Media Release
Danielle Allen’s Radical Duke Recasts the Origins of the Age of Revolution
A new book from Harvard scholar Danielle Allen revisits the forgotten British radical movement that helped shape modern democracy.
Commentary
“Our Declaration” Reissued for America 250
First published in 2014, Professor Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration has been reissued with a new foreword this year to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
This commentary was originally published on the Harvard Kennedy School website.
First published in 2014, James Bryant Conant University Professor and Director of the Allen Lab for Democracy Renovation at the Ash Center Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration has been reissued with a new foreword this year to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Our Declaration shares Allen’s personal story about teaching this foundational American document along with an account of the colonial world in which it was written and the philosophy that it expresses. “The purpose of this account will not be to retell a well-known tale but rather to discover, through that tale, the birth of the Declaration, the art of democratic writing,” Allen explains. “Democracies are built out of language. To succeed as citizens, we need to understand this fundamental political fact.”
Allen’s primary argument is that the Declaration of Independence is not simply about the concept of individual liberty but also about political equality, and that these two notions are interrelated. “Ideally, if political equality exists, citizens become co-creators of their shared world,” Allen writes. “Freedom from domination and the opportunity for co-creation maximize the space available for individual and collective flourishing.”
Additional Resource
Storytelling Pathways to Civics Engagement
Watch Roadtrip Nation’s Living Civics documentary and hear from leading universal civic learning experts on the power of narrative for civic engagement.
Commentary
Allen Lab Fellow Spotlight: Why a People-Centered Approach to American Democracy Matters Now
Allen Lab Policy Fellow Christine Slaughter makes the case that democracy must be understood through people’s lived experiences and agency, not just institutions.