History
A Republic or an Empire?
The Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, embraces two value sets. The first is natural rights, and the second is limited government. After 250 years, neither value has survived, and the opposite of each currently prevails in America. Thomas Jefferson drafted...
The Declaration of Independence: Its Debt to History
In his book, “Inventing America,” the liberal scholar Garry Wills argued that the Declaration owed much to previous Anglo-American history. This is correct. English parliamentary bills originated as petitions by the people’s representatives to the king. These...
What Is the Declaration of Independence?
I frequently appear on radio talk shows, where I answer constitutional questions from the radio host and from the listening audience. Sometimes listeners who call in to the studio want to know more about the relationship between the Constitution and the Declaration of...
The Men Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence
In June 1776, Great Britain and its North American colonies had been fighting for over a year. The Americans desperately needed foreign help, particularly from Great Britain’s principal rival, France. Many members of the Second Continental Congress—the assembly the...