First Principles
The future of liberty depends on reclaiming America’s first principles. Learn More... Statement of Purpose “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization,” as Thomas Jefferson warned, “it expects what never was and never will be.” Widespread ignorance of American history is but the most recognized symptom of the troubling decline in popular knowledge of fundamental principles. We face an education system that upholds mediocrity in the name of relativism; an ever-expanding and centralized government, unmoored from constitutional limits; judges openly making laws and shaping society based on pop-philosophy rather than serious jurisprudence; and growing confusion over America’s legitimate role in the world, made all the more apparent by the fundamental threat posed by radical Islamists. At the root of all these problems is a pervasive doubt about the core principles that define America and ought to inform our politics and policy.

As the leading public policy institution focused on American liberty, The Heritage Foundation must lead the call to awaken our country and get it back on course. We must recall the nation to its first principles, reinvigorate American constitutionalism, and revive the sturdy virtues required for self-government. We must restore the principles of America’s Founders to their proper role in the public and political discourse, influencing public policy and reforming government to reflect constitutional limits. We must rebuild and unify a robust conservatism around, and in defense of, these core principles, and identify and develop current and future policymakers, opinionmakers, and leaders who understand, articulate, and will promote these principles. In short, our vision, building on the great successes of the modern conservative movement, must now be to save America by reclaiming its truths and its promises and conserving its liberating principles for ourselves and our posterity.
Latest Research
The latest research on America' s First Principles from Heritage Foundation experts:

To Keep and Bear Arms

January 29, 2010

Modern debates about the meaning of the Second Amendment have focused on whether it protects a right of individuals to keep and bear arms or, instead, a right of the states to maintain militia organizations like the National Guard. This question, however, was apparently never even discussed for a long time after the Bill of Rights was framed. The early discussions took the basic meaning of the amendment largely for granted and focused instead on whether it actually added anything significant to the original Constitution. The debate has shifted primarily because of subsequent developments in the Constitution and in constitutional law.

Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism

January 27, 2010

One Western leader above all others forced the Soviets to give up the Brezhnev Doctrine and abandon the arms race, brought down the Berlin Wall, and ended the Cold War: President Ronald Reagan, whose victory strategy included challenging the Soviet regime’s legitimacy, regaining superiority in the arms race, and using human rights as a weapon as powerful as any in the U.S. or Soviet arsenal.

Reappraising the Right: The Past and Future of American Conservatism

January 11, 2010

Conservatives want a society that sustains and encourages freedom, virtue, and safety: goals reflected in the movement's libertarian, traditionalist, and national security dimensions. To achieve these goals, they must communicate in language that connects with Americans in all stations of life. The recent past has been unsettling to conservatives, but in the words of William F. Buckley Jr., "the wells of regeneration are infinitely deep."

Featured Research
Powerful research from Heritage Foundation experts on America's First Principles:

The Birth of the Administrative State: Where It Came From and What It Means for Limited Government

For those who hold the Constitution of the United States in high regard and who are concerned about the fate of its principles in our contemporary practice of government, the modern state ought to receive significant attention. The reason for this is that the ideas that gave rise to what is today called "the administrative state" are fundamentally at odds with those that gave rise to our Constitution. In fact, the original Progressive-Era architects of the administrative state understood this quite clearly, as they made advocacy of this new approach to government an important part of their direct, open, comprehensive attack on the American Constitution.

Energy in the Executive: Re-examining Presidential Power in the Midst of the War on Terrorism

Conduct of the war on terrorism raises novel, complex, and unprecedented legal and policy issues. This should be expected from a conflict that knows no borders and involves enemy combatants who do not fight on behalf of any nation. But critics go beyond claiming that President George W. Bush has made poor policy decisions to alleging that he has acted unconstitutionally by seizing Congress’s authority to wage war.

How to Read the Constitution: Self-Government and the Jurisprudence of Originalism

The argument that original meaning should guide constitutional interpretation is nearly as old as the Constitution itself. Before there were strict constructionists, before there were judicial activists, there were originalists. In those early days, few seriously objected to the notion that the Constitution should be read in accord with its original meaning, though there were plenty of debates over how best to ascertain that original meaning and what exactly was required to be faithful to the Constitution of the founding.


Commentaries
Heritage Foundation experts constantly add their uniquely useful expertise on America's First Principle's. Look here to find the absolute latest in commentaries:

The Way Out of 'Soft Despotism'

December 8, 2009

More than 170 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville warned Americans of an emerging danger to democracy: "soft despotism." This insidious threat, the French political thinker explained, could reduce a self-governing people to "nothing more than a herd of timid and industrious animals of which the government is the shepherd."

Rejecting Principles in the Name of Progress

November 30, 2009

The health reform debate has sparked numerous questions about the cost and scope of government involvement in health care. But few members of Congress have bothered to ask what the Constitution has to say on the topic -- even though they are sworn to uphold the principles articulated in that document.

Revolutionary Truths That Work

November 25, 2009

When upstart settlers of the New World proclaimed their independence in 1776, they represented but 13 small and fractious colonies carved from a vast wilderness and surrounded by hostile powers.

The Foundry
The Foundry seeks to further those conservative principles and policies through daily commentary on current news and events, following in Heritage's long tradition of responding quickly to the public policy debates taking place in Washington. It is a product of Heritage's Center for Media & Public Policy. Nothing written on The Foundry is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress. For more information or to contact the editors, send an e-mail to Robert Bluey or Conn Carroll.

It Will Be as if the American Founding Never Happened

02/05/2010

Forget George Washington, James Madison, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln—nothing meaningful happened in America before 1877. That’s the lesson North Carolina public high schools may start teaching. Under proposed changes in their high school history curriculum, the U.S. History course (which seniors take) will cover events from 1877 forward only. It will be as if the American Founding   Read More...

Can U.S. Senators Be Recalled?

02/03/2010

In Arizona, Louisiana and a few other states, well-meaning citizens would like to recall their U.S senators. Fair enough. But while this opinion represents a commendable movement to make Congress more accountable for its actions, it tramples on the U.S. Constitution and undermines the rule of law. Contrary to popular Web sites, the recall of   Read More...

A History to Be Proud Of

01/21/2010

In his new book, We Still Hold These Truths, Heritage’s Dr. Matthew Spalding explains that American students lack a fundamental understanding U.S. history. Dr. Spalding writes: The Department of Education reports that more than half of high school seniors lack even a basic knowledge of American history. Many college students, another study finds, can’t identify the   Read More...

Morning Bell: Martin Luther King Jr. Held These Truths. Do You?

01/18/2010

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial and admonished America to return to its First Principles. In his I Have a Dream Speech, he announced his dream that “one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to   Read More...

Heritage President Dr. Edwin Feulner Makes “Top 100? Conservative List

01/14/2010

Telegraph.co.uk has named The Heritage Foundation’s President, Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D, to its list of America’s Most Influential conservatives for the second year in a row: 35. Edwin Feulner (41) President, Heritage Foundation Founded by Feulner, Heritage has grown in Washington from a nine-member staff working out of a rented office on Capitol Hill in 1977 to a   Read More...

Congressional Fellows

The Heritage Congressional Fellowship is a training and educational program to instruct junior congressional staffers in the key ideas—from the principles of the American Founding to the fundamentals of economic freedom to the leading concepts of conservative thought—necessary for them to address current legislative issues and grapple with contemporary politics and policy.

Internships

The Heritage Foundation takes great interest in young conservative minds. Our highly competitive Internship Program is intended to introduce bright, innovative undergraduate and graduate students to the policymaking process and encourage them to become active and effective participants in public affairs. Working directly with our research analysts and policy-makers, or with professionals in one of our external departments, Heritage interns gain solid professional experience. In addition to their day-to-day assignments, interns attend weekly seminars designed to introduce them to conservative ideas, current policy debates, and have the opportunity to meet top Heritage Fellows and other outside scholars. We also arrange tours to places like the United States Capitol, the Library of Congress, Mount Vernon, and the Pentagon.

Guest Scholars

The B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies invites scholars to write essays (approx. 7,000 words) on a “First Principle” that they are particularly familiar with or interested in making available to the Center’s audiences.  Scholars typically give a public lecture based on their paper and then lead a private discussion with one of our target audiences.  While in town, scholars might work privately with Heritage experts, create a Heritage YouTube video, or teach Heritage interns.  The Center offers a generous honorarium for the published essay and lecture and reimburses travel expenses. 
 
To Apply:
Mail or e-mail the following materials to the Center:

  1. Curriculum Vita
  2. Letter explaining field of interest, qualifications to speak and write on topic, and relevance to the work of the Center. 
  3. Copies of relevant academic work

Applications are received and considered on an ongoing basis.  
 
For a list of current topics the Center is considering, email julia.shaw@heritage.org.

Guest Scholars include:

  • Dr. Gordon Lloyd, Pepperdine University
  • Dr. Joshua Dunn, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs
  • Dr. Andrew E. Busch, Claremont McKenna College
  • Dr. Lucas E. Morel, Washington and Lee University
  • Dr. Peter Schramm, Ashland University
  • Dr. Jeremy Rabkin, George Mason School of Law
  • Dr. Allen Guelzo, Gettysburg College
  • Dr. R.J. Pestritto, Hillsdale College

Research Associate

A ten month residency at Heritage, for post undergraduates, that provides the opportunity to research issues relating to the Constitution, the American Founding and conservative principles.

First Principle Forums

First Principles Forums are held on college campuses around the country. These conferences seeks to provide a much-needed education in the principles of liberty and constitutional self-government, as well as important issues of public policy, to a broad audience of students, policymakers and citizens.

Quotes Database
The quotes in this database are only approved for entry after careful review to ensure their accuracy. No quote from this database which has not been verified can be displayed. In many cases, the quotes are drawn directly from the various Works of the authors quoted, which are multi-volume, authoritative collections of the writings of the various founders. In others, the quotes are drawn from secondary commentaries on the founding, or edited volumes of the writings of the founders, but only after verification in other secondary sources or by recurring to the authoritative Works of the particular author.
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Search a database of useful quotes from and about America's founding fathers.
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Charts
Charts of note on America's First Principles chosen by Heritage Foundation scholars.

Still declaring our independence

July 01, 2009
a la chart 55
  • Still declaring our independence
  • Americans Cherish the 'One' in Our 'Many'
  • Prosperity linked to economic freedom
Heritage Resources on Abraham Lincoln

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A Clause-by-Clause Analysis of the Constitution!

Guide to the Constitution “The Constitution,” pledged George Washington, “is the guide which I will never abandon.”

Can we say the same today?

Under the leadership of former Attorney General Edwin Meese, and in conjunction with the nation’s preeminent think tank—The Heritage Foundation—The Heritage Guide to the Constitution brings together more than 100 of the nation’s best legal experts to provide the first ever line-by-line examination of the framers’ Constitution and its contemporary meaning.

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Progressivism and the Attack on the American Founding

Click here to view our Progressivism papers

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Heritage Experts on First Principles

Media Information Line: (202) 675-1761

Lee

Lee Edwards Ph.D.

Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought , B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies

Edwin

Edwin Meese III

Ronald Reagan Distinguished Fellow in Public Policy and Chairman of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies

Joseph

Joseph Postell

Assistant Director , B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies

Matthew

Matthew Spalding Ph.D.

Director , B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies