The Greatest Sentence Ever Written
49 pages • 1-hour read
Walter IsaacsonThe Greatest Sentence Ever Written
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Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “All Men”
This chapter examines the phrase “All men” from the Declaration of Independence, arguing that although the word “men” had historically been used to refer broadly to humankind, the Founders did not intend the phrase to include everyone. Isaacson argues that women, enslaved people, Indigenous Americans, and, in some cases, men who did not own property were excluded from the political rights implied by the Declaration.
To illustrate this exclusion, the chapter focuses on the status of women. Influential Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher, argued that women’s roles were domestic and subordinate to men. The Continental Congress never even debated women’s political rights. The author cites a famous exchange from 1776 between Abigail Adams and her husband, John Adams, after Abigail urged him to “remember the ladies” (12) and limit the power men held over women. John dismissed her plea with laughter, stating, “We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems” (12). The exchange illustrates the prevailing attitudes toward women’s political rights during the founding era.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Created Equal”
The chapter explores the philosophical meaning and historical contradiction of the assertion that “all men are created equal” (13). The author explains that the Founders intended this to be a “self-evident” truth based on reason. The core idea, drawn from Enlightenment theory, is that in a state of nature, all individuals are autonomous and come together to form a social contract, or government. This makes them equal in the political rights that arise from that agreement, while also rejecting the British system of hereditary aristocracy. Isaacson also notes that the claim of equality did not mean that all people were equal in talents or abilities.
However, this principle clashed with the reality of slavery in the colonies, where approximately 500,000 people—one-fifth of the population—were considered property. The Virginia Declaration of Rights, drafted by George Mason, tried to evade this contradiction by adding a clause specifying that rights apply only to men “when they enter into a state of society” (14), a phrase meant to exclude the enslaved. Thomas Jefferson, however, did not include this qualification in his draft.
The chapter then details contradictions in the views and actions of key figures. Jefferson, who called the slave trade a “cruel war against human nature” (14), enslaved over 600 people, including Sally Hemings and their children. His philosophical mentor, John Locke, an English philosopher, also profited from the slave trade despite his theories on liberty. John Adams disapproved of slavery but feared addressing it publicly. His wife, Abigail Adams, was far more direct, calling slaveholders’ claims to liberty a “mockery” (14).
In contrast, Benjamin Franklin’s views evolved significantly. After owning enslaved people early in his life, he became an outspoken opponent of slavery, eventually leading the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. His final public act was a satirical essay that mirrored and criticized the pro-slavery arguments of Georgia Congressman James Jackson. Ultimately, Jefferson’s anti-slavery passages were removed from the Declaration by a Congress in which most signers were slaveholders. The author concludes that this founding contradiction created an ongoing struggle over the meaning of equality in American history, a struggle later advanced by figures like Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Endowed by Their Creator”
This section analyzes the editorial change in the Declaration from Thomas Jefferson’s original phrase, “from that equal creation they derive rights” (19), to the final, more memorable wording, “they are endowed by their Creator” (19) with rights. The author argues that this change altered the basis of rights. Jefferson’s version grounded rights in reason and the natural equality of humans, while the final version stated that rights were endowed by a Creator.
This change reflects the religious outlook of the Founders, many of whom were proponents of Deism. Deism, a major intellectual influence during the 18th-century Enlightenment, posits a supreme being who created the universe with natural laws but does not intervene in human affairs through miracles or divine revelation. It is a faith based on reason and observation. Jefferson was a Deist who created his own version of the Bible by cutting out all mentions of Jesus’s divinity and miracles to focus solely on his moral teachings.
John Adams, while also influenced by Deism, held slightly more traditional religious views. As a Unitarian, he doubted the divinity of Christ but focused on God as a benevolent “great Architect.” The author suggests Adams was the most likely member of the drafting committee to have proposed the “Creator” phrasing. Benjamin Franklin’s Deism was summarized in a letter written shortly before his death to Ezra Stiles, the president of Yale. Franklin affirmed his belief in a creator and stated that the best service to God is “doing good to his other children” (22). When asked about Jesus’s divinity, Franklin candidly admitted to having “some doubts,” adding that he did not consider it necessary to concern himself with the question near the end of his life.
Chapters 4-6 Analysis
In these chapters, Isaacson examines the Declaration’s most famous phrases to reveal how the Founders’ universal language of rights coexisted with systems of exclusion. The discussion of “All men are created equal” (13) presents exclusion as part of the political and legal framework of the founding era. By examining the legal and social context, Isaacson demonstrates that the Founders actively limited the scope of their own ideals. For instance, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, a key precursor to the national Declaration, was explicitly amended with the phrase “when they enter into a state of society” (14) to ensure its protections did not extend to enslaved people. Similarly, the dismissal of Abigail Adams’s plea to “remember the ladies” (12) by her husband John reveals a deliberate decision to maintain existing gender hierarchies. Through these examples, Isaacson presents America’s Founding Contradiction as a conflict between the Declaration’s universal language and the political exclusions embedded within early American society.
Isaacson also uses comparisons among key historical figures to explore the personal and philosophical dimensions of this founding conflict. Thomas Jefferson emerges as one of the clearest examples of these contradictions: a man who condemned slavery as a “cruel war against human nature” (14) while enslaving hundreds of people, including the children he fathered with Sally Hemings. His philosophical mentor, John Locke, exhibits a similar disconnect between his theories of liberty and his financial investments in the slave trade. Against this backdrop of deep hypocrisy, Isaacson positions two other figures as alternative models. Abigail Adams is an incisive contemporary critic, confronting Jefferson directly by calling the practice of slavery a “mockery” that wounds the conscience. Benjamin Franklin, meanwhile, represents the capacity for moral evolution. His personal journey from a printer who enslaved people to the president of an abolitionist society mirrors the nation’s own long, unfinished struggle to reconcile its principles with its actions. By juxtaposing these figures, Isaacson moves the analysis from an abstract paradox to a lived conflict of conscience, ideology, and political reality.
Beyond the social and moral conflicts surrounding equality, Isaacson examines the intellectual argument underlying the Declaration’s claims. He explains that the assertion of equality was a philosophical claim rooted in social contract theory, an Enlightenment idea that government derives its authority from the consent of individuals. In this framework, all individuals are considered autonomous in a “state of nature” (14) and are therefore equal in the political rights they secure by consenting to a government. This idea was revolutionary because it directly refuted the British system of a hereditary aristocracy, which granted rights based on birth and inherited status. The analysis shows that the Declaration was intended as a reasoned argument, positioning the colonies’ break from Britain as consistent with broader Enlightenment principles about rights and government. This foundation in reason is important for understanding the subsequent editorial debates about the ultimate source of these rights.
The final section of this analysis focuses on how the Declaration’s wording evolved through revision and debate over the source of human rights. Isaacson argues that the shift from Jefferson’s original deistic phrasing, “from that equal creation they derive rights” (19), to the final version, “endowed by their Creator” (19), was a significant revision. This change highlights The Importance of Collaboration and Revision by showing how the Declaration’s language developed through discussion over the source of human rights. Isaacson explains that Deism, an influential belief system during the Enlightenment, understood God as a creator who established natural laws governing the universe. Jefferson’s original wording reflected this emphasis on reason and natural equality. The final phrasing, which Isaacson attributes to John Adams, introduced a divine source for rights, giving the sentence broader religious and political resonance. Isaacson presents this revision as an effort to shape language capable of appealing to readers influenced by Enlightenment philosophy as well as those holding more traditional Christian beliefs.
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