Matthew Spalding, professor in constitutional government and dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C. won the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s Paolucci prize for this year’s best conservative book, marking the the fifth time in a decade a Hillsdale professor or fellow has received the award.

Spalding’s book, “The Making of the American Mind: The Story of Our Declaration of Independence,” was published in December by Encounter Books, as previously reported by The Collegian.

Launched in 2006, the Paolucci Prize includes a $10,000 award. ISI will present the award to Spalding at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on May 1. Spalding joins four previous Hillsdale recipients: Distinguished Fellow Christopher Rufo in 2024, Distinguished Fellow Victor Davis Hanson in 2022, Professor of History Wilfred McClay in 2020, and Professor of History Bradley Birzer in 2016.

College President Larry Arnn told The Collegian that “The Making of the American Mind” provided a unique perspective that has previously been unavailable popularly. 

“Matthew gives a close reading of the Declaration and explains its key terms,” Arnn said. “Also, he provides a history of how the Declaration came to be. Those two things together have never been done so well.”

According to Spalding, the purpose of the book is to refocus attention on the meaning and context of the American founding, as well as the premises undergirding it.

“I wanted to draw attention back to the events of 1776, to teach that history, and to revive an understanding of the truths contained in the Declaration of Independence,” said Spalding.

Spalding said his book represents more than a year of topic-specific writing and researching.

“A couple of years ago, I decided to write something for the Declaration’s 250th anniversary,” Spalding said. “It’s probably been a solid year since I’ve been writing and producing the book after I got a publishing contract for it. They sped up the production process for it so that they could actually get it out right before Christmas in order to be available for all of 2026.” 

McClay said Spalding’s work is both enlightening and easy to read. 

“It is a deeply meditated book,” McClay said. “It is the fruit of a lifetime of thinking about these matters — but even so, it is lucidly and appealingly written — it wears its learning lightly, which will make its influence all the greater. And the timing is perfect, coinciding with America’s 250th anniversary.”

The value in Spalding’s book is situated in more than just its relation to the coinciding anniversary occurring during its release, according to McClay. 

“An historical and philosophical account of the founding is needed more than ever,” McClay said. “A republic must periodically recur to its beginnings, and recover its foundations, in order to renew itself. Periods of decline are part of the lifecycle of a republic, hence the need for renewal is a perpetual one. That is what we need to do in America today, and we cannot effect such a renewal without recovering the type of understanding of those foundations that Spalding provides.” 

Spalding’s work is crucial reading for policymakers, according to Arnn. 

 “In politics, we have to make choices,” Arnn said. “Choices are well made when they take account both of the circumstances and of the abiding ends that rise above them. Understanding both is necessary, for neither circumstances nor principles are sufficient in choosing by themselves.”

According to Arnn, Spalding’s book can help readers contemplate and comprehend the truths that undergird the American founding. 

“The Declaration of Independence is an invitation to freedom,” Arnn said. “It states that invitation in terms to justify freedom, which it says are written in the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Every student, indeed every citizen, should think about that phrase and what it might mean. Nothing but a good education can reveal to one the depths of it, and Matthew’s book will help one to plumb those depths.” 

Discussing the direction of his next literary venture, Spalding threw his head back and laughed. 

“I’m by far not decided or at least not finalized on a next topic,” he said. “My own work previously has been on George Washington, and I regularly teach on Washington’s statesmanship and strategy, so I might go there. What I’m always thinking about at the end of the day are the ways in which to best teach what I think are the great stories in the history of America. There’s still a lot more to be written.”