In America today, when the name of honor is often adulterated by glaring headlines proclaiming the guilt of an immoral politician or the downfall of a disgraced executive , it is easy to forget that the country was founded for the search for truth, because only in the truth can people find true happiness. Thomas Jefferson famously included the pursuit of happiness as an unalienable right in the Declaration of Independence, but in an intimate letter to William Roscoe, a British historian, Jefferson wrote: “This institution shall be based upon the unbounded liberty of the human mind. Because here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it takes us." In his flagship novel, All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren embraces the Founding Father's principles with his characterization of both Willie Stark and Jack Burden. Warren's novel is an American classic because it traces the lives of two lost men as each follows his own personalized compass that points toward complete understanding. After elevating him to unprecedented heights, Willie's interpretation of the truth returns to drag him into the Underworld. Only when Jack discovers that not even Willie can be omnipotent does he stop trying to figure it all out. Willie Stark and Jack Burden embody the essence of Thomas Jefferson's words because, in a certain sense, they both achieve freedom through the search for truth. At heart, Willie Stark is a good man with good intentions, but his philanthropic nature clashes with his burning desire for success. Cousin Willie's political career was conceived by his search for the truth. After the school incident, Willie is proclaimed an "honest man" and is entered into the governor's race (Warren 97). But Willie is heartbroken when Sadie Burke cruelly informs him: “Even you, a… middle of paper… come to the conclusion that complete understanding is not only impossible but undesirable. Consequently, Jack agrees with Ellis Burden who argues that "separation [from God] is identity" and since only God knows everything, ignorance is a quality shared by all humans (Warren 659). It is ironic that the world seems clearer to Jack when he realizes that men are naturally ignorant than when he was trying to figure it all out. Jack's progress lies in his ability to "distinguish the pursuit of knowledge from Complete Knowledge itself" (Wolf). Jack realizes that only humans have the freedom to pursue knowledge, while possessing Complete Knowledge destroys the purpose of life. Jack's epiphanies come at the expense of others, namely Judge Irwin, Willie, and Adam, but it takes Jack to learn that freedom comes from realizing the truth..