Launching April 13: The Consent of the Governed: Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence

This year’s study focuses on the “consent of the governed” as a founding principle of American republican government. The consent of the governed is one of the main principles of the Declaration of Independence, which we are celebrating throughout 2026. Our online study on the “consent of the governed” focuses on monumental events in American history inspired by the principle of “consent of the governed,” their thesis, and the leaders that championed the cause. 

Topic 1. The Declaration of Independence and the Lockean idea 

Essay 1A – The Declaration of Independence, the Lockean Idea and The People
Guest Essayist: The Honorable Bob Pence – Former U.S. Ambassador to Finland

Essay 1B – Hero – The Declaration of Independence, the Lockean Idea and Reverend Thomas Hooker
Guest Essayist: Eric Wise

Essay 1C – The Declaration of Independence, the Lockean idea and the Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Will Morrisey – Will Morrisey is Professor Emeritus of Politics at Hillsdale College.

Topic 2. The Stamp Act and the dramatic popular resistance in the colonies as the people protested the oppression of taxation without representation.

Essay 2A – The People
Guest Essayist: Scot Faulkner – Author, Former Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives

Essay 2B – Hero – Patrick Henry
Guest Essayist: Jason Stevens – Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ashland University and Co-Director of the Ashbrook Scholar Program.

Essay 2C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Joseph Knippenberg – Professor Of Politics And Politics Program Coordinator At Oglethorpe University

Topic 3. The Boston Tea Party and the dramatic protest of thousands in Boston that resisted taxation without representation with the Tea Act and led to the Coercive Acts.

Essay 3A – The People
Guest Essayist: Jonathan Den Hartog – Professor of History and Chair of the History Department at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

Essay 3B – Hero – Samuel Adams
Guest Essayist: James Best – Retired, The Abraham Lincoln Association, Historical Novel Society

Essay 3C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Elizabeth Amato – Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at Gardner-Webb University.

Topic 4. The Battles of Lexington & Concord and Bunker Hill in which the colonists bound themselves together, armed themselves, and marched to Boston to defend their sacred liberties.

Essay 4A – The People
Guest Essayist: Jay McConville – Veteran, Doctoral Candidate Virginia Commonwealth University Doug Wilder School Of Public Policy, Constituting America Board Member

Essay 4B – Hero – Captain John Parker
Guest Essayist: Kirk Higgins – Vice President Of Content, Bill Of Rights Institute

Essay 4C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Elizabeth Kaufer Busch

Topic 5. The freedom suits and freedom petitions by enslaved and free blacks in New England during and after the Revolutionary War for freedom, natural rights, and civil rights of citizenship such as the right to vote.

Essay 5A – The People
Guest Essayist: C.C. Borzilleri – Historian and a Content Specialist at the Bill of Rights Institute.

Essay 5B – Hero – Elizabeth Freeman (Mumbet)
Guest Essayist: Lucas Morel – John K. Boardman, Jr. Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University

Essay 5C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist Tony Williams – Senior Teaching Fellow, Bill Of Rights Institute

Topic 6. The ratification debate over the Constitution among the people and their representatives in popular state ratifying conventions as an expression of the sovereign people to make the Constitution fundamental law.

Essay 6A – The People
Guest Essayist: Randolph May – Founder And President Of The Free State Foundation, An Independent, Non-Profit Free-Market-Oriented Think Tank Founded In 2006

Essay 6B – Hero – James Madison & George Mason
Guest Essayist: Tom Hand – Founder, Americana Corner

Essay 6C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Christopher Burkett – Associate Professor, Ashland University and Ashbrook Center

Topic 7. The Northwest Ordinance and settlement of the West as settlers rushed westward in the wake of the Revolutionary War and quickly created new states with townships, farms, and the self-governing institutions of civil society such as local government and churches.

Essay 7A – The People
Guest Essayist: Scot Faulkner – Author, Former Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives

Essay 7B – Hero – Manasseh Cutler
Guest Essayist: Dan Cotter – Member At Aronberg Goldgehn

Essay 7C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Will Morrisey – Professor Emeritus of Politics at Hillsdale College.

Topic 8. The spread of universal male suffrage in the states in the early 1800s as America became more democratic and white men, regarding of wealth and property, were able to express their consent. Led to very high political participation rates and enthusiasm.

Essay 8A – The People
Guest Essayist: Joerg Knipprath – Professor at Southwestern Law School

Essay 8B – Hero – Andrew Jackson & The Common Man
Guest Essayist: Edward Lee – Professor Of History, Winthrop University

Essay 8C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Jon Schaff – Professor of Political Science Northern State University

Topic 9. Seneca Falls Convention and the arguments and movement for women’s suffrage as the basis for equality, self-rule, and consent by participating in government and having a voice.

Essay 9A – The People
Guest Essayist: Heather E Yates – Political Researcher at Ballotpedia, the digital encyclopedia of American Politics.

Essay 9B – Hero – Belva Lockwood
Guest Essayist: Janine Turner

Essay 9C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Troy Kickler – Professor and Founder of North Carolina History Project

Topic 10. John Quincy Adams and others fight the Gag Rule in Congress attempting to ban abolitionist petitions and their struggle to defend free speech and constitutional liberties and self-rule.

Essay 10A – The People
Guest Essayist: Stephen Tootle – Professor Of History At The College Of Sequoias

Essay 10B – Hero – John Quincy Adams
Guest Essayist: Scot Faulkner – Author, Former Chief Administrative Officer of the U.S. House of Representatives

Essay 10C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: William Allen – Emeritus Dean and Professor, Michigan State University

Topic 11. The invention of the mechanical reaper and the rise of mechanical farming that made life easier for farmers.

Essay 11A – The People
Guest Essayist: Tony Williams – Senior Teaching Fellow, Bill Of Rights Institute

Essay 11B – Hero – Cyrus McCormick
Guest Essayist: Jim Pinkerton – Senior Fellow, America First Policy Institute; White House Domestic Policy Staff for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; Senior Advisor to the 2008 Mike Huckabee Presidential Campaign

Essay 11C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist:

Topic 12. The telegraph and railroad made communications and travel much easier and faster and connected local and distant markets together to benefit individuals and businesses as well as provide a greater sense of national identity.

Essay 12A – The People
Guest Essayist: James C. Clinger – Professor of Political Science at Murray State University

Essay 12B – Hero – Samuel Morse
Guest Essayist: Andrew Langer – President of the Institute for Liberty

Essay 12C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Gary Porter – Executive Director of the Constitution Leadership Initiative

Topic 13. The Homestead Act passed during the Civil War in 1862 that provided free land for settlers and encouraged westward expansion and settlement after the Civil War.

Essay 13A – The People
Guest Essayist: Alex Tokarev – Associate Professor, Economics Northwood University

Essay 13B – Hero – Actual Woman Settlers
Guest Essayist: Libby McNamee – Author, Speaker, Lawyer, and Veteran

Essay 13C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Adam Carrington – Assistant Professor of Politics at Hillsdale College

Topic 14. Morrill Act passed in 1862 that allowed the creation of land grant colleges that have provided public colleges to give a broad part of the American population an affordable education and an opportunity to participate in the American Dream and offer social mobility and prosperity with an educated populace.

Essay 14A – The People
Guest Essayist: John Kitch

Essay 14B – Hero – Hero – Justin S. Morrill
Guest Essayist: Matt Van Hook – Associate Professor at Biola University’s Torrey Honors College

Essay 14C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Joerg Knipprath – Professor at Southwestern Law School

Topic 15. Black male suffrage in the Fifteenth Amendment and consent based upon fighting in the Civil War and fighting for their country.

Essay 15A – The People
Guest Essayist: Mark Shubert – Founder of Amending America, a civic education initiative dedicated to primary sources and the heritage & history of American political thought & practice.

Essay 15B – Hero – Frederick Douglass
Guest Essayist: Eric Sands – Associate Professor of Political Science at Berry College

Essay 15C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Dorothea Wolfson – Program Director, Sr. Lecturer, MA in Government Program, Johns Hopkins University

Topic 16. Newspapers that were mass printed and distributed in major cities and small towns provided for an informed citizenry by learning the news.

Essay 16A – The People
Guest Essayist: Michael Johnson

Essay 16B – Hero – Harken back to importance of print in revolutionary times? Ben Franklin?
Guest Essayist: Gary Porter – Executive Director of the Constitution Leadership Initiative

Essay 16C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: C.C. Borzilleri – Historian and a Content Specialist at the Bill of Rights Institute.

Topic 17. Interstate Commerce Act and Sherman Antitrust Act were acts passed by Congress based upon popular dissatisfaction and anger about the monopolistic practices by corporations as trusts and the railroads. Whatever contribution to the growth of the regulatory state, they were popular measures and were constitutional powers for Congress to regulate the marketplace.

Essay 17A – The People
Guest Essayist: Alex Tokarev – Associate Professor, Economics Northwood University

Essay 17B – Hero – Theodore Roosevelt or research more
Guest Essayist: Colin Hanna

Essay 17C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Joerg Knipprath – Professor at Southwestern Law School

Topic 18. Meat inspection Act passed by Congress and signed by Theodore Roosevelt after Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle exposed the unhealthy and gross practices of the meatpacking industry to protect public health.

Essay 18A – The People
Guest Essayist: Reeve Bull

Essay 18B – Hero – Upton Sinclair
Guest Essayist: Andrew Langer – President of the Institute for Liberty

Essay 18C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Peter Roff

Topic 19. The discovery and application of electricity and how much it improved public life and ran factories to promote prosperity. Perhaps something with Tesla.

Essay 19A – The People
Guest Essayist: Caleb Franz

Essay 19B – Hero – Nikola Tesla
Guest Essayist: Jim Pinkerton – Senior Fellow, America First Policy Institute; White House Domestic Policy Staff for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush; Senior Advisor to the 2008 Mike Huckabee Presidential Campaign

Essay 19C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Amanda Hughes

Topic 20. The invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell that connected private individuals with family and friends and facilitated instant communication in businesses.

Essay 20A – The People
Guest Essayist: Ken Cuccinelli – Ken is a practicing lawyer and issue leader on elections and immigration.

Essay 20B – Hero – Alexander Graham Bell
Guest Essayist: Stephen Puleo

Essay 20C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: James Clinger – Professor of Political Science at Murray State University

Topic 21. World War I soldiers’ experience in the trenches as expressed by wartime poetry and the dissatisfaction of the Lost Generation.

Essay 21A – The People
Guest Essayist: James Robbins – Columnist for USA ToEssay and Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council

Essay 21B – Hero – Alan Seeger
Guest Essayist: Caleb Franz

Essay 21C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Dominic Aquila

Topic 22. The Battle over the Versailles Treaty by Wilson and Lodge because Lodge wanted to preserve the consent of the people and their representatives in Congress to preserve American national sovereignty and the power to declare war, not an international organization.

Essay 22A – The People
Guest Essayist: Benjamin Peterson – Professor at Abilene Christian University

Essay 22B – Hero – Senator Henry Cabot Lodge
Guest Essayist: John Bicknell – Author

Essay 22C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Eric Schmidt – Associate Professor of Political Science at Kentucky Wesleyan College

Topic 23. The invention of the mass-produced car that was simple and affordable by Henry Ford that facilitated greater mobility that Americans wanted and gave them greater freedom to enjoy leisure with travel and live where they wanted in relation to work.

Essay 23A – The People
Guest Essayist:

Essay 23B – Hero – Henry Ford
Guest Essayist:

Essay 23C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist:

Topic 24. D-Day and the courageous battle by American citizen-soldiers defending the United States and fighting for freedom against totalitarianism and tyranny.

Essay 24A – The People
Guest Essayist: Stephen Puleo

Essay 24B – Hero – John Trippon – D Day – collective essay – threw his body down to make a bridge – Bedford Boys – 19 boys
Guest Essayist: Ron Meier

Essay 24C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Tom Bruscino

Topic 25. The Manhattan Project and the secret project to develop a nuclear weapon in which hundreds of thousands of Americans participated to defeat the tyranny of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Essay 25A – The People
Guest Essayist:

Essay 25B – Hero – Leslie Groves
Guest Essayist:

Essay 25C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Benjamin Slomski

Topic 26. The GI Bill and the opportunity for millions who served their country to earn an education, start a business, or own a home that provided millions with opportunity and mobility.

Essay 26A – The People
Guest Essayist: Phillip Bunn – Assistant professor of political science at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia

Essay 26B – Hero – Harry W. Colmery & John Henry Stelle
Guest Essayist:

Essay 26C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist:

Topic 27. The National Highway Act that linked the American nation with a system of interstate highways that facilitated travel, tourism, mobility, and prosperity as Americans drove to destinations together.

Essay 27A – The People
Guest Essayist: Jeff L. Scott – Executive Director of Academic Operations at Troy University and Founder of Dr. Scott’s Classroom, LLC

Essay 27B – Hero –
Guest Essayist:

Essay 27C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist:

Topic 28. The Apollo Project and moon landing by NASA and countless members of industry and science as hundreds of thousands of Americans contributed to this national endeavor of discovery and a space race against the Soviets.

Essay 28A – The People
Guest Essayist: Andrew Langer – President of the Institute for Liberty

Essay 28B – Hero – Katherine Johnson Dorothy Vaughan Mary Jackson – emblamatic of 400,000 people who worked on the project
Guest Essayist:

Essay 28C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist:

Topic 29. The Civil Rights Movement with several dramatic events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, Little Rock Nine, CORE freedom rides, Birmingham, the March on Washington, and the Selma Marches leading to the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.

Essay 29A – The People
Guest Essayist:

Essay 29B – Hero – Martin Luther King – Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Guest Essayist:

Essay 29C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: Tim Schantz

Topic 30. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment and eighteen-year-olds voting after fighting in Vietnam.

Essay 30A – The People
Guest Essayist:

Essay 30B – Hero – Jennings Randolph
Guest Essayist: George Landrith – President of the Frontiers of Freedom Institute

Essay 30C – Founding Documents
Guest Essayist: