When the framers of the Declaration of Independence listed “self-evident truths,” they began with three truths that precede any sort of state: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Yet about one third of the signers of the Declaration were slave owners. Wyoming Catholic College professor Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos helps us to make some sense of that.

While the Revolutionary War—as expected—ruined the economy, the lessons learned in the Colonial period, the habits of most Americans, and the entrepreneurial spirit of a new nation led to previously unheard of human flourishing and prosperity.

Our guest this week is Fr. Robert Sirico, founder and president emeritus of The Acton Institute. Fr. Sirico has long been a defender of the free-market system that built the American economy—from the very beginning.

The French Revolution that began in 1789 like the American Revolution that began in 1776 were both revolts against a king and against despotic rule. Both sought the expansion of human liberty and both intended to form republican governments. But that’s where the similarity stops and the contrast between the American Revolution and the French Revolution could not be starker. What made the difference?

Our guest this week, Dr. Joseph Loconte, addressed this question at a conference at The Institute of Faith and Freedom at Grove City College, Dr. Joseph Loconte, director of The Rivendell Center in New York City in a lecture entitled “Reason, Revelation, and Revolution.”