The inspiring story of the Declaration of Independence—the first to take us 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, published for the 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
Quiet and politically untested, Thomas Jefferson was not the obvious choice to draft a statement of principles explaining why the American colonies were breaking ties with the King of England, but his soaring rhetoric would inspire generations of Americans to live up to the founders’ dreams. National Treasure is the gripping story of our most revered founding relic, as a physical object and a set of ideals that have made America what it is today.
An award-winning historian, Dr. Michael Auslin take us from the boarding house in Philadelphia where Jefferson put quill to paper to the Declaration’s stealthy printing, covert signing, dissemination in the doldrums of the revolutionary war, and long, harrowing, and ultimately hallowed afterlife. We follow the parchment as it is hauled out of a soon-to-be-burning Washington in 1814 and see it hidden in a dank cellar, posted in classrooms, recited on village greens, printed on handkerchiefs, and used to sell insurance and bundle coal. An inspiration to both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis in the Civil War, it has grown more important for each new generation. While FDR and Churchill celebrated its commitment to freedom from tyranny, the document itself was lowered into a bunker at Fort Knox. After the war, its precious ink fading, it was painstakingly preserved and enshrined.
Through it all, Jefferson’s words have inspired implausibly varied causes, from suffragists, abolitionists and civil rights leaders to groups waging war on the US government. 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.
Dr. Michael Auslin is the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Prior to that, he was a history professor at Yale. He wrote National Treasure as a Visiting Scholar at the Library of Congress’s John W. Kluge Center and an American Heritage Partners Research Fellow at the American Revolution Institute. A longtime contributor to The Wall Street Journal, he is passionately committed to civic education and actively involved in celebrating America’s 250th. He writes a Substack, The Patowmack Packet, on Washington, DC, past and present, and lives in Virginia.
Auslin will be in conversation with Dr. Colleen Shogan, the 11th Archivist of the United States, the first woman in American history appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to lead the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). A noted author and political scientist, Colleen is deeply committed to civics education and prioritized sharing the records of the National Archives to a wider audience. Under her leadership, NARA launched numerous strategic initiatives to enhance services and make its holdings more accessible, both in-person and online, with the goal of cultivating public participation and strengthening our nation’s democracy. Prior to becoming Archivist, Colleen served in several cultural heritage leadership roles. She was Senior Vice President and Director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association, worked in the United States Senate, and served as a senior executive at the Library of Congress and its Congressional Research Service. She was the Vice Chair of the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the U.S. Capitol Historical Society.A native of the Pittsburgh area, she holds a B.A. in Political Science from Boston College and a Ph.D. in American Politics from Yale University. Colleen is the 2024 recipient of the American Political Science Association’s Hubert Humphrey Award for outstanding public service. Colleen is currently the CEO of In Pursuit, the signature history-based civics initiative of More Perfect, a nonpartisan alliance of over 43 presidential centers and hundreds of civic leaders and organizations, that invites Americans to strengthen democracy in five key areas. She is also a Senior Fellow in Civics Education at Stand Together, an Adjunct Professor of Government at Georgetown University, and a Senior Practitioner Fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.