Ashbrook Center to host conference, “We Hold These Truths: America at 250,” on Sept. 11-12

ASHLAND, Ohio – The Ashbrook Center at Ashland University will host, “We Hold These Truths: America at 250,” a two-day conference exploring the history and meaning of America’s founding, on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11-12.

All conference sessions are free and open to the public and will take place in Ronk Lecture Hall at the Dwight Schar College of Education, with the exception of the film screening.

The conference kicks off Friday at 3 p.m., with a keynote address by historian Jane Calvert, Ph.D., founding director and chief editor of the John Dickinson Writings Project. Calvert will present “’I Want No More’: John Dickinson’s Use of the Bible in the Creation of the Republic.” Dickinson was one of America’s Founding Fathers, writing the first draft of the Articles of Confederation and signing the U.S. Constitution. Calvert previously served as an associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences.

On Friday evening, there will be a screening of “Young Washington,” a 2026 film focusing on George Washington’s experiences during the French and Indian War. The screening will begin at 8 p.m., at The Ashland (212 Center St., Ashland).

Saturday’s programming will feature three 90-minute panel discussions, followed by a closing keynote.

At 9 a.m., Robert M.S. McDonald, Ph.D., professor of history at the United States Military Academy; Cara Rogers Stevens, Ph.D., associate professor of history at Ashland University; and Carli Conklin, associate professor at the University of Missouri School of Law; will examine “The Declaration of Independence: Origins and Meaning.”

At 10:45 a.m., Adam Carrington, Ph.D., associate professor of history and political science at Ashland University; Jason Stevens, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science at Ashland University; and Andrew Lang, Ph.D., professor of history and constitutional studies in the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin; will discuss “The Declaration in Crisis: Antebellum and Civil War Interpretations.”

Following a lunch break, panelists Jason Jividen, Ph.D., professor of political science at Saint Vincent College; Elizabeth Amato, Ph.D., a visiting assistant professor at Miami University; and Gregory McBrayer, Ph.D., associate director of the Center for Civics, Culture, and Society at Miami University; will discuss “The Declaration in a Modern World” from 1-2:30 p.m.

The closing keynote address, scheduled for 2:45-4 p.m., will be provided by Diana Schaub, Ph.D., professor emerita of political science at Loyola University Maryland. A non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where her work is focused on American political thought, she will present “The Revolutionary Constitutionalism of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.”

The conference is being coordinated by the Ashbrook Center and provides AU students and members of the public with an opportunity to engage with leading scholars on some of the central questions surrounding America’s founding and constitutional tradition. For more information, contact conference@ashbrook.org.