Abstract: Early Progressives co-opted Abraham Lincoln’s legacy to justify their program of expansive government powers over American life. In so doing, they obscured how their philosophy of government broke with Lincoln and the Founding to which he was heir. Nevertheless, much conservative and libertarian… Read more
Abstract: Throughout his presidency, Ronald Reagan was guided by the principles of the American founding, especially the idea of ordered liberty. In the opening of his first inaugural address in 1981, President Reagan echoed the preamble of the Constitution, calling on the country’s citizens… Read more
Abstract: America shares many traits with other countries, but it also has characteristics that set it apart and give it a role to play and a national identity that no other country has. Most important are the founding ideas of classical liberalism, political democracy,… Read more
Abstract: The American commitment to equality of opportunity, economic liberty, and upward mobility is not tried in days of prosperity. It is tested when times are tough—when fear and envy are used to divide Americans and further the… Read more
Abstract: A neo-Reaganite grand strategy offers the surest guide for restoring and sustaining American greatness in the 21st century. It incorporates the principles of the Founding without slighting the perennial imperatives of power and geopolitics. It inoculates us… Read more
From The Heritage Foundation, I'm Ernest Istook. Independence Day marks the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence, July 4,… Read more
Under the Articles of Confederation, all war power was vested in a Congress and the United States lacked a formal executive. This arrangement proved unworkable as America’s foreign policy and defense, deprived of executive guidance, floundered. Recognizing the need for an executive to act… Read more
From the retaliatory raids on the Barbary pirates at the turn of the 19th century to the ongoing bombing campaign in Libya, American Presidents have deployed military force several hundred times in the nation’s history. Yet Congress has declared war on only five occasions—and… Read more
Abstract: Did America have a Christian Founding? This disputed question, far from being only of historical interest, has important implications for how we conceive of the role of religion in the American… Read more
So important is the power to borrow money that it was one of the few real powers expressly delegated to the weak and ineffectual government created under the Articles of Confederation. In drafting the Constitution, the Framers recognized the importance of empowering the government… Read more
The Declaration of Independence reminds us that all people have inalienable rights—among them, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights, the U.S. Constitution creates a government of the people to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general… Read more
Editor's Note: Today's most controversial public policy questions concerning race in the United States--from the debate over affirmative action and racial quotas to financial demands for reparations--ultimately derive from the fact that those who founded this country did not abolish the institution of slavery as part of their project to establish a… Read more
No metaphor in American letters has had a more profound influence on law and policy than Thomas Jefferson's "wall of separation between church and state." Today, this figure of speech is accepted by many Americans as a pithy description of the constitutionally prescribed church-state arrangement, and it has become the… Read more
Abstract: Although there are many scholarly treatments of the Founders’ understanding of property and economics, few of them present an overview of the complete package of the principles and policies upon which they agreed. Even the fact that there was a consensus among the Founders is often denied.… Read more
Abstract: American statecraft has been grounded, both morally and philosophically, in the principles of human liberty and America’s sense of justice. Thus, the true consistency of American foreign policy is to be found not in its policies, which… Read more
Abstract: Today, those who defend free markets and capitalism often do so solely on managerial or technical grounds, but economic liberty needs a moral defense as well. Defense of economic liberty without reference to morality will ultimately prove injurious to liberty itself. Rightly understood,… Read more
Abstract: America’s Founders sought to define a national good that transcended local interests and prejudices. The national good included the common benefits of self-defense and prosperity that all Americans would realize by participating in a large, commercial nation… Read more
While many political observers agree that “the great mass of Tea Party America does not seem headed toward a new isolationism,”[1] its silence on foreign policy issues has allowed isolationist voices to speak up for the Tea Party as a whole and to discredit the movement’s relevance to… Read more
Abstract: Once a colossus dominating the globe, Europe today is a doddering convalescent plagued by economic sclerosis, unaffordable entitlements, an impending demographic collapse, and a large unassimilated Muslim population. In addition, the EU’s reliance on soft power has left it unable to project global… Read more
Abstract: Nearly 50 years after Martin Luther King delivered his memorable “I have a dream” speech, there is a growing consensus that the civil rights movement, despite some important victories, has been a failure. While conceding that these… Read more
Supporters of Ron Paul have re-launched an old ad promoting the old idea of American isolationism. “We now are a...… Read more
The Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute host a Republican presidential debate on CNN this Tuesday at...… Read more
Silly Brits. After all these years, they still don’t understand natural rights. During a moot debate last week at...… Read more
Every summer, thousands of high school and college students flock to Washington, D.C., to learn about our government and...… Read more
In the wake of last week’s Independence Day celebrations, millions of young Americans are embracing their freedom. While...… Read more
Few historical questions generate as much controversy as this one—and do so on such a regular basis. Every few months...… Read more
If there is one thing that the left and the right often agree about these days when it comes to the Founding, it is...… Read more
Forget George Washington, James Madison, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln—nothing meaningful happened in America...… Read more
In his new book, We Still Hold These Truths, Heritage’s Dr. Matthew Spalding explains that American students lack a...… Read more
This past weekend a brouhaha developed across the nation over remarks Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made in 2008...… Read more
Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics
Visiting Fellow, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics
Vice President, American Studies and Director, B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics