From the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, this is We the People.

I'm Tom Donnelly, a law professor at the University of Richmond and lead scholar at this wonderful institution.

The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.

In this episode, Michael Osslin of Stanford University joins to discuss his new book, National

Treasure, How the Declaration of Independence Made America, which is a sweeping and vivid history

of the Declaration of Independence from its drafting to its enduring role in American life today.

Tracing the remarkable journey of this iconic document from a Philadelphia boarding house

to wartime hiding places and its place as a national symbol,

Osslyn explores how its ideals of liberty and equality have inspired generations of Americans

and continue to shape the American experiment.

Misha, thank you so much for joining us here.

Thank you for having me, Tom.

So let's begin just with the genesis of your book.

There's, you know, obviously a ton of books on the Declaration of Independence.

What inspired you to write this one?

Well, the truth is that I was doing a different study, a different project on the history of

Washington, D.C. and I was down at the archives to learn about its history in terms of urban

history. It's an important building and an important part of the city, federal triangle.

I was talking with the then archivist and she's telling me all these

stories about the declaration. I realized I didn't know anything. So I thought I'd go buy a book

on the declaration. And when I got to the bookstore, there wasn't one. And there wasn't one

that I wanted to read. And I did a little bit of due diligence and found out that there had

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