In this episode, David Blight, Robert P. George, and Annette Gordon-Reed explore the enduring ideas at the core of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution—including equality, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and government by consent—and examine how those principles have been debated, interpreted, and contested over time. Moderated by Thomas Donnelly, lead scholar at the National Constitution Center, the conversation invites audiences to engage deeply with the ideas that launched a nation and to consider how our shared constitutional story continues to unfold.
This conversation was recorded live in Philadelphia on June 8, 2026, as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series. It is presented in partnership with the Organization of American Historians and the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute.
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This episode was produced and mixed by Bill Pollock. It was recorded by David Stotz and Greg Schekler. With production support from Charles Sahm. Research was provided by Anna Salvatore, Trey Sullivan, and Tristan Worsham.
Participants
David W. Blight is Sterling Professor of American History at Yale University. He is director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, and a frequent public historian and lecturer. His work has won numerous honors, including the Bancroft Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for his acclaimed biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.
Robert P. George is the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has served as chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and before that on the President’s Council on Bioethics and as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights.
Annette Gordon-Reed is the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University. She is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family and has received numerous honors including the National Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and the National Humanities Medal. She recently served as president of the Organization of American Historians.
Thomas Donnelly is lead scholar at the National Constitution Center. Prior to joining the Center in 2016, he served as counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, as a Climenko Fellow and lecturer on law at Harvard Law School, and as a law clerk for Judge Thomas Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
Additional Resources
- Annotated Declaration of Independence, National Constitution Center
- Interactive Constitution, National Constitution Center
- The Promise of America: Reflections on Our Enduring Ideals
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