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This is a timely and essential exploration of the spiritual heart of the American founding, in which leading scholars including Michael W. McConnell, Thomas S. Kidd, Jane E. Calvert, Meir Y. Soloveichik, and Vincent Phillip Muñoz examine how religious freedom, individual conscience, natural rights, and civil society shaped the fight for independence, offering a fresh and illuminating look at America's constitutional inheritance as the nation marks the 250th anniversary of the Revolution.
Featuring original essays by Michael W. McConnell, Thomas S. Kidd, Jane E. Calvert, Meir Y. Soloveichik, and Vincent Phillip Muñoz.
The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, yet the founding is controversial now in ways it has not been in decades. The American Enterprise Institute offers a major intellectual and educational project to reintroduce Americans to the unique value of their national inheritance.
In the third volume of this series, scholars of American history and law consider the place of religion in the American Revolution. Many who participated in the American fight for independence viewed the cause as a fundamentally spiritual struggle, one with enormous implications for religion’s future in American civil society.
Exploring the multifaceted ways in which the founding generation understood religious freedom and worked to balance protections for diverse religious communities with the rights of individual conscience illuminates the commitment to liberty at the heart of the American project.
Introduction
Yuval Levin
1. Religion and Republicanism in the American Revolution
Michael W. McConnell
2. Divine Sanction and the American Case for Revolution
Thomas S. Kidd
3. “Puritan” John Adams and “Quaker” John Dickinson: A Reassessment
Jane E. Calvert
4. Founded in Revelation, and Reason Too
Meir Y. Soloveichik
5. The American Revolutions of 1776
Vincent Phillip Muñoz
About the Authors
Notes