On the fourth of July, 1776, thirteen American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, and formed the United States of America, thereby laying the foundations for the now oldest surviving political system with representative government. An oft-quoted passage in the Declaration of Independence is the passage that men are endowed with certain unalienable rights, which include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and to secure them “[g]overnments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”