OUR UNALIENABLE RIGHTS

The statement that "all men are created equal" has troubled many
people when they have thought of the obvious inequalities that
exist in natural ability and opportunity. But whatever
inequalities may exist, people are absolutely equal in their RIGHT
to satisfy the wants described in this chapter. These are the
"unalienable rights" which the Declaration of Independence sums up
in the phrase "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." That
community is best to live in that most nearly provides equal
opportunity for all its citizens to enjoy these rights. From the
Declaration of Independence to the present day, our great national
purpose has been to increase this opportunity, even though at
times we have apparently not been conscious of it, and even though
we have fallen short of its fulfillment. One of the chief objects
of our study is to find out how our communities are seeking to
accomplish this purpose.

"The Declaration of Independence did not mention the questions of
our day. It is of no consequence to us unless we can translate its
general terms into examples of the present day and substitute them
in some vital way for the examples it itself gives, so concrete,
so intimately involved in the circumstances of the day in which it
was conceived and written. It is an eminently practical document,
meant for the use of practical men ... Unless we can translate it
into the questions of our own day, we are not worthy of it, we are
not sons of the sires who acted in response to its challenge."--
Woodrow Wilson, in The New Freedom, pp. 48, 49.

A and B are two boys of the same age. One was born in a rich