Newt Gingrich talks with Walter Isaacson about the Declaration of Independence, America's 250th anniversary, and the sentence that defines the American experiment.
Newt Gingrich welcomes bestselling author and historian Walter Isaacson to discuss his new book, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, and the enduring power of the Declaration of Independence. As America approaches its 250th anniversary, Isaacson argues that the nation has a rare opportunity to rediscover the ideals that have held it together through crisis, division, and change.
Their conversation explores how Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams helped shape one of the most consequential sentences in history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” Newt and Isaacson examine why those words still matter, how Abraham Lincoln revived their meaning at Gettysburg, and why the American experiment remains one of the greatest inventions in human history.
Listen to the episode below, or scroll down for an edited transcript.
Edited Transcript
This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Newt Gingrich
On this episode of Newt’s World, I’m very pleased to welcome my guest, my good friend, and someone I’ve worked with for many years, Walter Isaacson. He is the bestselling author of biographies of Elon Musk, Leonardo da Vinci, Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, and Albert Einstein. He is a professor of history at Tulane, former CEO of the Aspen Institute, former chairman of CNN, former editor of Time magazine, and recipient of the National Humanities Medal.
I’m delighted he is joining me to discuss his new book, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, which is especially appropriate as we look ahead to America’s 250th anniversary. Walter, welcome and thank you for joining me again on Newt’s World.
Walter Isaacson
It’s great to be with you, Newt. I know how much of a historian you are, and you understand the importance of this sentence as our mission statement as we enter our 250th year.
Newt Gingrich
Your timing could hardly be better. This book is such a break from the biographies you’ve been doing, and yet I was fascinated by how you took this one sentence apart. What made you decide to turn it into a book?
Walter Isaacson
I think it is important that we celebrate our 250th anniversary in a way that unifies us and brings us together. We have had such a poisonous period in our politics, and sometimes history has been used to divide us.
I picked this topic because we are going into the 250th, and I don’t think we have made enough plans to ask how we can use this moment to understand our common values. After Vietnam, Watergate, assassinations, and riots, the country came together for the bicentennial. I think we need to do that again.
Newt Gingrich
It would be great to have this be the year we celebrate patriotism. Whatever your ideology or background, everyone should understand that America is, at its heart, a romantic idea. Patriotism is what binds us together.
Walter Isaacson
When I was writing about Benjamin Franklin, I noticed that he had edited Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson had written, “We hold these truths to be sacred.” Franklin crossed out “sacred” and put in “self-evident.”
He wanted to say that our rights come from rationality, not simply the dictates of religion. But the sentence also says we are endowed with rights by our Creator. In crafting this sentence, they were balancing values. That balance is part of what makes the sentence so powerful.
Newt Gingrich
These were three very smart people who had thought about this for a long time. They were evolving what would become America. It took conversation, compromise, and creativity. That is part of what people don’t always understand about the legislative and political process.
Walter Isaacson
They understood balance. Franklin and Jefferson were scientists. They understood that forces can contend, but you can find equilibrium. The sentence balances divine providence and rationality. It is a living sentence. Each generation has to aspire to make it more true.
Newt Gingrich
Lincoln resurrects the Declaration in the Gettysburg Address. He brings the country back to the moral framework of the Founders.
Walter Isaacson
Exactly. Lincoln invokes the Declaration four score and seven years later, saying the nation was conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
That was not fully true when Jefferson wrote it. Jefferson enslaved people. But Lincoln used that sentence as a forcing mechanism. That is the arc of American history. Each generation asks whether we can get closer to that aspiration.
Newt Gingrich
The Declaration opens with “we,” and the Constitution later begins with “We the People.” What is the significance of that?
Walter Isaacson
That is crucial. Before that, nations were often formed by kings, conquest, or force. The Founders created a nation based on a social contract and the consent of the governed. “We” did not just mean the people in Philadelphia. It meant a moral governing society created by the people.
Newt Gingrich
In that sense, the Declaration is universal. It is not just aimed at Americans. It is defining a universal truth.
Walter Isaacson
It is defining it for the world. The Declaration begins by referring to “a decent respect to the opinions of mankind.” They were explaining how they were creating a new type of nation. Over time, many nations began to resemble that idea: defending individual rights while coming together in a representative democracy.
Newt Gingrich
How do we get the country back to understanding these basic truths? This sentence and the document it appears in are at the core of whether this country survives.
Walter Isaacson
That is why I wrote the book. The 250th is a great opportunity, and I worry we are not using it enough. We need to reassert the patriotism most of us feel and the values that underlie our nation.
Each community should ask how it will celebrate who we are as a nation. This anniversary should not just look backward. It should help us understand what we have learned and how we can create an even better next 250 years.
Newt Gingrich
How do you respond when people point out that Jefferson wrote about freedom while owning slaves?
Walter Isaacson
We have to wrestle honestly with American history. The sentence was not fully true when they wrote it, and Jefferson knew it. People are complicated. Even our heroes have dark strands.
But we were given an aspirational statement. At Gettysburg, Lincoln used it to move the country toward ending slavery. The suffragists used it to argue that women must be included. The arc of American history bends toward justice, but only if we bend it.
Newt Gingrich
Hopefully this book helps create a dialogue. People have to come out of their shells, stop yelling at each other, and develop a genuine curiosity about why this system has been so remarkable.
Walter Isaacson
I think most Americans can agree on fundamental values, even when they disagree on policy. We should be able to have civil discussions about what we share in common. That is what this sentence represents.
Newt Gingrich
You have written about so many remarkable people. Is there a common lesson you have learned from studying them?
Walter Isaacson
It is not simply the ability to be smart. It is the ability to think creatively and imaginatively. Einstein did it. Steve Jobs did it. Elon Musk did it. Leonardo da Vinci did it.
And the Founders did it. The greatest innovation was taking social contract theory and creating a democratic republic based on “We the People.” That is what we will be celebrating.
Newt Gingrich
If you think of America as an invention, you realize what an astonishing gift we have been given: self-government, mutual acceptance, and rights that come from a divine basis and cannot be taken away by politicians, bureaucrats, lobbyists, or billionaires.
Walter Isaacson
We should all read the Declaration often in this coming year. We should read this sentence and think about the wisdom in it. The Founders were innovative, but they were also wise. They understood balance, tolerance, respect, and civility. Those are things we need to recover.
Newt Gingrich
You have done an extraordinary civic service by writing this book. Before we close, do you have a new book in mind?
Walter Isaacson
I do. I love science, invention, and how science helps humanity. I’m working on a book about Marie Curie, the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences, physics and chemistry. I’m studying how she made her imaginative leaps and how her discoveries moved from theory into practice.
Newt Gingrich
That is amazing, and I hope you will come back to talk about it. In the meantime, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written is available now. It is a perfect book for entering America’s 250th birthday.
Walter, thank you for joining me.
Walter Isaacson
Thank you, Newt. Happy birthday to our country.
About the Guest
Walter Isaacson is a bestselling author, historian, and professor of history at Tulane University. He has written acclaimed biographies of Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and others. He previously served as CEO of the Aspen Institute, chairman of CNN, and editor of Time magazine. In 2023, he received the National Humanities Medal.
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