New York Times bestselling author and committed constitutional
conservative Senator Mike Lee reveals the little-known stories behind
the Founder's takedown of a tyrannical king and the forgotten document
that created America.
There is perhaps no more powerful sentence in human history, written in
Philadelphia in the oppressively hot summer of 1776: We hold these
truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
Despite the earth-shattering power of Jefferson's simple sentence and
the document in which it is found, many Americans today don't understand
or appreciate the Declaration's gravity. As a result, we have lost touch
with much of what makes our country so special: the distinctly American
belief in the dignity of every human soul.
Our nation was born in an act of rebellion against an all-powerful
government. In Our Lost Declaration, Senator Mike Lee tells the
dramatic, little-known stories of the offenses committed by the British
crown against its own subjects. From London's attempts to shut down
colonial legislatures to hauling John Hancock before a court without a
jury, the abuses of a strong central government were felt far and wide.
They spurred our Founders to risk their lives in defense of their
rights, and their efforts established a vision of political freedom that
would change the course of history.
Lee shares new insights into the personalities who shaped that vision,
such as:
Thomas Paine, a populist radical who nearly died making his voyage from
Great Britain to the colonies before writing his revolutionary pamphlet,
Common Sense.
Edmund Randolph, who defied his Loyalist family and served in the
Virginia convention that voted for independence
Thomas Jefferson, who persevered through a debilitating health crisis to
pen the document that would officially begin the American experiment.
Senator Lee makes vividly clear how many abuses of federal power today
are rooted in neglect of the Declaration, including federal overreach
that corrupts state legislatures, the judicial system, and even
international trade. By rediscovering the Declaration, we can remind our
leaders in Washington D.C. that they serve us--not the other way around.
