The Ideas That Made the Modern World

Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government

Available on-demand

Explore the revolutionary convergence of 1776, where liberty and prosperity intertwined, as you interrogate the profound legacy of the Declaration of Independence alongside Adam Smith’s economic breakthroughs in The Wealth of Nations. By analyzing human flourishing and the unprecedented material increase in human prosperity, accompany other seekers of justice as you equip yourself to navigate today’s complex political and material landscape.

To read along with the class, enjoy the following:

Nikole Hannah-Jones, “The Idea of America,” from the 1619 Project, New York Times Magazine, August 18, 2019
“Adam Smith Is Misinterpreted and His Influence Is Overstated,” The Economist, December 18, 2025
Class slides can be found here.

In what sense are “all men . . . created equal”? What is human liberty? What is prosperity, and how is wealth created? In 1776 these questions were addressed and acted upon in ways that have created the modern world. Commemorating the 250th anniversary, this special series explores 1776 and the ideas that made the modern world, focusing on the Declaration of Independence and Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.

1776 and the Ideas That Made the Modern World, taught by Vincent Phillip Muñoz, Tocqueville Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame and the Founding Director of ND’s Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government, and James Otteson, John T. Ryan Jr. Professor of Business Ethics in the Mendoza College of Business is sponsored by the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government at the University of Notre Dame. To find out more, please visit their website.

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The Convergence of 1776

The year 1776 represents a singular moment in human history, characterized by the simultaneous birth of the American political project and the publication of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. This rare convergence provides the architectural framework for the modern world, blending the principles of political liberty with the mechanisms of economic prosperity. As we approach the semiquincentennial—the 250th anniversary of these events—this milestone serves as a vital catalyst for a unique cross-disciplinary academic inquiry. By uniting the fields of political science and business ethics, scholars Vincent Phillip Muñoz and James Otteson interrogate how these foundational ideas continue to shape our understanding of justice. Notably, the lecturers maintain a spirit of open debate, having intentionally avoided coordinating their remarks to ensure the intellectual friction necessary for a true university education.

Professor James Otteson illuminates the economic dimension of this transformation by analyzing the “long low red line” of human history. For approximately 99.9% of our existence, human beings lived at or near subsistence levels, roughly equivalent to three dollars per day. To provide historical clarity, Otteson employs a clock analogy: if the 300,000-year history of modern humans were compressed into 24 hours, the explosion of wealth since 1820 occurred only in the last 58 seconds. This “Great Enrichment” resulted in a 700-fold increase in total global wealth. Otteson argues that while material wealth is not the ultimate end of human life, its expansion is significant because it enables the pursuit of meaning. Prosperity resolves the immediate, crushing pressures of survival, allowing individuals to turn their attention toward higher purposes, such as education, family, and the creative arts.

On the political front, Professor Vincent Phillip Muñoz employs a rigorous pedagogical approach to the Declaration of Independence. Utilizing the Socratic method, he examines the Declaration through the lens of modern “opinions,” specifically utilizing the 1619 Project as a contemporary interlocutor. Rather than dismissing dissenting views, Muñoz interrogates them to refine our understanding of political justice. He presents the Declaration as a logical syllogism: the first premise establishes that governments are instituted specifically to protect natural rights. When a government fails to secure these ends, the second premise asserts the radical right of the people to alter or abolish it.

The synergy between these perspectives highlights a critical realization: institutional freedom is the cause, and economic prosperity is the effect. The political framework that secures individual natural rights provides the stable environment necessary for the massive expansion of human possibility. Despite the playful institutional rivalry between the Mendoza College of Business and the College of Arts and Letters, both scholars agree that these ideas are not static artifacts of the 18th century; they remain the active foundation of our current citizenship. Engaging with these texts requires more than memorizing facts; it demands an interrogation of our shared principles to realize the promise of 1776 in the modern era.

The 0.1% Enrichment Spike: For 99.9% of human history, wealth remained at a flat subsistence level; the explosion of global prosperity is a radical, recent phenomenon occurring in the final “58 seconds” of the metaphorical 24-hour clock of human existence.
Economic Prosperity as a Meaning Catalyst: While wealth is not the ultimate goal of existence, it serves as a necessary tool that allows humanity to move beyond subsistence survival and toward the pursuit of a meaningful, flourished life.
Natural Rights vs. Aristotelian Virtue: The American project represents a specific shift in the purpose of government. While Aristotle argued government should make citizens “doers of noble deeds” and virtuous, the Declaration focuses on the more limited, protective role of securing natural rights.
The Justice of Revolution: The “right of revolution” is framed not as a legal whim, but as a reasoned argument of political justice that applies when a governing body fails its fundamental purpose of protecting inherent rights.
The Socratic Examination of National Identity: Understanding the modern world requires engaging with both the original intent of the Founders and modern dissenting voices, such as the 1619 Project, through a Socratic process that evaluates conflicting opinions to reach deeper truths about justice.

“Although money is not the most important thing in life or the only thing that’s important in life, it can enable other things by turning by resolving some of the more pressing needs and allowing us to turn our attention to some other things.” — James Otteson
“Governments are instituted to protect natural rights… when a government fails to act according to its purposes, it is the right of the people to alter and abolish it.” — Vincent Phillip Muñoz
“For n greater than 99.9% of the time of human beings being on the planet, we were that long low red line with virtually no change at all… and then in the last 0.1% of our existence, this happened.” — James Otteson
“It’s not just a declaration of independence; it’s an argument about political justice in universal terms.” — Vincent Phillip Muñoz

The Ideas That Made the Modern World

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