{"id":794,"date":"2026-05-19T14:23:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:23:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanclassroom.show\/?episode=from-enlightenment-to-independence-with-dr-wayne-denton"},"modified":"2026-05-20T02:19:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T02:19:57","slug":"from-enlightenment-to-independence-with-dr-wayne-denton","status":"publish","type":"episode","link":"https:\/\/americanclassroom.show\/?episode=from-enlightenment-to-independence-with-dr-wayne-denton","title":{"rendered":"From Enlightenment to Independence With Dr Wayne Denton"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Host Jared Taylor welcomes Dr. Wayne Denton of Heritage Academy Mesa for a thoughtful America 250 conversation about the ideas, people, and writings that shaped 1776. Dr. Denton traces the intellectual road to the Declaration of Independence, beginning with Baruch Spinoza and moving through Locke, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Thomas Paine, and Jefferson. The episode explores how Common Sense helped ordinary colonists understand complex Enlightenment arguments, why life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness still matters, and how the Declaration united a risky, divided people around the cause of independence. Along the way, Jared and Dr. Denton reflect on reading, courage, civil society, and why students today can find confidence in the American story of overcoming.<\/p>\n<p>Show Notes:<\/p>\n<p>Episode Follow-Up: When Were the Declaration Signers\u2019 Names Made Public?<\/p>\n<p>During the conversation, Jared and Dr. Denton discussed the risk taken by the signers of the Declaration of Independence and noted that signing the document could be seen as a \u201cdeath warrant.\u201d Jared mentioned that the podcast team would check when the signers\u2019 names were publicly released.<\/p>\n<p>Most delegates signed the engrossed Declaration on August 2, 1776, but their names were not broadly published right away. Congress later ordered an official printing on January 18, 1777, and the Mary Katherine Goddard broadside became the first official public version to list the signers\u2019 names.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/declaration-history\">https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/declaration-history<\/a><\/p>\n<p>1. If you want to learn more about the American Classroom podcast, please visit <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/americanclassroom.show\/\">AmericanClassroom.Show<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/americanclassroom.show\/\">https:\/\/americanclassroom.show\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>2. To learn more about or take a tour of the great schools mentioned in this episode, visit Heritage Academy <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/heritageacademyaz.com\/\">https:\/\/heritageacademyaz.com\/<\/a> or Paul Revere Academy <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/paulrevere.tech\/\">https:\/\/paulrevere.tech\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>3. Sponsored by: Heritage Academy, downtown Mesa campus- <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hamesa.com\/\">www.hamesa.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":795,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false},"class_list":["post-794","episode","type-episode","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>From Enlightenment to Independence With Dr Wayne Denton - American Classroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanclassroom.show\/?episode=from-enlightenment-to-independence-with-dr-wayne-denton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From Enlightenment to Independence With Dr Wayne Denton - American Classroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Host Jared Taylor welcomes Dr. Wayne Denton of Heritage Academy Mesa for a thoughtful America 250 conversation about the ideas, people, and writings that shaped 1776. 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