The Greatest Sentence Ever Written

Is America a ‘Country of Lords’?

The Next Big Idea, 14 September 2026. The book comes up at 29 sec in.

Hosts Michael Kovnat and Rufus Griscom both say they read Walter Isaacson's book about the phrase 'all men are created equal' in the Declaration of Independence. Rufus recalls discussing with Isaacson how Ben Franklin's edit—replacing 'sacred' with 'self-evident'—may have been history's greatest editorial change. The book serves as a launching point for the episode's broader discussion about the American ideal of equality.

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