‘National Treasure’ Review: An Expression of the American Mind

How the Founders’ redefinition of what it meant to be a free citizen echoed down the decades.

Excerpt: "In the 20th century, the conflict with totalitarianism made that role all the more important. Franklin Roosevelt tied it directly to the war against fascism, and the Cold War challenged Americans to live up to the Declaration’s principles. Far from seeming anachronistic, the author writes, the document had “inspired a new sense of what it meant to be American,” one that was embraced by immigrants from the great wave of the late 1800s, along with citizens from families that had been in the U.S. since its founding.

Harry Truman warned against making the Declaration an idol at the expense of its deeper meaning. But perhaps its roles stand less in tension than it seems. Citizens over generations have made it their own; hence the enduring interest that brings visitors to see the original today. The Declaration, as Mr. Auslin shows, is also more than a stop on a tourist’s pilgrimage. This summer, nearly a century after Coolidge’s stirring words, marks a good moment to affirm once again those principles on which the U.S. is founded."