Early Anti-Slavery Appeals to Founding Language

In celebration of Black History Month, scholars Lucas Morel and Melvin Rogers join to discuss how African American leaders and citizens, such as Prince Hall, Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells, and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. have invoked the ideas and principles of the Declaration of Independence throughout American history to push for a more free and equal America. Thomas Donnelly, chief scholar of the National Constitution Center, moderates. 

This conversation was originally streamed live as part of the NCC’s America’s Town Hall series on February 2, 2026. 

Resources 

• National Constitution Center, "The Declaration Across History" Primary Sources 
• Lucas Morel, Lincoln and the American Founding 
• Melvin Rogers, The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and Freedom in African American Political Thought 

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