David M. Shribman: Building upon the Declaration

WASHINGTON — In the next several days, Simon & Schuster will bring forth a little book, 7 inches tall and 5 inches wide, that should shake the country. It is called "The Greatest Sentence Ever Written," and in its mere 67 pages, the author Walter Isaacson reminds us in a torrid time about the enduring values that define a troubled country.

The sentence, once memorized by every American pupil, is hard-wired into the country's consciousness, though sometimes honored only in the breach. It is the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, and it hardly seems necessary to quote it:

"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."

It stands, along with an astonishing phrase, pointedly beginning with the same word ("We the people," from the opening of the U.S. Constitution, written a dozen years later), as the defining principle of American government. And in his book, Isaacson argues that the word "we" is fundamental, arguing, "Our governance is based not on the divine right of kings or the power imposed by emperors and conquerors."

Donald Trump will be in the White House when the country celebrates the 250th anniversary of that sentence. The president, who has his own views about the country's passage from 1776, might linger on the Isaacson book. He also might contemplate these other sentences, issued years after the declaration, and seek, in the spirt of that great document and of the words that follow, to contribute his own sentences, and his own deeds:

"I hope, to know that honesty is the 1st chapter in the book of wisdom." — Thomas Jefferson, letter to Nathaniel Macon, 1819

"Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people." — Henry Clay, speech, 1828, Lexington, Kentucky

"One country, one Constitution, one destiny." — Daniel Webster, speech, 1837, commemorated in a plaque in the Capitol

"I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made, and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty, and of this, his almost chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle." — Abraham Lincoln, speech to the New Jersey Senate, 1861

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." — Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address, 1861

"So much emphasis has been put upon the false that the significance of the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere service." — Calvin Coolidge, speech, 1915, Boston

"The presidency is not merely an administrative office. That is the least part of it. It is preeminently a place of moral leadership." — Franklin D. Roosevelt, interview in The New York Times, 1932

"You cannot, of course, use a lie, then a smaller lie and believe that such a process brings you to the truth. That doesn't work. I am talking about the practical affairs of getting humans in great numbers to work together. You must find the broad highway and you must ignore the gutters." — Dwight D. Eisenhower, remarks at the Republican National Committee Breakfast, 1960

"Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own." — John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961

"For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world." — John Winthrop, aboard the ship Arabell, 1630

"Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us -- and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill — constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities." — John F. Kennedy, address to the Massachusetts State Legislature, 1961

"I've spoken of the 'shining city' all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here." — Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address, 1989

"I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all things, generosity." — George H.W. Bush, Inaugural Address, 1989

"There's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America." — Sen. Barack Obama, speech at Democratic National Convention, 2004

"I want to try and get to heaven, if possible. I'm hearing I'm not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole." — Donald Trump, self-assessment, on "Fox and Friends," 2025

Isaacson's book could have been written in 1826, when at the 50th anniversary of the declaration, Andrew Jackson was still seething about being denied the presidency in a "corrupt bargain"; or in 1876, at the centennial, when a disputed election denied Samuel Tilden the presidency; or in 1976, the bicentennial, when the country was still reeling from Watergate; or in 2001, at the 225th, when George W. Bush was inaugurated after a virtual dead-heat election against Al Gore. But it was written for the 250th. There surely is a reason.

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David M. Shribman is the former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.