It took a revolution to build this country. It will take an educational revolution to keep it. That’s why Ashbrook Center launched In the Spirit of ‘76. Ashbrook is committed to preserving freedom in America by educating the next generation of citizens in the history and founding principles of our country, and the best way to reach the young is through those who teach the young.
Ashbrook has developed an educational approach rooted in conversations about the primary historical documents that define our history—the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and many others. This interactive approach immerses students and teachers in the world-shaking story of the United States and the principles that make our country exceptional.
The point isn’t that ours is the first perfect nation. Too often, we haven’t lived up to the ideals we hold up as defining our republic. But America is truly great, in part because it strives to be good. Our Founders shared a common spirit and understanding of government that allowed them—even, perhaps even especially, when they disagreed with each other—to create what became the freest and most prosperous country on earth. The fact that millions of students are hearing a very different story about our founding is an injustice—one that demands a response.
Ashbrook’s response is to immerse students in the founding documents and story, preparing the next generation to use their freedom well and earn the self-respect that follows wise self-governance, empowering them to flourish in their families, communities, and nation.
Through their ambitious In the Spirit of ’76 initiative, and with the support of several Bradley Impact Fund members, Ashbrook has sparked a much-needed educational revolution in thousands of classrooms. In 2024 alone, they hosted over 250 programs for thousands of teachers from all fifty states. These teachers encourage students to read and discuss the words of the men and women who lived and wrote our history. As a result, students come to their own conclusions about their country as they discover for themselves the true story of America.
In addition to programs for teachers, Ashbrook offers educational programs that reach students directly, such as on-campus academies for high school students and rigorous academic programs for undergraduate students. Through these top-rated programs, Ashbrook is educating the next generation of principled leaders. Today’s students need a straightforward way to learn American history and government, just as previous generations learned it. They need hope—hope that theirs is a good country built on true principles of self-government, hope that grows out of an understanding of why freedom is worth preserving.
Gabriela, a young Ashbrook teacher from Middletown, TX, knows the score: “People in other countries might talk about unalienable rights,” she said, but “it doesn’t mean they understand what this means.” The Founders knew their rights to life and liberty were no secondary concern—they were truths that the Founders were prepared to defend. This realization confirmed Gabriela’s choice of career, as she recognized that the fate of “the American Revolution is in the hands of American history teachers, because if we don’t teach students to value what they have, we could lose it.”
Gabriela’s commitment to passing on a respect for the founding has an added element of urgency. She wasn’t born in Texas, but in Argentina, where a once-prosperous, democratic society descended into chaos and penury as socialists gained power and attacked the nation’s institutions and sense of identity. Haunted by memories of the “disappeared”—citizens seized and presumably killed because of their politics—Gabriela is deeply committed to helping American students know and appreciate the incredible gift they’ve inherited. Thanks to the Ashbrook Center, hundreds of students will be moved by passionate patriotism such as Gabriela’s for her adopted nation.
