"We want a cooperative peace in which the peoples of every nation have the right of free choice--the right to establish their own institutions, to live by their own cardinal concepts, and to be free of external pressure or threat. These are deep-seated desires held passionately in common by the peoples of the United States and Argentina. We hope to see machines capable of destruction turned exclusively to constructive purposes. These shared aspirations spring from a common heritage: Both our countries won their independence from European powers. The drafters of our Declaration of Independence proclaimed that "all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." In Argentina, Esteban Echeverria said: "Equality and liberty are . . . the two poles of . . . Democracy . . ." In the United States, Abraham Lincoln described democratic government as "of the people, by the people, and for the people." In Argentina, Juan Alberdi declared: "Public freedom is no more than the sum . . . of the freedoms of all." The Constitution of the United States carefully separated the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of our government. In Argentina, the great liberator, José de San Martín, stated: "Displaying the most excellent principles matters not at all, when he who makes the law, he who carries it out, is also he who judges it." Your founding fathers and ours acted upon the same great hopes and expressed--almost identically--the same wisdom. This is of course not surprising: the vision of true freedom cannot be dimmed by a barrier of language or distance."