The Greatest Sentence Ever Written: Book Review

The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, Walter Isaacson, 2025. It’s: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 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,” a key part of the Declaration of Independence. Isaacson wants to analyze it in some detail, but only 70 pages, which includes several appendixes.

“The declaration they were writing was intended to herald a new type of nation, one in which our rights are based on reason, not the dictates or dogma of religion. … Our founders balancing the role of divine providence and that of reason in determining our rights” (p. VI).

We. “We the people,” the concept of a social contract entered into by people. Social contract theory started with Thomas Hobbes, replacing a state of nature by submitting themselves to governing authorities. This was expanded by John Locke in his 1689 Second Treatise of Government, to join into a “community for their comfortable, safe, and peaceful living” (p. 3). This was expanded by David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Self-Evident Truths. “Self-evident” was added by Franklin (meaning “obvious”), a concept by Franklin’s friend Hume. “Hume’s fork” stated there were two types of truth: “synthetic,” based on empirical evidence and “analytical,” based on reason. The claim was “self-evident,” but this was controversial.

All Men. White guys with property or all people (including women, slaves, and native people)? It was associated with political and social rights and rejected hereditary social classes. Citizenship was a long time coming (1924 for Native Americans). Jefferson called slavery “a moral depravity,” but kept slaves and freed very few of them (even his own kids by Sally Hemmings, who passed for white).

Endowed by Their Creator. Jefferson and other founding fathers were Deists, believing in a creator, assuming the creation of natural law, not miracles and divine intervention.

Certain Unalienable Rights. These are inherent to existence, not to be deprived by a monarch or any government.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Locke identified life, liberty, and property as the fundamental rights and his theory of justice. The Virginia Declaration of Rights added “pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” Jefferson just replaced property with “pursuit of happiness.”

Common Ground. This is people’s struggle to create a good society, including the “common,” common pasture in Medieval England and the idea of basic goods into the commons like schools, libraries, police, and fire. [This is related to the idea of “public goods” like parks.] Ben Franklin started many of these in Philadelphia. “People were treated with equal dignity” (p. 28).

“Alexis de Tocqueville wins the award for being the least read but most quoted author about America” (p. 28), claimed the American struggle between rugged individualism and common grounds.

There is the pursuit of the American Dream. “Both freedom and economic growth require that we allow individuals to reap the benefits that come from their labors” (p. 30). Which goods should be provided in the commons? “Compromises may not make great heroes, Franklin liked to say, but they do make great democracies” (p. 31).

The American Dream, popularized in a 1931 book by James Adams, The Epic of America. Some of that has been roped off; Michael Sandel calls it the “sky-boxification” of America. Free trade led to a globalized economy and low-paying jobs and reduced opportunities. Jefferson favored a “natural aristocracy,” like the current meritocratic elite. However, the purpose of an economy is to create a good society.

Going Forward. Ben Franklin: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately. … What policies can strengthen the common ground and American Dream? …  What institutions can instill a sense of shared patriotic service across class lines? What policies can help give every kid an equal opportunity? (p. 39).

The rest are appendices. Apparently, this makes it a book and not just an article. First Up is Thomas Paine and Common Sense. The Continental Congress voted for independence July 2, 1776 and considered Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. It was printed July 4^th and sent to the powers that be.

John Locke’s Second Treatise of Government, 1690. Property includes the person, his (and her) labor, but his property is unsafe and a social contract is made with others.

Rousseau’s The Social Contract, 1762. “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” Survival takes agreement for a legitimate authority. That is solved by the social contract.

Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 1776. “That all men by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights … of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

Jefferson’s Original Rough Draft. It was modestly different and subject to modification by the drafting committee and full Congress. Complaints included “cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; for imposing taxes on us without our consent; for depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury” and more. Then the finished Declaration of Independence.