Book Talk | The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This July 4th marks the 250th anniversary to the day of the writing and signing of these indelible words, dispersed to the American colonies and thus declaring America’s independence from Great Britian. According to Bradley Birzer, author and professor of American History at Hillsdale College, the words in this foundational document were elocuted with clarity and resonance:
“It was a clarion call for human dignity, and it demanded that Americans rise to their better selves. One must also note that the founding documents contained nothing esoteric in them. They were written to be read out loud from pulpits and in pubs and in all public forums. The language they employ was the language of the people themselves.”
In his new book, The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty, Birzer – who has taught the American founding for years to his students – examines the classical ideas that infused the founding, takes the reader through the party interests, debates and disagreements leading to the final document, and most importantly, the vision these early Americans had of what kind of nation they wanted to be. Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, editor–in-chief at Responsible Statecraft, will speak with Birzer about these fundamental concepts of sovereignty and liberty, and later debates over federalism, executive powers, and America’s role in the world.
The conversation will take place on Thursday May 28 from 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET.
Panelists
Bradley Birzer
Bradley J. Birzer is Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and Professor of History, Hillsdale College. Co-founder and senior contributor of The Imaginative Conservative, he is also the author of several critically-acclaimed biographies, including those of Russell Kirk, Christopher Dawson, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton. His latest book, The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty, was released by Stone House Press in May 2026.
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
Kelley Beaucar Vlahos is editor-in-chief at Responsible Statecraft and a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute. Previously she was executive editor of The American Conservative magazine. Before joining TAC in 2017, Vlahos served as a contributing editor to the magazine, reporting and publishing regular articles on U.S. war policy, civil liberties, foreign policy, veterans, and Washington politics since 2007. She spent 15 years as an online political reporter for FOX News at the channel’s Washington D.C. bureau, as well as Washington correspondent for Homeland Security Today magazine. She is on the board of PublicSquare.net, a non-profit media project promoting informed Left-Right debate.