Who Owns the Declaration of Independence?

Who Owns the Declaration of Independence?

From Breaking History by The Free Press

May 27, 2026 · 1h 18m

About this episode

Michael Anton joins Eli Lake to discuss the evolving interpretations of the Declaration of Independence as America approaches its 250th anniversary.

As America approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, a quiet war is being waged over what the Declaration of Independence really means — with some on the new right dismissing it as globalist fantasy and some on the left reducing it to a document written by slaveholders. Writer and former national security official Michael Anton joins Eli Lake to examine the ideas of Harry Jaffa, a Brooklyn-born philosopher who spent his career insisting that the Declaration's truths are not relics of the 18th century but eternal facts about human nature. Jaffa's argument was unfashionable when he made it and it's contested now, but Anton thinks it's never been more urgent. Along the way, Michael and Eli take on the new right's growing rejection of the ideas that made the founding possible, the left's long abandonment of the Declaration, and how both sides have managed, in their own way, to get America's origin story completely wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Eli Lake

Guest: Michael Anton

Topics covered

  • Declaration of Independence
  • American founding
  • political philosophy
  • new right
  • leftist critique
  • historical interpretation

Keywords

  • Declaration of Independence
  • Michael Anton
  • Eli Lake
  • Harry Jaffa
  • political philosophy
  • new right
  • left
  • American history

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Free Press

More episodes of Breaking History

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Breaking History podcast page.