The future of liberty depends on renewing America’s principles

In the midst of frenzied efforts to remake our nation—of endless government initiatives involved in virtually every aspect of our daily lives—Americans are increasingly concerned: How did we get so far off track? And how can we get America back on course? Matthew Spalding answers these questions by looking to the timeless principles and practical wisdom that have been the source of America’s monumental success. Spalding, an expert in American political history at The Heritage Foundation, the esteemed research and educational institution, calls for a great renewal of these unchanging principles—and a new appreciation of their preeminent status in our nation’s life.

In We Still Hold These Truths Spalding explains and brings to life ten core principles that define us as a nation and inspire us as a people—liberty and equality, natural rights and the consent of the governed, private property and religious freedom, the rule of law and constitutionalism, all culminating in self-government at home and independence in the world. His enlightening and engaging tour through America’s founding not only recalls the deep roots of our "first principles" in Western civilization but also reveals their enduring lessons for today.

We Still Hold These Truths also offers a bracingly fresh analysis of how and why we have lost our bearings as a nation. Spalding masterfully examines the progressive assault on the Founders’ principles that began more than a century ago and that continues—indeed, is accelerating—in our time. Modern political leaders and cultural elites have all too readily abandoned the principles to which America is dedicated; even more troubling is how readily we all let it happen. Do we still hold these truths? Before we can rededicate our country to the core principles that made America the most prosperous, the strongest, and the freest nation in history, we must rediscover them ourselves. They must become again, as Thomas Jefferson said, "an expression of the American mind." In a world of moral confusion, and of arbitrary and unlimited government, America’s principles are our best access to permanent truths and the best ground from which to question the current direction of our nation. Upon this sure foundation, Spalding lays out a strategy to reclaim our future, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.