“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
So reads the eloquent first sentence of the Declaration of Independence made 248 years ago on July 4, 1776.
Given the hatred of all things government that grips many on the right wing of American politics, some would be surprised by the next sentence of the Declaration of Independence: “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
