Dr. Larry Arnn - "The Founders' Key"

A lecture delivered by Dr. Larry P. Arnn at The Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship of Hillsdale College. This lecture took place on December 2, 2011 at The Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center in Washington D.C.

"Historians today commonly claim that the Constitution of 1787 marked a break with the Declaration of Independence of 1776, even speaking of two foundings. This is both false and destructive of liberty. In fact, the principles of the Declaration command the arrangements of the Constitution, and the arrangements of the Constitution embody the principles of the Declaration. It is critical today to regain an understanding and love of the unity of these two grand documents."

Larry Arnn on the Declaration and Constitution

Larry Arnn, who earned his graduate and doctorate in government from the Claremont Graduate School, is the president of Hillsdale College. He discusses, with Hoover research fellow Peter Robinson, what the founders gave us and how the Declaration of Independence mattered at the time.

 

Dr. Larry Arnn: 'Self-Government or Czarist Bureaucracy'

The Declaration of Independence was a revolutionary document, but also a humble one. American government, it proclaimed, would be at all times subservient to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." Today, in higher education and in politics, those laws are held not to exist. As a direct result, our government rules according to its unchecked will, and we are seeing the reduction of politics to force. The key to reversing this trend--thus to reviving liberty--is a return to our ancient faith.

Larry P. Arnn is the twelfth president of Hillsdale College. He received his B.A. from Arkansas State University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in government from the Claremont Graduate School. He also studied at the London School of Economics and at Worcester College, Oxford University, where he was director of research for Sir Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill. From 1985-2000, Dr. Arnn was president of the Claremont Institute. He is the author of Liberty and Learning: The Evolution of American Education.

The First Principles on First Fridays monthly lecture series was launched in 2008 by the Hillsdale College Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship in Washington, D.C.