Is Equality “A Radical Idea”? A Historian’s Discussion Between Walter Isaacson and Shilo Brooks | The “Mission Statement” of the United States.

In this podcast, Walter Isaacson describes the opening principle of the Declaration of Independence as the United States' "mission statement." He argues that it expresses the nation's founding ideals—that all people are created equal and have basic rights. Isaacson argues that these ideals provide a guiding purpose for the country, even if the nation has not always lived up to them. He says, "It is a narrative and over the course of generations we take this sentence and expand it, so more people are included.” Isaacson means that the Declaration's statement of equality is an ideal rooted in “self-evident” truth and “social contract” theory that has been interpreted more broadly over time. Although the phrase originally did not include everyone in practice—such as enslaved people, women, and many others—later generations have used those same words to argue for expanding rights and equality. Movements for abolition, women's suffrage, civil rights, disability rights, and LGBTQ+ rights have all appealed to the Declaration's principles to advocate for greater inclusion. According to Isaacson, the nation's story is one of continually working to extend those founding ideals to more people. He contends that if President Abraham Lincoln were alive today, he would see the United States as still working to fulfill its founding mission statement, that Lincoln might say, “You’re still trying to prove it.”