Jack Miller's Born to Be Free examines the beauty and power of the American principles that our founding fathers gave us and the lack of knowledge about them in today's society. With a preface by distinguished professor and author James Ceaser (University of Virginia), Miller goes on to advocate for communicating these values by introducing them back into higher education. Miller examines the overarching benefits of teaching our country's founding principles and how that could impact America's future. Miller founded the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America's Founding Principles and History 14 years ago, launching a project to get these teachings back onto college campuses. The work has also allowed him to expand his own knowledge by discussing and debating our country's founding ideas with professors and scholars from the Center's network of over 900 academics across the country. In the book's second section, Miller discusses the programs and growth of the Jack Miller Center along with its ongoing success in partnering with and supporting educators. Building on its success in higher education, the project has expanded to include graduate courses and seminars for high school teachers to enrich their knowledge of America's founding principles and history and help them introduce these principles into their classrooms. The final chapters of the book dive into the personal life of Miller, exploring his past from a modest beginning, on through his college years, and eventually to becoming a prominent Chicago-area entrepreneur and philanthropist. All the while, he underscores the great need for education in our country's founding principles, and why he has devoted so much time, effort, and so many millions of dollars into this project.
Section One - What I Have Learned about Our Founding Principles and History Chapter 1 - The Declaration as Our Mission Statement Chapter 2 - Life without Liberty Loses Its Meaning: Our Founders Protected Both Chapter 3 - The Constitution: A Game Plan for Realizing the MissionChapter 4 - Overcoming Challenges through the Disappearing Art of CompromiseChapter 5 - The Constitution: Protecting Us against Tyranny Chapter 6 - The Power to Tax and the Concentration of Power Could Destroy Freedom Chapter 7 - Finally, in SummarySection Two - The Jack Miller Center: My Legacy to the CountryChapter 8 - A Spur-of-the-Moment Start Chapter 9 - The Professors Are the Key to Success Chapter 10 - A Full-Fledged Program Helps Assure Success Chapter 11 - Expanding Our Mission to High Schools Chapter 12 - Helping Donors Invest Wisely Section Three - A Life Well Lived Chapter 13 - Growing Up in a Patriotic America Chapter 14 - The College Years, a Blur Chapter 15 - Meandering into a Career Chapter 16 - Building a Business through Hard Work and Sweat Equity Chapter 17 - An Entrepreneur's Path to Philanthropy Chapter 18 - Keeping Busy and Happy toward the End Epilogue - Michael L. Andrews
