Our Declaration

Join American Public Square and the Kansas City Public Library for an exclusive author talk with author and political theorist Danielle Allen. As we near the end of a year-long celebration of our nation’s 250th birthday, Allen discusses the Declaration of Independence and perhaps the most important 35 words in American political history: “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.” Often cited as the epitome of American ideals, it is rife with contradictions. How can a collection of slaveholding men claim that ALL men are created equal? And is it just men? And what is the “pursuit” of happiness?

In this 250 & Counting series keynote address, Allen discusses her understanding of the founding document and explains that the Declaration of Independence makes it clear that equality and liberty are the “twinned foundations of democracy.”

Danielle Allen is a political philosopher whose current research focuses on democracy renovation: how to reconnect citizens to civic power through education and institutional redesign, how to make political institutions more responsive, accountable, and participatory, and how to make public policy that supports democracy. Her most recent book, Justice by Means of Democracy (University of Chicago Press, 2023), provides the theoretical foundation for this work. Her forthcoming book, The Radical Duke, a biography of an 18th-century British political reformer, is due out with Liveright/Norton in 2026. Through the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Harvard Kennedy School, she leads applied research on electoral reform, civic infrastructure, institutional design, and democracy-supportive public policy. Through the Democratic Knowledge Project-Learn at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, she develops and scales civic education curricula for preK-12 students and higher education. She is the publisher and founder of The Renovator Substack and a contributing columnist at The Atlantic Magazine.