destined, in the
course of a hundred years, to win the allegiance of the greater part of
the western world.

"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 alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation on such Principles and organizing its
Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
Safety and Happiness."

It is to these principles--for a generation somewhat obscured, it must
be confessed, by the Shining Sword and the Almighty Dollar, by the
lengthening shadow of Imperialism and the soporific haze of Historic
Rights and the Survival of the Fittest--it is to these principles, these
"glittering generalities," that the minds of men are turning again in
this day of desolation as a refuge from the cult of efficiency and from
faith in "that which is just by the judgment of experience."

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Contemporary Writings; Many of the most important documents for this
period are in the following brief collections: W. Macdonald, "Select
Charters and Other Documents," 1906; H. W. Preston, "Documents
Illustrative of American History," 5th ed., 1900; H. Niles, "Principles
and Acts of the Revolution in America," 1822; J. Almon, "Collection of
Papers Relative to the Dispute between Great Britain and America," 1777
(commonly cited as "Prior Documents"). The spirit of the times is
best seen in the contemporary newspapers, many extracts from which
are printed in F. Moore, "Diary of the American Revolution from
the Newspapers and Original Documents," 1863. Of the numberless
controversial pamphlets, the following are noteworthy: J. Otis,
"Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved," 1764; D. Dulaney,
"Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes on the British
Colonies" 1765; J. Dickinson, "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies," 1768 (also in "Writings of
John Dickinson," 3 vols. 1895); W. Knox, "The Controversy between Great
Britain and her Colonies Reviewed," 1769 (excellent pro-British reply to
Dickinson);