Thomas France is a lawyer, author, husband, and father of three who was born and raised in Corvallis, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University and Washington and Lee University Law School. Tom is a partner in a prominent national law firm and has represented Fortune 500 corporations, small businesses, and individual entrepreneurs in a variety of business transactions for 28 years. He lives in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., with his family. Tom wrote "The Freedom Principles: America's Promise at a Crossroads" because America has kept its promise to him. Although he is an unremarkable man in most respects, his journey has been remarkable. He is a corporate lawyer, living an upper middle-class life in the suburbs of Washington, DC, yet he is just one generation removed from the poverty and isolation of the Ozark Mountains and the hardscrabble life of rural, small-town Iowa. His American dream has been made possible by the unconditional love and support of family, certain fundamental values and principles that have shaped and guided his life, and the power and inspiration of America's promise of freedom and democracy.