Thomas Jefferson called the Declaration of Independence “an expression of the American mind.” Not merely a document, the Declaration is the common creed of our civic life, and it inspires the shared poetry of our political soul. In The Making of the American Mind, best-selling author Matthew Spalding presents the dynamic story of the band of patriots who united to declare independence from—and declare war against—the most powerful nation in the world. He recounts the whirlwind of historic events that led up to the momentous political and strategic decisions of July 1776: from George Washington leading a new and untested army, to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson advocating independence in a divided Continental Congress, to George III forging an absolute tyranny over “the good People of these Colonies.”