no human being, however
emphatically he may declare, or will, or agree to the contrary, may by
any possible act of any other human being or of any set of human
beings, whether calling themselves a government or not, or by any
possible means, deprive himself, or be deprived of the right of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness--these being necessarily
incidental to the original right of equality.

To apply this interpretation to the relationship between ourselves and
our brethren of the Insular regions: They are, according to the
universal and common law of nature and of nations, as we and all other
human beings are, equally creatures of a common Creator and equal with
us. Under that all-pervasive law, they, with us, and all other human
beings, are created with the unalienable need of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, and therefore with corresponding unalienable
rights. Under that law we cannot deprive them of these unalienable
rights, nor allow them to deprive themselves of their unalienable
rights, nor allow a part of them to deprive the others of their
unalienable rights. According to the philosophy of the Revolution,
every man, every community, every state and every nation is bound to
enforce, and cause to be enforced, this law of nature and of nations,
which prevents the voluntary or involuntary alienation by any man, any
community, any state or any nation of his or its rights of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Declaration, having thus described the ends of all government,
proceeds to describe the methods by which these ends are accomplished.
It declares that "to secure these rights governments are instituted
among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed." Governments, it is declared, are instituted solely to
secure to each and every being his and their unalienable rights, as
equal creatures of a common Creator, to life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness. Here is a plain denial that government is universally
the expression of the will of the majority, for it is matter of common
knowledge that in only a few of the most highly civilized countries of
the world does the will of the majority, as it is expressed, secure to
each and every person his and their unalienable rights of life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

There is also an implied denial of the proposition that government is
the will of the majority, in the proposition that "governments are