The Great American Story: The Revolution of Self-Rule

About this episode

The episode discusses the intellectual foundations of the Declaration of Independence and the historical challenges faced by Americans, featuring guest Wilfred McClay.

On this episode of The Hillsdale College Online Courses Podcast, Jeremiah and Juan discuss the intellectual foundations of the Deceleration of Independence before introducing Wilfred McClay. Americans have overcome many challenges throughout our history, including the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Great Depression, two World Wars, and the Cold War. Studying the great stories from our past inspires us to preserve the blessings of liberty in our day. Now you can study these stories with Hillsdale College. Hillsdale’s free online course, “The Great American Story: A Land of Hope,” explores the history of America as a land of hope founded on high principles. In presenting the great triumphs and achievements of our nation’s past, as well as the shortcomings and failures, it offers a broad and unbiased study of the kind essential to the cultivation of intelligent patriotism. The British imperial system fostered habits of self-rule in the American colonies, which were strengthened by the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment. This revolution of self-rule culminated in the resonant words of the Declaration of Independence, which cited “the Laws of…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jeremiah, Juan

Guest: Wilfred McClay

Topics covered

• American history
• self-rule
• intellectual foundations
• liberty
• patriotism
• challenges in history

Keywords

• Declaration of Independence
• self-rule
• American Revolution
• Hillsdale College
• liberty
• patriotism
• history
• Wilfred McClay

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hillsdale College, British imperial system

Books & works: The Declaration of Independence, The Great American Story: A Land of Hope

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• The Great American Story: The Progressive Era · May 21, 2026 · 51 min
• The Great American Story: Becoming a World Power · May 13, 2026 · 34 min
• The Great American Story: Reconstruction and Transformation · May 6, 2026 · 54 min