To him was given the duty and responsibility of making that great classic of liberty, the Declaration of Independence, no longer an empty promise, but a glorious fulfillment.

McKinley frames the Declaration of Independence as a “classic of liberty” whose ideals can remain merely aspirational unless translated into lived reality. By saying a particular figure was “given the duty and responsibility” to make it “no longer an empty promise,” he casts political leadership as a moral commission: to convert founding principles into concrete protections and equal citizenship. The contrast between “empty promise” and “glorious fulfillment” suggests a national narrative of progress—America judged not only by its founding words but by its willingness to extend their meaning to those previously excluded. The rhetoric also elevates the subject into a custodian of national purpose, implying that the legitimacy of government rests on realizing the Declaration’s claims in practice.