Abstract
The Trump Administration’s 1776 Final Report was instantly condemned by nearly all professional historical organizations in the United States upon its public release. This review of the 1776 Final Report seeks to understand why the historical establishment so quickly dismissed it as irrelevant and dangerous. It sheds light on the academic context behind the report, and comments on the state of the historical establishment in the United States. This article also gives an honest review of the final report from an historical perspective. This review demonstrates that the 1776 Report was never intended as a comprehensive narrative of American history as many of its detractors have suggested, but as a brief “history of principles.” It should be seen as a popular work of political theory in the tradition of West Coast Straussianism, and ultimately as a document defending normative political values.
Recommended Citation
Esparza, Joseph E.
(2023)
"The 1776 Report and the Historical Establishment: A Review,"
Bound Away: The Liberty Journal of History: Vol. 5:
Iss.
2, Article 9.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/ljh/vol5/iss2/9
Included in
American Politics Commons, Cultural History Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Other History Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Political History Commons, Political Theory Commons, Public History Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, United States History Commons