Sentence:  The <WSD>fact</WSD> that he has cast over those materials the light of a skeptical mind does not make him any the less Southern , I rather think , for the South has been no more solid than other regions except in the political and related areas where patronage and force and intimidation and fear may produce a surface uniformity . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a statement or assertion of verified information about something that is the case or has happened