America at 250: Reflecting on 1776 with Timothy Sandefur

As America marks 250 years of independence, why does the Declaration of Independence still matter as a living statement of justice rather than just a historical relic?

That's the question at the heart of Timothy Sandefur's new book, Proclaiming Liberty: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Declaration of Independence. With America recently celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Proclaiming Liberty revisits the revolutionary year of 1776 through the minds of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, two men whose words and ideas gave birth to modern liberty. Sweeping from the English Civil War and the writings of Locke and Montesquieu to the colonial battles over the Stamp and Townshend Acts and the battlefields of Massachusetts and Virginia, Sandefur's narrative shows how the Declaration distilled centuries of debate about freedom, law, and human nature into one of history's most enduring statements on justice. 

Returning for a fourth time on Objectively Speaking, Sandefur is no stranger to The Atlas Society, having previously joined us to discuss Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man, Freedom's Furies: How Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand Found Liberty in an Age of Darkness, and You Don't Own Me: Individualism and the Culture of Liberty. Sandefur is the Vice President for Legal Affairs at the Goldwater Institute's Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation and holds the Duncan Chair in Constitutional Government. He is the author of ten books as well as more than 50 scholarly articles on a wide variety of legal subjects.Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, YouTube, and LinkedIn.