ARIANNA NEVAREZ
Staff Writer
Though the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, it remains the basis for the U.S. government. Yet Robert P. George said on this 250th anniversary, the country must analyze the document for what it meant then versus how it has been translated into 2026.
“From the very beginning, we know that our nation contradicted its founding principles because we had slavery and while proclaiming that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights and among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So there was a contradiction right at the founding,” George said. “Now that doesn’t mean that the principles are wrong or bad, but it does show that stating the principles is one thing — living up to them is another thing.”
On his third visit to Chautauqua, George will close out the Week Six Chautauqua Lecture Series theme of “America at 250: In Partnership with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation” with a lecture focused on the Declaration of Independence and its historical significance at 10:45 a.m. Friday in the Amphitheater.
George is currently the McCormick professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. As a scholar of philosophy of law and of American civic institutions, the 250th anniversary of of the U.S. and of the Declaration of Independence is “a big deal” to George. He has been teaching about the Declaration and the Constitution for 41 years in academia.
“Despite the faults of the founders, I celebrate the American founding because they did it. They pulled it off,” George said. “They created a republic that works. They eventually, a few years after the Declaration, were able to come up with a constitution, a charter of government that built in protections against the things that had caused previous republics to collapse, and again, often into the worst forms of tyranny. So we have a lot to celebrate, but then we should also use the occasion to rededicate ourselves to the principles.”
George also serves on the New Jersey Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In the 1990s, he served as a presidential appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, where he led the commission’s inquiry, a set of hearings into issues of religious freedom in American public schools.
Now on the New Jersey Committee, George said he is helping conduct hearings focused on the rise of antisemitism in the U.S. and will make recommendations based on their findings to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
“Having served on the commission itself back in the 90s, I had a pretty good idea what I was getting into here,” George said.
George said he brings a unique perspective to Week Six because of his focus on the Declaration of Independence and its core foundations. He said this is a moment of high pressure and said there are lots of eyes on the President, the U.S. Supreme Court and Congress, as well as their interpretations of the words the founders wrote in 1776: “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.”
“Now, what about going forward? What are the other issues that challenge our commitment to the principle of the profound inherent and equal dignity of each and every member of the human family, which is what that principle of the Declaration really is,” George said. “… On this 250th anniversary, the public is tuning in to them. I’m trying to do my part to promote what I think will be a very healthy, and already is a very healthy, public conversation and set of reflections on these issues.”
