This year marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It’s an important historical birthday for the United States, and we will be celebrating it all year-round with our new Free to Be series. With respect to Marlo Thomas, our Free to Be posts will be celebrating unique freedoms we enjoy as Americans. And this month, we’re looking at how we’re free to travel across our beautiful country.
The right to travel isn’t explicated in the Constitution as directly as some of our other freedoms, though legal scholars often do point to different sections as providing a basis for American freedom to travel.
One of the primary reasons is Article 4, Section 2, of the Constitution, which declares, “The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.” This article is essentially why we can just drive to our neighboring states of Missouri and Oklahoma, neither of which are too far from us, really, without undergoing any sort of bureaucratic entry or exit process. And we enjoy the same ease of access if we want to drive through many other states for a much more distant destination.
It is a freedom many of us may take for granted on a regular and possibly even daily basis.
At the Berryville Library, 250 years after our nation’s founding, we have all sorts of resources for if you would like to travel freely across our great country. In addition to numerous travel guides that cover everything from Arkansas destinations to travel across the country, we also have CultureGrams, a cool resource on our Arkansas Traveler database that will let you learn more about other states in our country.
Thank you, America!
What’s your favorite travel destination? Any plans to travel for spring break or this summer? Tell us in the comments!
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