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.
Most readers will immediately recognize and be able to complete the quote from the sentence above in the Declaration of Independence. But if your child or grandchild asked you to explain how the Founders’ ideas apply to issues like tariffs or birthright citizenship, how easily could you respond? As important as it is to commemorate our nation’s birthday, it is equally—if not more—important to understand how the Founders thought about these self-evident truths, what they meant by them, and how we should interpret these ideas two and a half centuries later. If you’ve recently read any scholars accomplishing this task, there is a good chance they are part of the American Enterprise Institute’s (AEI) “We Hold These Truths: America at 250” initiative." AEI is a public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world. AEI scholars advance ideas and policy that resonate with the Impact Fund community: parental choice in education, belief in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, solidarity with those at the periphery of our society, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture.
That is how real policy shifts often happen, and they begin by making the intellectual, moral, and practical case for expanding freedom, increasing individual opportunity, and strengthening the free enterprise system in the United States.
AEI’s experts drive the competition of ideas and—vitally for America at this juncture—make the intellectual case for restoring an informed patriotism back to the center of the policymaking machine.
When our nation marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026, top policymakers will have a body of clear and updated thought to guide policymaking in AEI’s aforementioned “We Hold These Truths: America at 250” initiative." A multivolume essay series edited by Yuval Levin, Adam J. White, and John Yoo, the initiative presents work on issues central to the founding era through eight distinct themes.
True to AEI’s longstanding commitment to actionable thought leadership, the initiative convenes leading scholars of history, political science, law, and other disciplines. The initiative tackles key questions to understanding the American Revolution’s legacy, such as: How democratic was our revolution? How central was religious faith and leadership to the course of our political tradition? How might the founding generation’s economic thought inform today’s debates? How has the American understanding of equality, individual rights, and the common good changed over time? And how have we told the story of our founding at different points in our history?
Impact Fund donors have good reason for greater hope heading into the semiquincentennial celebrations. Only two years ago, previous substantial efforts to mark the 250th were gutted by an unled administration that empowered activists to rewrite America’s story. But it is important that we not let this historic moment be lost in the inadequate ways we’ve come to mark the annual remembrance. It must be an occasion both for celebration and for reflection on the origins and present state of the country. Our debates about the founding—its ideals and ambitions, its character and that of the society it launched—easily become divisive, but they also have the potential to help revitalize our society.
That is why AEI’s intellectual and educational initiative to reacquaint Americans of all backgrounds—especially those working in the area of law and policy—with the foundation of the American project is so important. By taking a moment, or several, to contemplate our nation’s promises and perils, successes and failures, our leaders will be in a far better position to point the way toward the renewal of our founding principles and institutions.
Very few organizations have the position and credibility to really make the case for freedom so near the heights of America’s politics. For Impact Fund donors whose plans for America’s 250th include more than a great picnic, AEI offers a strong case for partnership in bringing intellectual leadership where it is most likely to inform the policies that will take us into the future.
