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. - That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to age or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on tested principles and organizing its powers in searchable form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
They are words which even German children learn by heart at school. There are words that all freedom-loving people (in modern Iran and elsewhere) have their way. These are the words with which the people of the 13 colonies on 4 July 1776 justified why they seceded from the British crown. Each of the 56 delegates to the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration risked, nothing less than their lives. And yet signed by the President of the Continental Congress, John Hancock, with a conspicuously large signature. Hancock should have justified this by saying: "This King George can read it without glasses."
The few years later adopted the U.S. Constitution, Lincoln's words at Gettysburg, alleging a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" and said Martin Luther King are based struggle for civil rights in the Declaration of Independence, which is celebrated today .
Happy Birthday, America!
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