The Making of the American Mind: The Story of our Declaration of Independence

Jefferson called the Declaration of Independence “an expression of the American mind.” What is that mind and what does it tell us for today, especially about the great questions of truth, happiness, and . . . God? Is there something transcendent—even eternal—in the Declaration for us to rediscover?

Matthew Spalding is the Kirby Pro­fessor in Constitutional Government and Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College and oversees the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizen­ship at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C. campus. His new book,The Making of the American Mind: The Making of Our Declaration of Independence, was released in December 2025. Spalding is also the best-selling author of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future and the original executive editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, the first line-by-line analysis of each clause of the U.S. Constitution. Appointed executive director of the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which produced The 1776 Report, he is currently a senior academic advisor for America250 projects. Prior to joining Hillsdale, Spalding was vice president for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation and founding director of its B. Ken­neth Simon Center for Principles and Politics. He is a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy and serves on the boards of The Steamboat Institute, Faith & Law, the James Wilson Institute, and New College of Florida.  He received his BA from Claremont McKenna College and his MA and PhD from the Claremont Graduate School.

This talk is a part of our Founding Freedoms Lecture Series, that seeks to help Capitol Hill Staff think more deeply about the freedoms bequeathed to this nation – and the religious tenets that undergird them.