Registration
The Declaration of Independence and Conditions for Democratic Flourishing
Condoleezza Rice, 66th US Secretary of State, will draw on her experiences as both diplomat and professor to reflect on the key conditions that allow democracies to succeed. She will discuss how we create and sustain democracy through hard work, persistence, historical context, strong institutions, and dedicated citizens.
Countering Contemporary Criticism of America’s Founding Principles
This lecture revisits the founding claim that all people possess equal and unalienable rights. The United States represents an unprecedented achievement: a multi-religious, multi-ethnic nation that has endured for two and a half centuries while expanding freedom, legal equality, and prosperity. Yet the Declaration’s principles face renewed criticism from both the progressive left and the […]
Lunch
State Constitutions and the Declaration of Independence
The relationship between the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution has long been studied, but its influence on state constitutions remains largely overlooked. Early state charters—shaped by founders such as Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Mason—often drew directly from the Declaration’s language and philosophy. Many state constitutions still contain provisions reflecting its […]
Break
“Duty, to Throw Off such Government”: The Declaration of Independence as Obligation
What does the word “duty” mean in the fourth sentence of the Declaration of Independence, which asserts that a people have not only the right but the duty to overthrow despotic government? This lecture explores the intellectual roots of that claim in natural law and Law of Nations theory. While these traditions clearly justify a […]
Registration & Breakfast
The Structural Declaration of Independence
More than a revolutionary manifesto or abstract statement of rights, the Declaration of Independence also outlines an applied theory of governance. Alongside its emphasis on natural rights and equality, the document suggests how government should function: accountable to the public, structured to manage political conflict, and capable of representing a new nation in the international […]
Is the Declaration Our Law?
During her confirmation hearing, Amy Coney Barrett said the Declaration of Independence expresses American ideals but is not law, echoing claims by Antonin Scalia in his dissent in Troxel v. Granville. This lecture challenges the assumption that only judicially enforceable rules count as law. Instead, it argues the Declaration is foundational law: an authoritative act […]
The Declaration of Independence in the Age of AI
This lecture argues that the Declaration of Independence remains central to constitutional meaning because it grounds the natural rights later protected by the United States Constitution and the United States Bill of Rights. In particular, the Declaration’s conception of inalienable rights informs the human-centered understanding of free speech embodied in the First Amendment to the […]
Lunch
The Declaration of Independence: America’s Promissory Note
The 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence invites reflection on America’s “experiment in republican government and ordered liberty.” Although some today question whether that experiment has failed, figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. understood the Declaration as a “promissory note”—a statement of principles the nation must strive to fulfill. America’s […]
