From the historic campus of Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Michigan, where the good, the true, and the beautiful are taught, nurtured, and honored, this is the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, bringing the activity and education of the college to listeners across the country.

The structure of the declaration is actually a very classical structure.

You begin by stating what is true.

You end by actually declaring your independence.

But in the middle, you've got to make your case.

And the case is a prudential case.

This is your host, Scott Bertram. Welcome to the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour, part of the

Hillsdale College podcast network. That was Dr. Matthew Spalding, professor in constitutional

government and dean of the Van Handel Graduate School of Government

at Hillsdale College's D.C. campus.

His brand new book is The Making of the American Mind, the story of our Declaration of Independence.

We go in-depth with Dr. Spaulding today about the Declaration and the Making of the American Mind.

Dr. Spaulding, thanks for joining us.

Great to be with you, Scott. It is a pleasure to talk to you, and especially around the release of this great new book. It's about the Declaration. You ask a question or make a point early on

that I wanted to start with. And your earlier book is called, We Still Hold These

Truths. And in it, you say you're falling back in love with the country. And in this book,

you talk about the keys to developing a thoughtful and passionate love of country. How should

we approach that? That's a great question. And I intentionally start the book with that kind of that whole

conversation, partially because, you know, the story of the Declaration actually is, it's a story.

It's, and the whole founding is a story. The Declaration is kind of the central scene, if you will,

this great drama of the founding. And it's really many ways

key to understanding it, which is what we, what I get, why I get into the predictions of the book.

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