What Will the 1776 Commission Do to Save Real American History?

            Before he left office, former President Donald Trump formed the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission with 18 members. On his first day in office, President Joe Biden disbanded the commission. Even though it is “no longer a presidential advisory commission or associated with the federal government,” the group will gather in Washington, D.C., on May 24 for a four-hour, working-lunch meeting. 

            Matthew Spalding, executive director of the commission as well as vice president of Washington operations for Hillsdale College, said that “It will continue in some form.” The appointees to the commission are all patriots who are familiar with United States history and the Constitution. They are all opposed to the 1619 Project.

            The public comment period ends soon for an Education Department regulation that would fund critical race theory in schools as well as promote the teaching of the 1619 Project. Critical race theory teaches that Americans are either an oppressor or the oppressed – depending on the color of their skin. The 1619 Project teaches that America began in 1619 when the first slave arrived in the colonies and that the Revolutionary War was fought to maintain slavery.

            The 1776 Commission may have been de-commissioned, but the patriots on it have not disbanded. Spalding sent a letter on Monday to the Department of Education outlining his thoughts on the proposed regulation.

The Department of Education’s proposed rule defining priorities for the American history and civics education programs, under the misleading name “anti-racism,” actually encourages and seeks to direct federal funds to the teaching of racial discrimination in America’s elementary and secondary school systems.

The proposed rule should be withdrawn, just as individual states, which actually have the authority over the nation’s K-12 educational system, should oppose race-based pedagogy as part of their curricula and even if attempted to be imposed lby the federal government.

            Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn and Carol Swain, a retired political science professor at Vanderbilt University were appointed to be the chairman and vice-chairman, respectively, for the commission. On behalf of Arnn, Spalding sent a message to members of the commission on Monday.

The work of the 1776 Commission was and is a noble effort. The 1776 Report calls for a return to the unifying ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence…. As we said in our statement on January 20, “the Commission may be abolished, but these principles and our history cannot be. We will all continue to work together to teach and to defend them.”

            You can find more information about the commission at this site. In January, the commission published its report with the goal of creating consensus on historical facts in the founding of America and the Declaration of Independence. While the report details the Constitution, it “focuses on bleaker parts of American history, such as slavery and restricting voting rights to white males for more than 125 years of the country’s history.” Spalding described the document as “a return to the unifying ideas stated in the Declaration of Independence” and added the following in January. 

It quotes the greatest Americans, black and white, men and women, in devotion to these ideas…. The commission may be abolished, but these principles cannot be. We will all continue to work together to teach and to defend them.

            Once published on the White House website, WhiteHouse.gov., the report has now been removed. However, I feel certain that it has been preserved somewhere by patriots.