Read anything from Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States, about the Declaration of Independence, and you'll learn that he despised it. When he wasn't ridiculing this Founding document, he would say it was great for its time, but no longer relevant.

He was wrong.

"The Declaration of Independence is the idea of America. The Constitution is the engine on how to make it work or the framework . . . the fence around the idea. The Constitution means nothing without the idea. And the idea is that all men are created equal," Glenn said Wednesday on his radio program.

All laws signed by the president of the United States are dated and noted with the number of years from July 4, 1776, the date of the Declaration of Independence. Laws aren't signed and dated going back to 1789 for the Constitution or 1791 for the Bill of Rights. All laws signed by the president date back to July 4th.

"Quite honestly, anybody on the left, you have to love the Declaration of Independence because it freed the slaves. It was the Declaration of Independence that was used as the argument to free the slaves. It was the argument used by Martin Luther King that all men are created equal. And it's time our country lives up to that standard," Glenn said.

We come together when we start talking about the principles of America, outlined in our Founding documents. They are the bridge that can bring us back together.

Listen to this segment, beginning at mark 24:02, from The Glenn Beck Program:

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:

GLENN: Let's go back to this caller who called in yesterday and I think makes such a great point on the power of speaking softly, evenly, and the power of friendship, of somebody not giving up on you. This was a guy who said he was so progressive, he was almost a communist, and an atheist.

His friend read my book Liars, gave it to him and said, "You just have to read this chapter. It will blow your mind." He did. He now considers himself a constitutionalist and a religious guy. He's now reading the Bible.

I asked him yesterday, "So what was the turning point? What happened?" Listen to the power of our founding documents. Listen to this.

CALLER: I --

GLENN: Is there -- is that it?

PAT: He just said I.

GLENN: That was a shorter clip than I thought.

STU: And he did not get into the Constitution at all.

JEFFY: You feel the passion though.

STU: Yeah.

PAT: All right.

CALLER: I had always heard the statement of, I believe it was Stalin, that said, "In order to make an omelet, you got to crack a couple eggs."

GLENN: Yes.

CALLER: And I never really took that to heart, until I read your book. And I realized that it was true, that by hook or by crook, a progressive will get whatever they have to get done, done. And whatever weight stays behind them or who stand in front of them, it doesn't matter.

And what you were talking about, just a second ago, if I may guide -- I don't want to veer too far off. But what you were talking a second ago, about, you know, what would make you a progressive in your face, the first question that came to my mind -- because I -- you know, when I read that book, I was awe-struck. And I said, "None of this fits without something making it so."

GLENN: Hmm.

CALLER: What I mean by that is, you can't have these rights if they didn't come from anywhere.

PAT: Uh-huh.

CALLER: So I read -- I said, "You know, there's got to be somewhere this starts." So I read -- I went and got a pocket copy of the Constitution. And I said, "Let's start from the beginning."

GLENN: Jeez, Josh, do you realize how remarkable you are?

PAT: And rare.

GLENN: I mean, you are just so rare to, A, have the open mind, to, B, be willing to challenge the things that you hold dear, to see -- then go do the actual work is remarkable.

CALLER: But the thing is the communists don't hold those things dear. That that's the problem. They don't know what to believe in, so they believe in nothing but the state. That's what I was. That's where I was. I had nothing to believe in, Glenn.

And then I said, "Okay. These rights come from a creator." And when I watched your video, I said, "I have to find that creator. I have to find where this all began."

GLENN: It is -- I have been saying for a while now, and I've been saying it -- I just got a call from somebody last night who said they saw me on NBC election night, and they said they hadn't heard me for a while. A big conservative guy. And he said, "We were watching NBC." And he said, "You come on. And then you get off." And I didn't see it. I didn't watch what they said afterwards, but apparently Tom Brokaw and everybody else verified total voice of reason. And he said, "My wife and I looked at each other and went, Glenn Beck is the voice of reason? Glenn Beck?"

STU: We don't even say that and --

GLENN: Right. And this is a friend of mine. This is a friend of mine. Glenn Beck is the voice of reason? How upside down is the world?

But the point I've been trying to make to the New York Times and to everybody else, and to you, we have much more that we agree on than we disagree on, if we say, "Let's build a road back to each other." What is it that we can agree on that's big? That's not about policies. That's big.

Well, I think we all find a few things total common sense that we don't even -- where we're never taught. They just are true. That we were created and that each of us were given certain rights.

And everybody knows the minute you're born, you have rights. Yeah, but you can't just do whatever you want to that baby. That baby has rights. That baby has a right to have a life, to explore life the way it decides to explore, to go and make its way in the world, and nobody can take any of that stuff away from it.

We know that. Well, that's we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with certainly inalienable rights. Among them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

And that government is instituted among men, that we created this government for the sole purpose -- its primary purpose is to protect the rights of that child, to make sure that child has no one telling that child what to do. That that child has every right, from the moment of birth, to the moment of death, that those certain inalienable rights remain with that child.

That's why we've put government together.

And when a government becomes opposed to that or becomes a threat to those rights, that the people have got to abolish it or alter it. And most importantly, not fall into chaos, not just say, "We're going to burn the thing down." You have the right to alter or abolish and replace that government with a government that will protect those rights.

Who disagrees with that?

See, the reason why we're arguing is because we're not talking about principles anymore. You'll know the right way to vote. You'll know the right way to go when we can all agree on that.

The progressives want to take and destroy -- I know this sounds like hyperbole, but it is true, and you can look it up.

Read anything from Woodrow Wilson on the Declaration of Independence. He despises the Declaration of Independence. And when he -- and when he isn't out and out ridiculing it, when he's trying to play up to an audience that might love the Founders, he'll say, "It was a great document for its time, but it has no relevance today."

Well, yes, it does. First of all, all laws that are signed in by the president, date -- the date and then say, "Two hundred and X-number of years from July 4th, 1776." All laws signed in don't go to 1791 for the Bill of Rights, or 1789, the Constitution. All laws signed in with the president's signature date back to July 4th, the Declaration of Independence.

And why is that important? Because the Declaration of Independence is the idea of America. The Constitution is the engine on how to make it work or the framework or the -- the fence around the idea. The Constitution means nothing without the idea. And the idea is, is that all men are created equal. It's why the government didn't fall apart, and it's why, quite honestly, anybody on the left, you have to love the Declaration of Independence. Because it was the Declaration of Independence that freed the slaves. It was the Declaration of Independence that was used as the argument to free the slaves. It is the argument used by Martin Luther King, that all men are created equal. And it's time our country lives up to that standard.

Because that's the idea. And it says in there, "And among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." And then the Constitution furthers that and says, "Okay. There are these top ten." And then it has to go further because, "Okay. All right. You weren't ready at the beginning. Freedom -- freedom. No slavery is a right that I guess we have to write down for everybody."

We come together when we start talking about the principles of America. And you saw it happen right there. You saw it happen with the guy who started with Liars and went, "Wait a minute, I can't believe that -- this is the truth on progressives? It can't be. It's coming from a book by Glenn Beck." Let me go to the back. Look up the footnote. Let me just Google search it. Let me just see if that's true. Oh, my gosh, it is true.

Well, why doesn't this work? And it leads you back to the things that we hold self-evident.

Featured Image: John Trumbull's painting, Declaration of Independence, depicting the five-man drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence presenting their work to the Congress. The painting can be found on the back of the U.S. $2 bill. The original hangs in the US Capitol rotunda.