By U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon
U.S. Department of Education / RealClear Education
“Liberty is the great parent of science and virtue,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in a 1789 letter to the President of Harvard. “A nation will be great in both always in proportion as it is free.”
Jefferson taught our nation to treasure freedom.
Some historians call him the President who most loved liberty—and it is no coincidence he was also the President with the greatest passion for books.
Jefferson’s personal library—thousands of volumes—became the basis of our modern-day Library of Congress.
Our third president was a man of both science and virtue. He was deeply learned in fields as diverse as architecture, botany, law, mathematics, and music. His legacy was the tradition of limited government and individual responsibility that guides us back to our true north when America gets off track.
Today, as we celebrate the launch of the Founder’s Museum here at the Eisenhower building, I’d like to recall the motivations of men like Thomas Jefferson, who produced the textual heart of America’s political tradition: the Declaration of Independence.
“Liberty is the great parent of science and virtue,”
Thomas Jefferson
I’d like to consider why the men whom we honor here today pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor in the cause of liberty.
There can only be one reason—one force that could compel such risk and sacrifice for a legacy lasting 250 years. And that reason is … love.
That’s right—it wasn’t just adherence to their ideas, size of their egos, or some hope of profit that drove them. It was their love that would bring forth a new nation—love that they hoped would carry her through the centuries.
Many Americans in our time, especially of the youngest generations, would hear the phrase “love of country” and find it strange or awkward. A recent poll found that only 41% of Generation Z (born 1997‑2012)are “very proud” or “extremely proud” to be American.
And that’s just pride in America. Let alone love of America.
True love for this country has become rarer today, and in fact, radical hatred has become more common.
If Thomas Jefferson were writing a letter to the President of Harvard today, we can only imagine what he would say.
I’m sure he would have some harsh words—perhaps some sorrowful ones.
But his deepest regret would be the incarceration of our young students in the prison of ideology, where they will never be able to feel the warm rays of freedom, nor learn to love liberty.
The love of freedom is the foundation of learning.
This is why the Roman philosophers named the “liberal arts” for the Latin word meaning “free.” The civic purpose of education is to teach students how to be citizens of a free country.
When students do not believe in freedom—do not share in it—do not value it—there is little to love about the Land of the Free. Little to love about America.
Freedom is the precious gift our country gives us, and love is what we owe in return.
Of all the goals we have for our education system, learning to breathe the fresh air of freedom—to savor it in every poem, athletic competition, and history book—is perhaps the most important.
Yes, even more important than excellence in math and science. Even more important than marketable skills.
When students learn to love freedom, they will learn to love America.
Jefferson’s agricultural expertise extended to his prediction that the disparate crops of Science and Virtue would both grow best in the soil of freedom, because love would fertilize both learning and patriotism.
The greatest scientists of any age have always been those most passionate about their field—most drawn to the transcendence reflected in their studies—those whose lives were as great as their work.
The same is true for the statesmen, philosophers, heroes, and judges we admire throughout history.
Which brings us back to the purpose of this event today, and the purpose of dedicating a museum to the founders here, beneath the soil and the foundations at the heart of our federal government.
Dedicated to the purpose of patriotic civics education in this country.
Those who have dedicated their lives to patriotic education know that there is a golden thread running through the history of Western civilization, that we must teach our students to recognize and follow. No matter how complicated the labyrinth of modern politics becomes, that thread will lead us through.
We must cherish the principles that define America. We must share with our founders their love of freedom.
Behind the reading of old documents, the memorizing of poetry, and the charting of constitutional processes, is the purpose and goal of appreciating and applying this love of America to our lives from an early age.
It is one thing to learn cursive and read the Declaration of Independence (as every student should!).
It is another to grasp why 56 men risked everything for what it said, and to love as they did, in a way that inspires sacrifice.
Patriotic education does not mean propaganda to produce blind allegiance to the government.
The patriotism of the Revolution was the opposite of blind allegiance.
Real patriotic education means that just as our founders loved and honored America, so we should honor them, while deeply learning and earnestly debating their ideas.
Adapted from remarks delivered by U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon at the opening of the PragerU Founders Museum Exhibit on June 17, 2025.
Information source: U.S. Department of Education
