Three and a half years ago, with Donald Trump the new occupant of the White House, we began a regular section in The Sun called “One Nation, Indivisible.”

Every month since then we have dug into our archives, looking for writing to remind us that this 244-year experiment in democracy has never been easy, and that dire threats from people in power are nothing new. With excerpts from interviews, essays, and stories going back to The Sun’s founding in 1974, we’ve tried to give readers a perspective on the past and the courage to face the future.

By the time this issue of The Sun arrives in your mailbox, Joe Biden will have taken the oath of office and become the forty-sixth president of the United States. The moment has come to put “One Nation, Indivisible” to rest.

Still, the situation for the nation, and the world, remains fraught. There will always be new challenges to face. When we began printing the section, we encouraged readers to stand together and persevere. Now, as then, it seems appropriate to quote Patti Smith: “People have the power to redeem the work of fools.”

There is much work to do.