Will The Experiment Work? #178 By Hank Silverberg Happy Birthday, America! The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress on July 2nd, 1776, announced on July 4th and finally read to the public on the steps of Independence Hall on July 8th, making this "Independence Week". The document was a formula for a vast experiment in human nature--an experiment that is still underway. Everyone who signed the Declaration over that hot Philadelphia summer was aware of that. After the approval vote, when Benjamin Franklin was asked by a citizen what type of government they had created, he notably said: "A Republic! If we can keep it!" Franklin's warning still taunts us today. The Declaration is certainly a remarkable document. "All men are created equal," it declared. "...endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Yet the Republic