I write about the ideas and people that made America. Author of The Conductor (2024) and Becoming Ulysses (forthcoming, 2028). Gal. 5:1
Lexington, KY
Joined December 2012
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“But who will build the roads?!?”
Dominos, apparently. xitter.cf/yahoofinance/status/10…
Caleb Franz retweeted
On his birthday, take note of one Kentucky's greatest champions for freedom: Cassius Marcellus Clay.
@CalebFranz - ow.ly/VW1C50ZZ26p
@AngelaCErickson - ow.ly/zEr350ZZ26o
Caleb Franz retweeted
What does it take to shape a movement from the shadows?
Recorded in 2025, Perspectives Matter host Dennis McCuistion is joined by author and researcher Caleb Franz to discuss his book The Conductor, a biography of abolitionist John Rankin. Franz explains that while there's no evidence Rankin and Harriet Tubman ever crossed paths, his influence still reached deep into the abolitionist movement. William Lloyd Garrison called him his "anti-slavery father," and Harriet Beecher Stowe drew on a story Rankin relayed to her for a pivotal scene in Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Watch the full interview on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=1qdEnVut…
Caleb Franz retweeted
"Alan Seeger and World War I Soldiers' Poetry" 🇺🇸📜
Check out our latest essay now!
Author: Caleb Franz, Program Manager with Young Voices, scholar with the Bluegrass Institute, and author of THE CONDUCTOR: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism's Essential Founding Father
Constituting America's 15th Online Study:
Consent of the Governed- Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
"I have been too long from my country's shores to reckon what state of mind is yours, but as for myself, I know right well I would go through fire and shot and shell." — Alan Seeger, "A Message to America"
Alan Seeger enlisted in the French Foreign Legion three weeks after Germany declared war on France in August 1914 — years before the United States entered the conflict. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme on July 4, 1916, American Independence Day, at age 28. His poems were collected and published after the war, offering a voice distinct from the disillusionment of the Lost Generation.
📌 Learn more and enjoy today's essay here:
f.mtr.cool/4tr4hpfum4
#America250 #Freedom250 #AlanSeeger #WWI #BattleOfTheSomme #ConsentOfTheGoverned #AmericanHistory
Caleb Franz retweeted
How did a lantern in a window help guide people escaping slavery toward freedom?
Perspectives Matter host Dennis McCuistion is joined by author and researcher Caleb Franz to discuss John Rankin's hilltop home in Ripley, Ohio, and its role in the Underground Railroad, including why the home's isolated location made it a reliable landmark, the lantern signal used to guide freedom seekers, the constant threat posed by bounty hunters nearby, and the origin of the term "Underground Railroad." Franz's account offers a glimpse into the daily risks behind one of the most storied chapters of the fight for freedom.
Watch the full interview on YouTube. youtube.com/watch?v=1qdEnVut…
This was part of a great interview I did a while back about the legacy of Rev. John Rankin for @FreeToChooseNet. Here’s a clip!
How did a lantern in a window help guide people escaping slavery toward freedom?
Perspectives Matter host Dennis McCuistion is joined by author and researcher Caleb Franz to discuss John Rankin's hilltop home in Ripley, Ohio, and its role in the Underground Railroad, including why the home's isolated location made it a reliable landmark, the lantern signal used to guide freedom seekers, the constant threat posed by bounty hunters nearby, and the origin of the term "Underground Railroad." Franz's account offers a glimpse into the daily risks behind one of the most storied chapters of the fight for freedom.
Watch the full interview on YouTube. youtube.com/watch?v=1qdEnVut…
Caleb Franz retweeted
What does it take to build liberty on the frontier?
In his latest essay, Young Voices Program Manager @CalebFranz revisits Rev. David Rice — the minister who shaped Kentucky’s earliest institutions while challenging slavery and warning that free government depends on public virtue.
Tracing Rice’s fight at the 1792 statehood convention and his push to plant churches and schools across the frontier, Caleb explores why Rice’s commitment to principle still matters today.
Read the full essay in Religion & Liberty from @ActonInstitute
Rev. David Rice lived one of the most striking lives that I’ve ever come across.
A patriot & pioneer minister, Rice exemplified patience and persistence in pursuit of a free society.
I profiled him this summer for Religion & Liberty with @ActonInstitute. Check it out!
What does it take to build liberty on the frontier?
In his latest essay, Young Voices Program Manager @CalebFranz revisits Rev. David Rice — the minister who shaped Kentucky’s earliest institutions while challenging slavery and warning that free government depends on public virtue.
Tracing Rice’s fight at the 1792 statehood convention and his push to plant churches and schools across the frontier, Caleb explores why Rice’s commitment to principle still matters today.
Read the full essay in Religion & Liberty from @ActonInstitute
Caleb Franz retweeted
"Nikola Tesla, Electricity, and the People" 🇺🇸📜
Check out our latest essay now!
Author: Caleb Franz, Program Manager with Young Voices, scholar with the Bluegrass Institute, and author of THE CONDUCTOR: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism's Essential Founding Father - @CalebFranz
Constituting America's 15th Online Study:
Consent of the Governed- Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
"There was a general belief that this kind of economic progress would empower the people, equipping them to best govern themselves." — Caleb Franz
In June 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment in Philadelphia, demonstrating the connection between lightning and electricity. That same spirit of discovery carried through the next century — when Tesla and Westinghouse powered the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition with alternating current, proving that electricity could reach homes and factories across the country.
📌 Learn more and enjoy today's essay here:
f.mtr.cool/vagpomlmcx
#America250 #Freedom250 #NikolaTesla #BenFranklin #Electricity #ConsentOfTheGoverned #AmericanHistory
Caleb Franz retweeted
"Nikola Tesla, Electricity, and the People" 🇺🇸📜
Check out our latest essay now!
Author: Caleb Franz, Program Manager with Young Voices, scholar with the Bluegrass Institute, and author of "THE CONDUCTOR: The Story of Rev. John Rankin, Abolitionism's Essential Founding Father"
Constituting America's 15th Online Study:
Consent of the Governed- Celebrating America's 250th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
"There was a general belief that this kind of economic progress would empower the people, equipping them to best govern themselves." — Caleb Franz
In June 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment in Philadelphia, demonstrating the connection between lightning and electricity. That same spirit of discovery carried through the next century — when Tesla and Westinghouse powered the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition with alternating current, proving that electricity could reach homes and factories across the country.
@CalebFranz
📌 Learn more and enjoy today's essay here:
f.mtr.cool/vfbmvggzai
#America250 #Freedom250 #NikolaTesla #BenFranklin #Electricity #ConsentOfTheGoverned #AmericanHistory
Caleb Franz retweeted
This @ActonInstitute essay by my friend @CalebFranz is fantastic and well-worth your time
acton.org/religion-liberty/v…
Caleb Franz retweeted
Who was Rev. David Rice?
His faithfulness in the face of failure helped spark a revival, inspire abolitionists who followed, and rallied colonists to the cause of liberty during the Revolution. 🕊️
The more I study Grant, the more extraordinary of a figure he becomes. It also becomes more remarkable that so many aspects of his life are vastly underrepresented in our telling of his story.
Very cool to walk into Barnes and Noble and, after nearly two years, The Conductor is still prominently featured alongside some other fantastic authors!
Caleb Franz retweeted
250 years after 1776, the American experiment still runs on one thing: people who can carry its ideas into a new century. 🇺🇸
@CalebFranz on the future of the liberal tradition — and why independence in 2026 needs messengers who can translate 1776 for a digital generation.
Full piece on our PIVOT Substack 📰
Caleb Franz retweeted
Was George Washington a deist? A heretic? Simply a lukewarm Anglican?
He kissed the Bible when he took his oath of office. He mandated chaplains for every Continental Army encampment. He prayed.
What did America's first president actually believe?@DrJohnPinheiro investigates in Religion & Liberty.
acton.org/religion-liberty/p…
Caleb Franz retweeted
250 years later, what explains America’s endurance? 🇺🇸
In his latest essay, Young Voices Contributor Program Manager Caleb Franz (@CalebFranz) argues that the answer isn’t shared ancestry or national identity.
Rather, it’s a shared commitment to the principles first articulated in the Declaration of Independence. 📜
Tracing the ideas of abolitionists, Abraham Lincoln, and Calvin Coolidge, he explores why the Declaration remains America’s moral compass — and why its principles are just as important today as they were in 1776.
Read the full essay in @NRO 📰
#america250
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It’s fashionable now to be down on the future of America. I won’t buy into the negativity.
Our Declaration has been our anchor for 250 years, weathering some intense storms. I believe it can endure a whole lot more.
My thoughts on the 250th in @NRO: nationalreview.com/2026/07/t…
