In this episode, best-selling biographer Walter Isaacson joins to discuss his new book, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, with Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding, Isaacson explores the intellectual inspirations and drafting history of the Declaration’s famous second sentence, which lays the foundation for the American dream and defines the common ground we share as a nation.

Resources

Walter Isaacson, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written (2025)
Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2004)
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739)
Benjamin Franklin, “Apology for Printers,” The Pennsylvania Gazette (1731)
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government (1690)

In our new podcast, Pursuit: The Founders’ to Guide to Happiness Jeffrey Rosen explores the founders’ lives with the historians who know them best. Plus, filmmaker Ken Burns shares his daily practice of self-reflection.

Listen to episodes of Pursuit on ⁠Apple Podcast⁠ and ⁠Spotify⁠.

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