The Greatest Sentence Ever Written

Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

Yes, we must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.

Property is a cornerstone of Locke’s theory of justice. By owning the fruits of their labor, people preserve their liberty and individual rights.

As we reach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration, we are embroiled in increasingly polarized debates over policies ranging from healthcare and housing to immigration and the role of religion in our society. One way to restore stability to our politics is to look at issues through the two ideals that are at the heart of the Declaration’s key sentence: common ground and the pursuit of the American Dream.

Franklin and Jefferson understood balance. They were part of an Enlightenment era that embraced the scientific method of testing and revising beliefs based on evidence. Both of them studied Isaac Newton, whose mechanics explained how contending forces could be brought into equilibrium. Their goal on contentious issues was not to triumph but to find the right balance, an art that has been lost today. Compromisers may not make great heroes, Franklin liked to say, but they do make great democracies.

We hold these truths to be self-evident

Franklin correctly saw the danger of creating a meritocratic aristocracy. His proposals for what became the University of Pennsylvania were designed not to filter a new elite but to provide opportunities and enrichment for all young people to succeed as best they could, whatever their level of talent. He aimed at what he called "true merit," which he defined as "an inclination joined with an ability to serve mankind, one's country, friends, and family, which... should indeed be the great aim and end of all learning.

civil discussions, personal conversations, algorithms, and chatbots that

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, & to assume among the powers of the earth the equal & independant station to which the laws of nature & of nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the change.