Allen Makes The Case That We Cannot Have Freedom As Individuals Without Equality Among Us As A People. Evoking The Colonial World Between 1774 And 1777, Allen Describes The Challenges Faced By John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, And Robert Livingston--the Committee Of Five Who Had To Write A Document That Reflected The Aspirations Of A Restive Population And Forge An Unprecedented Social Contract. Although The Focus Is Usually On Jefferson, Allen Restores Credit Not Only To John Adams And Richard Henry Lee But Also To Clerk Timothy Matlack And Printer Mary Katherine Goddard. Allen Also Restores The Text Of The Declaration Itself. Its List Of Self-evident Truths Does Not End With Our Individual Right To The Pursuit Of Happiness But With The Collective Right Of The People To Reform Government So That It Will Effect Their Safety And Happiness. The Sentence Laying Out The Self-evident Truths Leads Us From The Individual To The Community--from Our Individual Rights To What We Can Achieve Only Together, As A Community Constituted By Bonds Of Equality. Night Teaching -- Patrimony -- Loving Democracy -- Animating The Declaration -- The Writer -- The Politicos -- The Committee -- The Editors -- The People -- On Memos -- On Moral Sense -- On Doing Things With Words -- On Words And Power -- When In The Course Of Human Events -- Just Another Word For River -- One People -- We Are Your Equals -- An Echo -- It Becomes Necessary -- The Laws Of Nature -- And Nature's God -- Kinds Of Necessity -- We Hold These Truths -- Sound Bites -- Sticks And Stones -- Self-interest? -- Self-evidence -- Magic Tricks -- The Creator -- Creation -- Beautiful Optimism -- Prudence -- Dreary Pessimism -- Life's Turning Points -- Tyranny -- Facts? -- Life Histories -- Plagues -- Portrait Of A Tyrant -- The Thirteenth Way Of Looking At A Tyrant -- The Use And Abuse Of History -- Dashboards -- On Potlucks -- If Actions Speak Louder Than Words -- Responsiveness -- We Must, Therefore, Acquiesce -- Friends, Enemies, And Blood Relations -- On Oath -- Real Equality -- What's In A Name? Danielle Allen. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 297-299) And Index.

Allen, Danielle S., 1971-

New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation, a Division of W. W. Norton & Company

United States, United States of America

1st, First Edition, US, 2014

1st ed, New York, cop. 2014

Jun 23, 2014

315 pages : 25 cm
Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-299) and index
Part I. Origins -- Night teaching -- Patrimony -- Loving democracy -- Animating the Declaration -- Part II. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? -- The writer -- The politicos -- The Committee -- The editors -- The people -- Part III. The art of democratic writing -- On memos -- On moral sense -- On doing things with words -- On words and power -- Part IV. Reading the course of events -- When in the course of human events... -- Just another word for river -- One people -- We are your equals -- An echo -- Part V. Facing necessity -- ...it becomes necessary... -- The laws of nature -- And nature's god -- Kinds of necessity -- Part VI. Matters of principle -- We hold these truths... -- Sound bites -- Sticks and stones -- Self-interest? -- Self-evidence -- Magic tricks -- The creator -- Creation -- Beautiful optimism -- Part VII. Matters of fact -- Prudence... -- Dreary pessimism -- Life's turning points -- Tyranny -- Facts? -- Life histories -- Plagues -- Portrait of a tyrant -- The thirteenth way of looking at a tyrant -- The use and abuse of history -- Dashboards -- On potlucks -- If actions speak louder than words... -- Responsiveness -- Part VIII. Drawing conclusions -- We must, therefore, acquiesce... -- Friends, enemies, and blood relations -- On oath -- Real equality -- What's in a name?

Danielle Allen lays bare the Declarations history and significance, returning it to its true and rightful ownersyou and me.Junot Daz
In just 1,337 words, the Declaration of Independence changed the world, but curiously it is now rarely read from start to finish, much less understood. Unsettled by this, Danielle Allen read the text quietly with students and discovered its animating power. Bringing the analytical skills of a philosopher, the voice of a gifted memoirist, and the spirit of a soulful humanist to the task, Allen manages to . . . find new meaning in Thomas Jeffersons understanding of equality, says Joseph J. Ellis about Our Declaration. Countering much of the popular perception, she restores equality to its rightful place, detailing the Declarations case that freedom rests on equality. The contradictions between ideals and reality in a document that perpetuated slavery are also brilliantly tackled by Allen, whose cogently written and beautifully designed book is must-reading for all who care about the future as well as the origins of Americas democracy (David M. Kennedy).

2023-06-28