Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has long championed the importance of civic education in America. So, it wasn’t totally surprising when he issued a stark warning about what happens when a people abandon their shared history and responsibilities.
The moment came on Thursday morning when Gorsuch appeared on Fox News’ Fox & Friends to debut his new children’s book, The Heroes of 1776. The literary work seeks to take kids on a journey through the harrowing stories of the Founding Fathers and lesser-known patriots during the Revolutionary War era.
While speaking to the justice, network host Lawrence Jones asked Gorsuch about the meaning of a quote from the book, which reads, “The Constitution established the first modern republic in which people rule themselves …” The Trump appointee referred back to the Declaration of Independence, which he said “contains three ‘radical’ ideas: that we’re all created equal, that we have unalienable rights that come to us from God [and] not from government, and that we the people have a right to rule ourselves — not be subjects to some dictator or a crown or king.”
“Those three ideas really shook old Europe [and were] never before tried in history. We now almost take them for granted. They’re the air we breathe, the water we swim in,” Gorsuch said. “But those ideas required courageous men, women, and children to make happen in 1776, and they require the same of us today. Thomas Jefferson said an ignorant people will never remain free for long, and he’s right. We need to know our history in order to preserve it.”
Staying on the subject of understanding America’s past, Jones noted that many schools no longer seem to be teaching the types of founding-era stories and history contained within Gorsuch’s book to younger generations. He then asked the justice whether he believes “that has hurt us as a society — that we eliminated those stories out of the history books?”
The Trump appointee said that bringing civic education to the youth is a common issue he and his Supreme Court colleagues “agree on.” He then went on to cite alarming statistics that display waning civic knowledge throughout America and warned that such ignorance poses an existential danger to the country’s future.
“If you ask me what the greatest danger America faces today, it’s itself,” Gorsuch said. “We have to learn how to talk to one another. We need to know our shared history, and I think if we do that, we’ll come to realize that all the things that separate us pale in comparison to the things that unite us — those three great ideas in the Declaration.”
The Thursday interview is hardly the first time Gorsuch has sounded the alarm about America’s failure to educate its people about their history and government.
In his 2019 book, A Republic If You Can Keep It, the associate justice noted how the only way for American society to function is to have an active and engaged citizenry that is united around a common set of ideals.
“[A] government of and by the people rests on the belief that the people should and can govern themselves — and do so in peace, with mutual respect. For all that to work, the people must have some idea how their own government operates — its essential structure and promises, what it was intended to do and prohibited from doing,” Gorsuch wrote. “The essential goodness of the American people is a profound reservoir of strength, and this nation has overcome much graver challenges time and again. But we should never ignore the fact that republics have a mixed record in the history books. Our blessings cannot be taken for granted and need constant tending.”
Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
