Written by Nicolas Francis
Edited by Bee Shaik
League of Storytellers
On April 2nd, SUNY Geneseo welcomed Roosevelt Montás for a lecture titled “What does the Declaration of Independence declare?” Currently a professor at Bard College, Montás is widely known for his work on liberal education and the enduring relevance of foundational texts like the Declaration of Independence.
Following his lecture, Montás participated in a moderated Q&A led by Geneseo’s Frederick Douglass Scholars. Inspired by the life and legacy of Frederick Douglass, these students engage in interdisciplinary reading and discussion groups with faculty and play an active role in facilitating campus conversations such as this one.
In his lecture, Roosevelt Montás challenged conventional understandings of the American founding by questioning whether the American Revolution can truly be considered a revolution at all. He argues that it was not a social revolution and yet still an immensely radical one. To explain this, Montás offered two statements: first, that the American Revolution “was not a revolution, not a real revolution,” and second, that it “was a profound radical revolution.” According to him, “both these statements are true.”
According to Roosevelt Montás, the American Revolution cannot be considered a true revolution because “the social structures and the power map did not change.” He argues that existing hierarchies of privilege remained largely intact, with the American elite leading the revolution, securing its power, and ultimately remaining in control afterward.
On the other hand, in 1776, European nations such as England, France, and Spain were ruled by kings, tsars, or emperors. There was no such thing as a republic. While republics had existed earlier in history, they had all failed. As Roosevelt Montás explains, “it is in this context that the US declared itself a different kind of nation.” The Revolution became the founding moment of modernity, introducing the idea that people have the right to govern themselves.
Montás also explains how this idea was historically criticized. Plato condemns it in The Republic, and Thomas Aquinas calls it a flawed system of government. Despite this, the American system endured, which Montás presents as evidence of a radical revolution.
The first line of this document reads as follows: “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
Roosevelt Montás walks through this passage and explains it in depth. He points to the genius of Thomas Jefferson, noting how he was able to compress complex philosophical and political ideas into just a short section of the document. Montás explains that this opening establishes a first principle of the United States. It presents a mechanistic view of the world, the idea that there is a watch, and a watchmaker who creates it and then lets it run. The world operates according to fixed rules and laws that cannot be broken. The earth is the watch, and God is the watchmaker.
Montás explains that this reflects the primary viewpoint of the Founding Fathers. He emphasizes that the most powerful of these founding laws are what Jefferson calls unalienable truths. These include the idea that all men are created equal, and that all people have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. According to Montás, this is the necessary context in which the document was written, and it must be understood within that context.
The last section of the lecture was a Q&A moderated by the Frederick Douglass Scholars. During the roundtable discussion, the students explored the Declaration through several lenses, as a symbol, as a text, and as a product of its authors. Roosevelt Montás described the document as a “sheet anchor” of the nation, echoing Frederick Douglass, who saw its principles as essential even in times of crisis. Students raised questions about how its meaning should be interpreted today, and Montás emphasized that while the text itself does not change, its meaning evolves through interpretation. The discussion also examined how to evaluate the founders, balancing their contributions with their moral failings.
Ultimately, Montás’s lecture underscored that the Declaration of Independence is not just a historical artifact, but an ongoing challenge. Its ideals of equality, freedom, and self-governance require continual interpretation and collective commitment.
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