DIA-Today: Democracy in America Today

We discuss the beginning of the Revolutionary War and the efforts of the Second Continental Congress to pursue peace and vindicate their rights at the same time.

We discuss Edmund Burke’s analysis of the American love of freedom, his efforts to end the conflict between the colonists and the British government, and the American character today.

We discuss the “Declaration and Resolves” of the First Continental Congress and the enduring value of appeals to the laws of nature.

We discuss Thomas Jefferson’s “Summary View of the Rights of British America” and the implications of Jefferson’s principles for the contemporary executive.

We continue our reflections on the key documents of the revolutionary era by looking at Sam Adams’s “The Rights of the Colonists” and the surprising connection between the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on President Trump’s tariffs and the colonial debates over the taxing power of Parliament.