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Quarterly The Declaration Heard Around the World

Jun 15, 2026 Antara Haldar

The American Dream, with its basis in Thomas Jefferson’s immortal words, was one of the most powerfully generative ideas ever conceived. But the economy and impersonal systems it helped to bring into being are now shaping society and its individual members, rather than the other way around.

CAMBRIDGE—The year 1776 is now remembered for three revolutions that, together, set the modern world in motion. First, with the publication of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith laid the foundation for a systematized discipline—economics—that would become the organizing logic of modern society. Second, the Declaration of Independence led to the founding of the United States of America and elevated democracy as the political ideal of the modern age. And third, the Industrial Revolution was beginning to displace manual labor with machines like James Watt’s steam engine, propelling humanity toward greater abundance through the power of technology.