Matthew Spalding is the Kirby Professor in Constitutional Government and Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College. He also oversees the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C. campus.Spalding is the best-selling author of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future and the original executive editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, the first line-by-line analysis of each clause of the U.S. Constitution. Appointed executive director of the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which produced The 1776 Report, he is currently a senior academic advisor for America250 projects.Prior to joining Hillsdale, Spalding was vice president for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation and founding director of its B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics. He is a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy and serves on the boards of The Steamboat Institute, Faith & Law, and New College of Florida.He received his BA from Claremont McKenna College and his MA and PhD from the Claremont Graduate School.

"This new book invites Americans to fall in love with their country by rediscovering the goodness and greatness of its first principles. It is a solid introduction to our founding document, touching on the historical events surrounding it, the effort that went into drafting it, and the heated debate over ratifying it. Spalding enriches his account by turning often to the founders themselves to explain the Declaration’s words."—Claremont Review of Books

Matthew Spalding is the Kirby Professor in Constitutional Government and Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College. He also oversees the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C. campus.Spalding is the best-selling author of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future and the original executive editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, the first line-by-line analysis of each clause of the U.S. Constitution. Appointed executive director of the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which produced The 1776 Report, he is currently a senior academic advisor for America250 projects.Prior to joining Hillsdale, Spalding was vice president for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation and founding director of its B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics. He is a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy and serves on the boards of The Steamboat Institute, Faith & Law, and New College of Florida.He received his BA from Claremont McKenna College and his MA and PhD from the Claremont Graduate School.

"This new book invites Americans to fall in love with their country by rediscovering the goodness and greatness of its first principles. It is a solid introduction to our founding document, touching on the historical events surrounding it, the effort that went into drafting it, and the heated debate over ratifying it. Spalding enriches his account by turning often to the founders themselves to explain the Declaration’s words."—Claremont Review of Books

Matthew Spalding is the Kirby Professor in Constitutional Government and Dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College. He also oversees the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C. campus.Spalding is the best-selling author of We Still Hold These Truths: Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future and the original executive editor of The Heritage Guide to the Constitution, the first line-by-line analysis of each clause of the U.S. Constitution. Appointed executive director of the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which produced The 1776 Report, he is currently a senior academic advisor for America250 projects.Prior to joining Hillsdale, Spalding was vice president for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation and founding director of its B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics. He is a senior fellow at the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy and serves on the boards of The Steamboat Institute, Faith & Law, and New College of Florida.He received his BA from Claremont McKenna College and his MA and PhD from the Claremont Graduate School.

"This new book invites Americans to fall in love with their country by rediscovering the goodness and greatness of its first principles. It is a solid introduction to our founding document, touching on the historical events surrounding it, the effort that went into drafting it, and the heated debate over ratifying it. Spalding enriches his account by turning often to the founders themselves to explain the Declaration’s words."—Claremont Review of Books