An Expression of the American Mind
In observation of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday (13 April 1743) it seems appropriate to look back at one of the most influential and important pieces of communication in history: The Declaration of Independence.
Scholars acknowledge that while The Declaration of Independence was “the great political document of the American Enlightenment,” it was not the most original. Ideas of liberty and individual rights were commonly talked about in republican circles. What was unique about The Declaration was the way it fused Enlightenment ideas of rational truths with republican principles of liberty:
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.
As Jefferson described the document, it was “an expression of the American mind.”