Conservatism in the United States consists of right-leaning and right-wing ideological traditions that have collectively rivaled the liberal and progressive U.S. political traditions. Since the early
Thomas Jefferson, the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, whose phrase "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", is viewed as a foundational guiding principle by most American conservatives.
Russell Kirk, whose 1953 book The Conservative Mind traced the origins of American conservativism back to the philosophy of Edmund Burke and the Anglo-American tradition
During the Reagan era, American conservatives formed the Three Leg School, a coalition of social, fiscal, and anti-communist foreign policy and national security conservatives.
William F. Buckley Jr., an author who founded the National Review magazine in 1955. "Among our convictions: It is the job of centralized government (in peacetime) to protect its citizens' lives, liberty and property. All other activities of government tend to diminish freedom and hamper progress," Buckley wrote in the magazine's first issue.
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National Review is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in
Cover for August 30, 2010
William F. Buckley Jr., the founder and first editor of National Review, pictured in 1985