Walter Isaacson stopped by the Today show to discuss his latest book, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written.
Isaacson’s book, published Tuesday by Simon & Schuster, focuses on the second sentence in the Declaration of Independence: “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 critic for Kirkus called the book “a short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.”
Isaacson talked about the importance of the sentence, saying, “We’re fighting so much today, we’re tearing ourselves apart. I thought if we really focus on the beauty of this sentence…it might be a way to calm us down for our 250th birthday.”
Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie observed that if one reads the sentence word by word, starting with the word we, there are “treasures” in it.
“We forms our common ground,” Isaacson said. “It’s not we, the guys meeting in Philadelphia, it’s a social contract theory, and I think that this sentence lays the ground for two great things in America: One is the notion we have common ground. Let’s all hang together, we’ve been missing that. And the American dream—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We used to make it so every generation can have the American dream. We have to get back to that.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
