“Not since the Civil War has there been as urgent a need for civics education and the philosophical principles that are essential to a free society,” states Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn.
Acting on these convictions, Arnn and Matthew Spalding, the dean of Hillsdale College’s Steve and Amy Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C., recently served as chairman and executive director, respectively, of President Trump’s Advisory 1776 Commission. Before it was disbanded, the Commission issued the “1776 Report,” which reviews the central principles of the American founding and discusses challenges to them throughout American history such as slavery, communism, and identity politics.
“It is our mission – all of us – to restore our national unity,” the Report argues, “by rekindling a brave and honest love for our country and by raising new generations of citizens who not only know the self-evident truths of our founding, but act worthy of them.”
