In the 250th year since the Declaration of Independence, the Mackinac Center will host a timely conversation about the importance of America in world history. Has the American experiment made the world better off?

An expert panel will examine the global legacy of a nation founded on natural rights, self-government, constitutional limits, and the idea that human beings are entitled to live in freedom. For all of America’s flaws and contradictions, its founding principles have shaped debates over liberty, equality, trade, citizenship and human dignity far beyond its own borders. This event will explore whether the United States has, on balance, been a force for progress — and what its record can teach us at the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

This discussion brings together three distinguished voices with different focuses. Dr. Phillip Magness is an economic historian and senior fellow at the Independent Institute. His work focuses on American political economy, slavery and race relations, and the history of economic thought. Professor Khalil Habib is an associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College who teaches political philosophy and American political thought. Dr. Carol Swain is an award-winning political scientist, former professor at Princeton and Vanderbilt, and a distinguished senior fellow for constitutional studies at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

In the Mackinac Center’s tradition of serious, idea-driven discussion, this conversation will move beyond slogans and nostalgia. It will ask what America has meant to its own citizens, to the cause of liberty abroad and to the future of the principles proclaimed in 1776.

Event is free, but RSVP is necessary by May 21. RSVP Link