Should the U.S. Constitution be interpreted through the lens of the Declaration of Independence? A recent debate hosted by The Federalist Society pitting teacher and writer Hadley Arkes against University of Toledo law professor Lee Strang demonstrated that this is not merely an academic question. It touches on the foundations of the American regime – the “Novus ordo seclorum” (new order of the ages) conceived during the summer of 1776.
“As the culture becomes more and more deeply entrenched in relativism,” Arkes argues, “we need to recapture the wisdom of the founding generation, which can be found in the luminous writings of our beloved Alexander Hamilton, Chief Justice John Marshall, and our own James Wilson.”
Arkes founded the James Wilson Institute to “restore to a new generation of lawyers, judges, and citizens the understanding of the American Founders about the first principles of our law and the moral grounds of their own rights.” The Institute emphasizes the mutual dependence of natural rights and natural law – the rights that all people hold by nature and our corresponding duties and moral obligations.
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