Jun 23, 2026

The Declaration of Independence is the most quoted and least understood document in American life — and in this special Constitution Training episode of The Jenny Beth Show, Jenny Beth Martin and constitutional scholar Bill Norton recover the story most of us were never taught. The colonists were not rebels. They had governed themselves for over a century, and it was King George and Parliament who broke the social contract first. Starting with the forgotten testimony of Revolutionary War soldier Levi Preston, Norton walks through why ordinary Americans actually fought, how the ideas of Cicero, John Locke, and Algernon Sidney shaped the founding, and why the Declaration is best understood as "an expression of the American mind" rather than one man's pen. Jenny Beth ties it directly to today: when the liberty movement is smeared as "anti-government," the founding itself is the answer — we are not anarchists, we are for constitutionally limited government that exists to protect our rights. This is the first of a four-part series produced in conjunction with Tea Party Patriots Foundation, designed for citizens who want to be active and engaged and grounded in first principles. Bill Norton is a constitutional scholar and author who has studied the founders for more than three decades. Learn more and take action at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.

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