually became the foundation of our country. It took leadership, along with courage, to declare independence from Great Britain over three hundred years ago. It took a tremendous amount of leadership to overcome the divide created by the Civil War. Events like these have pushed American leadership to its greatest limits, but after each ordeal, Americans have been able to overcome and emerge stronger. Will they all be able to become leaders in America? Of course not, but that doesn't mean that leadership isn't our best quality, that it isn't what makes us a free America, home of the brave. We are free because many people have grown tired of being followers of a country that mistreated them and treated them as if they were an insignificant nuisance, only in the New Earth for the benefit of Britain. In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson writes that they would not be forced to remain in the shadow that Great Britain had cast over them for so long (448-49). He expresses the beliefs of countless others when he comes together for the greater good and proves that America is not a force to be reckoned with. An American is a leader, someone who is born lucky enough to live in the greatest nation in the world. An American is someone who can get the job done when necessary without complaint, as so many others have done to shape this country. In Ronald Reagan's farewell speech, he states: "After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true on the granite crest, and her splendor has remained constant, despite the storm." As Reagan said in his speech, America has prospered greatly, thanks to the leadership and determination of leaders past and those of today. Without leadership, America would have been another failure for the history books. It would not be the land of opportunity or the land of freedom. It wouldn't be America.