Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Lucas Morel, the John K. Boardman Jr. Professor of Politics, delivers the opening presentation of the 2026 Summer College program, "America at 250: The Founding of an Independent Nation."
Our program on the Founding begins with one of the most important interpreters of the Declaration of Independence. Frederick Douglass's life, political thought, and activism actually help us understand the Founding in a productive and fruitful way. He looked at his country's past in a way that was not a simple binary, but instead as a history of promises, successes, failures, and misinterpretations. Douglass had every reason to hate America, the land of his birth, but remarkably his life shows us that he became one of America's greatest defenders. His belief that truth will ultimately prevail led him to interpret the Declaration and Constitution as glorious liberty documents that would enable Americans to eventually finish the job of closing the gap between what they profess to believe and what they practice.
Lucas Morel, the John K. Boardman Jr. Professor of Politics, delivers the opening presentation of the 2026 Summer College program, "America at 250: The Founding of an Independent Nation."
Our program on the Founding begins with one of the most important interpreters of the Declaration of Independence. Frederick Douglass's life, political thought, and activism actually help us understand the Founding in a productive and fruitful way. He looked at his country's past in a way that was not a simple binary, but instead as a history of promises, successes, failures, and misinterpretations. Douglass had every reason to hate America, the land of his birth, but remarkably his life shows us that he became one of America's greatest defenders. His belief that truth will ultimately prevail led him to interpret the Declaration and Constitution as glorious liberty documents that would enable Americans to eventually finish the job of closing the gap between what they profess to believe and what they practice.
