Non-Fiction: How the Declaration of Independence Made America

Lectures and conversations with historians, authors, and thinkers. National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence made America is the inspiring story of the Declaration and the first to take readers from its drafting by Thomas Jefferson to today—charting the many lives of a document that captures the soul of America and has united generations around its defiant ideals. As Jefferson had hoped, the principles enshrined in the Declaration became a beacon to the world. But what lessons should we take from it today? Can this statement of ideals in whose name the signers pledged their lives and sacred honor bring a disparate nation together? As we gather to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founders’ bold experiment in democracy, Auslin reminds us that this enduring document was not just a call for freedom and equality but an eloquent statement of the principles that bind us together. Michael Auslin is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Previously, he was an associate professor of history at Yale. He wrote National Treasure as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress’s John W. Kluge Center and an American Heritage Partners Fellow at the Society of the Cincinnati’s American Revolution Institute. July 1, 2026 – September 9, 2026 Wednesdays, 7pm-8pm July 1: How the Declaration of Independence Made America July 8: How American Presidents Governed Their Money July 15: The Shocking Crimes That Shaped Abraham Lincoln July 22: Angelica Schuyler in a Time of Revolution July 29: The Moment That Changed the Women’s Movement August 5: Lady Bird Johnson’s Trailblazing 1964 Campaign Train August 19: Samuel Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement August 26: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln September 2: An Oral History of 9/11 September 9: The Triangle Shirtwaist Tragedy and the Origins of Modern Charity