New Delhi, July 3 -- The second line of America's famous Declaration of Independence has been called "the most potent single sentence in American history." Even if we edit the last bit to 'written in English,' it might arguably still be true.

The line in question, adopted in Philadelphia by the US Continental Congress on 4 July 1776, runs as follows: "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."

This exposition of human rights is followed by a derivative social contract that outlines the new republic's democracy: "That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted amon...