Its method is the simplest. The preamble is philosophical,
dealing with "self-evident" truths. Today the men who dislike or
doubt these truths dismiss the preamble as "theoretical," or, to
use another term of derogation favored by reactionaries,
"French." But if the preamble be French and philosophical, the
specific charges against the King are very English and practical.
Here are certain facts, presented no doubt with consummate
rhetorical skill, but facts, undeniably. The Anglo-Saxon in
Jefferson is basal, racial; the turn for academic philosophizing
after the French fashion is personal, acquired; but the range and
sweep and enduring vitality of this matchless state paper lie in
its illumination of stubborn facts by general principles, its
decent respect to the opinions of mankind, its stately and noble
utterance of national sentiments and national reasons to a
"candid world."
It has long been the fashion, among a certain school of
half-hearted Americans--and unless I am mistaken, the teaching
has increased during the last decades--to minimize the value of
Jefferson's "self-evident truths.
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