We are pleased to invite you to join us on Thursday, December 11, for a conversation about how a collection of distant British colonies became, in Lincoln’s words, “a new nation, conceived in Liberty.” 

 

In his new book, The Making of the American Mind: The Story of Our Declaration of Independence, Matthew Spalding tells the story of how the ideas and events of 1776 formed not only a new political order, but a new American people.

Join Claremont President Ryan P. Williams as he sits down with Matthew Spalding, Vice President of Washington Operations, Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College, and Kirby Professor in Constitutional Government, as they explore how the American mind emerged from classical thought, the Christian West, and the English constitutional tradition. 

 

Together they will revisit the high-stakes drama of 1776 and walk through the Declaration’s most famous phrases, not as slogans, but as a coherent argument about nature, rights, and government.

 

From imperial subjects to self-governing citizens, this conversation will help you see how the Declaration first formed America and why understanding it remains essential to understanding our country today.