As Minnesota prepares to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026, the Library has put together a display of titles celebrating the historic date. Several new books are featured as part of the Semiquincentennial display at our Minnesota Senate Building location.
In The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle over power in America, president of the National Constitution Center Jeffrey Rosen “examines the clashing visions of Hamilton and Jefferson on how to balance liberty and power in a debate that continues to define, and divide, our country. Jefferson championed states’ rights and individual liberties, while Hamilton pushed for a strong federal government and a powerful executive.” Rosen is one of six authors invited to the MN History Center’s History Forum 250: Revisiting the Revolution.
Perhaps you’re looking forward to celebrating the 250th anniversary on the road. This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History is an invitation to “experience and understand our past,” which follows road trips through thirteen key places and moments in American history. Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Beverly Gage travels the country to see the museums, historic sites, roadside attractions, reenactments, and souvenir shops from the country’s birthplace in Philadelphia to Disneyland.
In The Memory of '76: The Revolution in American History, finalist for the George Washington Book Award, Michael D. Hattem “explores the Revolution’s unique role in American history as a national origin myth” and “shows how the meaning of the Revolution has never been fixed… and how revising the past is an important and long-standing American political tradition.”
The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, by Walter Isaacson is a concise book, really more of an essay, in which he closely examines the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal….” For example, is “self-evident” a fancy way to say “obvious,” or is there more to unpack in that phrasing?
A few of the books on display:
- The Cradle of Citizenship: How Schools Can Help Save our Democracy, by James Traub, 2026.
- The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders and Defined America, by Jeffrey Rosen, 2024.
- We the Men: How Forgetting Women’s Struggles for Equality Perpetuates Inequality, by Jill Elaine Hasday, 2025.
- We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution, by Jill Lepore, 2025.
- We the People: The Modern-Day Figures Who Have Reshaped and Affirmed the Founding Fathers' Vision of America, by Juan Williams, 2016.
- Who is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, by Michael Lewis, 2025.
Come and check out the full display to see additional titles!