Why I Wrote The Book

The initial inspiration for this book stemmed from a robust political debate between me and my two adult sons. Wanting to make my case from the Founders’ perspective, I dashed to my bookshelf to peruse books on the Founding, soon returning with a stack, each with a piece of the answer. We spent hours that night, as we often do, discussing the affairs of the day and how the Founders would speak to those issues.

Following that conversation, and for my own edification, I determined it would be easier to reference the Founders’ ideas if I could pull them from a single source. Having the most relevant words of the Founders in one place would both equip me for the next political discussion with my sons, and inform my public speaking on the topic.

A few months later I gave a presentation on the founding ideals in the words of the Founding Fathers at the Western Conservative Summit in Colorado. Following the positive response, it dawned on me that the presentation of the Founders’ words in the form of a speech needed to be a book. I needed to write a relatable and relevant book for a modern audience that could also serve as a single resource for the Founders’ thoughts and principles — in their own words.

From my home office in Woodstock, Georgia, I set out to collect and collate the most relevant texts from the Founders’ speeches, essays, letters, and the Federalist Papers, weaving them into a tapestry of a speech that builds and develops as a narrative. I knew it would take time, but I did not expect to be pulled into a two-year immersion of their texts and, even more surprisingly, into the words of those who inspired them, as well as many they inspired in the generations that followed. But to tell the full story of America, and of the enlightenment of which they were a part, and through which their promise of equality was eventually kept, I needed to include them all. I needed to hear — and wanted to make accessible — the relevance of all of their words to our issues today, as if the Founders had together visited modern-day America, and reconvened to compose a single speech that would recall America to its founding principles.

I hope the book is as meaningful to you as it has been to so many who have taken the time to write me. If you would like to drop a note please use the form below. And I hope you will subscribe to our Founders’ Words e-mails so that we can keep up with you about the release of the next book, as well as provide some great Founders quotes along the way. Blessings to you.