"All men are created equal...life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Every schoolboy knows these words, every American treasures them. Yet -- to me -- they are far less important than the sentence that follows:
"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 alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."
'Equal' and 'pursuit of happiness' are often unfulfilled dreams -- 'consent of the governed' lays down a right that has toppled kings and dictators.
