Tara’s Reviews > The Greatest Sentence Ever Written > Status Update

A Note on Type

This book is set in Adobe Caslon type, which is known for its elegance, dignity, and legibility. It is based on a type face created in 1722 by the preeminent, London punch-cutter and type-maker William Caslon. Benjamin Franklin imported Caslon‘s type for his print shop in Philadelphia and chose it for the first printing of the Declaration of Independence.

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
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He has combined with other others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign into our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; given his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
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For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:

The Declaration of Independence
In Congress, July 4, 1776

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security…and is such now the necessity which constraints them to alter their former Systems of Government.

From the Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 1776

That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

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From Rousseau’s “The Social Contract”, 1762

Since no man has a natural authority over his fellow, and force creates no right, we are left with agreements as the basis for all legitimate authority among men.

That’s the ideal of common ground and the American Dream that our founders fought for 250 years ago. And that’s what we must continue to fight for today so that we can preserve, for ourselves and our posterity, the rights and aspirations that we all share, including to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

He bequeathed a revolving loan fund for young people to start enterprises. He donated to the building funds of each and every church in Philadelphia, and he helped lead the fundraising for a new hall that would provide a pulpit to visiting preachers of any belief….So when he died, 20,000 mourners watched his funeral procession, which was led by all the clergymen of every faith…walking arm-in-arm.
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In short, we can try to be more like Franklin. He not only helped craft the sentence that defines our common ground. He lived it. He organized police, fire, and street sweeping corps; a public library, hospital, and school; a widows’ pension fund and a mutual insurance cooperative. He ran a newspaper that was dedicated to publishing a wide variety of opinions and following no party line.
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And when it comes to our media and our daily discourse, how can we create news outlets, social media platforms, civil discussions, personal conversations, algorithms, and chatbots that seek to connect us to our common ground rather than inflaming resentments, engaging us through enraging us, and harvesting clicks through sensationalism?
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In an era without universal military service, what institutions can instill a sense of shared patriotic service across class lines? What policies can help give every kid an equal opportunity?