PRE-ORDER: The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty

About the Book

Brad Birzer’s The Declaration of Independence: A Radical Experiment in Liberty explores the ideas and events that led Americans to independence in 1776. Drawing heavily on the letters, pamphlets, and political arguments of the era, the book traces how a series of imperial crises gradually transformed colonial resistance into a revolutionary movement. Along the way, it reveals how debates about liberty, authority, and the rights of Englishmen shaped the political consciousness of the American colonies.

Influenced by classical learning, the English constitutional tradition, Protestant political culture, and the philosophy of natural rights, this book presents the Declaration of Independence as both radical and deeply rooted in inherited traditions. Birzer situates the document within the intellectual world of the founding generation, highlighting the ideas that informed Jefferson’s famous assertion that all are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights. In doing so, the book shows how the Declaration became the defining statement of the American experiment in liberty.

About the Author

Bradley J. Birzer is the Russell Amos Kirk Chair in American Studies and Professor of History at Hillsdale College. He earned his Ph.D. in history from Indiana University. A widely respected scholar of American intellectual and political history, he teaches and writes on topics including the American founding, the Civil War era, and the history of Western civilization. Dr. Birzer is the author of numerous books, including Russell Kirk: American Conservative, American Cicero: The Life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Sanctifying the World: The Augustinian Life and Mind of Christopher Dawson, and In Defense of Andrew Jackson.