“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people 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.”
In 1821, just a few years before his death, Thomas Jefferson
predicted that the legacy of liberty established by the
American experiment in self-government, had spread so
far and was so powerful that it could never be defeated or
destroyed. He wrote:
“And even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism
again obscure the science and liberties of Europe, this
country remai