Who's Your Founding Father? Author Talk with David Fleming

Who's Your Founding Father? One Man's Epic Quest to Uncover the First, True Declaration of Independence. Author Talk with David Fleming

It's been 250 years since the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence (MecDec) was signed. Hear David Fleming recount the history, research, and unbelievable events surrounding this precursor to America's declaration.

"An epic dive into our country's history to discover the first, true Declaration of Independence, a centuries-old secret document that might just unravel the origin story of America and reveal the intellectual crime of the millennia. The story claimed that a full 14 months before Jefferson crafted his own Declaration of Independence, a misfit band of zealous Scots-Irish patriots, whiskey-loving Princeton scholars, and a fanatical frontier preacher in a remote corner of North Carolina had become the first Americans to formally declare themselves "free and independent" from England. Composed during a clandestine all-night session inside the Charlotte courthouse, the Mecklenburg Declaration was signed on May 20, 1775 -- a date that's still featured on the state flag of North Carolina. A year later, in 1776, Jefferson is believed to have plagiarized the MecDec while composing his own, slightly more famous Declaration and then, as he was wont to do, covered the whole thing up. Eleven U.S. Presidents and many of today's most respected historical scholars agree. Now, with Who's Your Founding Father?, David Fleming picks up where Adams left off, leaving no archive, no cemetery, no bizarre clue or wild character (and definitely no Dunkin' Donuts) unexplored while traveling the globe to bring to life one of the most fantastic, important, and controversial stories in American history."

David Fleming is a senior writer at ESPN. During the last three decades at Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine and ESPN he has been one of the industry's most prolific, versatile, and imaginative longform writers, traveling the globe while penning more than 35 cover stories and numerous groundbreaking pieces on everything from the Super Bowl and Steph Curry to the Musical Chairs World Championship and the NFL's obsession with glutes. Fleming's unique work has earned numerous national awards as well as a handwritten note from the White House.

The book is available in the library's catalog and from local booksellers. Park Road Books will be on site if you wish to purchase a copy.

Host or Publisher University City Regional Library