Common Sense Nation: Unlocking the Forgotten Power of the American Idea

“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.”

We have heard and read this sentence all our lives. It is perfectly familiar. But if we pause long enough to ask ourselves why Jefferson wrote it in exactly this way, questions quickly arise.

Jefferson chose to use rather special and very precise terms. He did not simply claim that ...