Parental Rights Before State Rights.

Parental rights precede State rights. Indeed, as the Declaration of Independence has it, Governments are instituted to secure man's inalienable rights; and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A father's right to the pursuit of happiness extends to that of his children as well. This happiness is not restricted to material and earthly enjoyment, but reaches to everything conducive to joy, pleasure, contentment of mind and soul, in this world and the next, if the father believes in a future life.