Free Republic

Every Fourth of July, some Americans sit down to read the Declaration of Independence, reacquainting themselves with the nation’s founding charter exactly as it was signed by the Second Continental Congress in 1776. Or almost exactly? A scholar is now saying that the official transcript of the document produced by the National Archives contains a significant error – smack in the middle of the sentence beginning “We hold these truths to be self-evident,” no less. The error, according to Danielle Allen, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, concerns a period that appears right after...

And, of course, an over reaching government agrees...

First, let's pinpoint what's in question here. The official transcription from the National Archives reads (emphasis ours): 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. See that period? According to Princeton professor Danielle Allen, it's not actually in the original document. If she's right, then the individual rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" would share a sentence with what follows:

LONDON (AFP) - Global warming will cost the world up to seven trillion dollars in the next decade unless governments take drastic action soon, a major report will warn. Former World Bank chief economist Sir Nicholas Stern was commissioned last year by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to lead a review into the economics of climate change and will deliver his findings Monday. But the Observer newspaper published Sunday excerpts from his 700-page report, which adds that unchecked global warming could make 200 million people refugees from drought or flood. Publication of the report is likely to fuel debate...