The Founders' Key

Join me in welcoming Christian author TC Avey as she shares her review of “The Founders' Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What We Risk by Losing It” by Larry P. Arnn, published by Thomas Nelson in 2012.

Upon reading "The Founders' Key" by Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College, I am even more convinced America is at a crossroads.  We are a nation divided, with one side endeavoring to preserve our constitutional heritage and the other seeking to change it.

But what is our heritage?

What is the foundation we are built upon?

Do we even know and understand what our founding documents mean?

Arnn takes the reader step by step through the dilemma Americans face as both sides war over the meaning of our Constitution and Declaration of Independence.  He also breaks down the language found in those documents so we can understand how the founders intended them to be read and utilized.

He addresses common arguments employed to discourage Americans from preserving our foundation for a more progressive path leading toward bigger government. 

An example of this perversion of history is taking the issue of slavery out of context from the reality it was in 1776.  The “modern” WORLD, not just America, utilized slaves and profited off slave trade during that time.  The fact that some of our founders owned slaves does not diminish the bold steps they took to, at first slow slavery in America, and ultimately lead to its extinction.  Abraham Lincoln used the founding fathers own words to pursue emancipating slaves! 

Arnn highlights the truth surrounding the fallacy that the founding fathers did not mean “all men are created equal.”  I only wish he would have gone into greater detail about the history of slave trade in America and the founders’ views of it. However, he gives the reader enough information to formulate a solid opinion. 

While his book is not all inclusive to every argument that currently is being debated (who has time to read the volumes of books that would entail) he provides the reader with a basis for understanding our heritage and what is at stake if we allow our founding documents to be distorted by the progressive message. 

Not only does he lay the ground work for the reader to do further research, he also provides many helpful documents such as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States of America, many of the Federalist Papers, an article by James Madison and other supportive notes. 

I recommend this book for anyone weak on American history and our founding government. It is a great start to learning about our nation: where we’ve been, where we are and where we are headed! 

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This book was provided complimentary by the publisher, Thomas Nelson, through BookSneeze for the purpose of honest review.

Photo courtesy of Microsoft.com free clip art.

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TC Avey blogs at Wisdom of a Fool. If you enjoyed this post, take a moment to visit her blog and sign up for her monthly newsletter.