What type of evidence would give a historian the best first hand account of what occurred in the past

Thomas jefferson was not afraid to make daring statements in the declaration of independence. what evidence from the text best supports this conclusion?

Look at the painting the lictors bring to brutus the bodies of his sons by jacques-louis david (1789). the most likely message this painting sends to french citizens is that one must be prepared to sacrifice their own children to preserve france. loyalty to one’s country stops short of sacrificing one’s own children. brutality is an integral part of revolution and the reign of terror. no one is immune to death, not even the leaders of the revolution.

How did the opposing sides of the revolutionary war compare