Error in the "official" transcript of the Declaration of Independence?

On the 4th of July, many Americans sit down and read our Declaration of Independence.  However, one researcher suggests that the National Archives transcript of the document contains a significant error.  That error, allegedly, is a period which was not intended to be there.  According to the NYT (at link)
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"Pursuit of Punctuation

An excerpt from the National Archives’ official transcript of the Declaration of Independence. A scholar is arguing that the period after “the pursuit of happiness” — shown in an 1823 engraving — does not appear on the 1776 parchment original.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”

  This may be much ado about nothing.  Whether the period is there or not, rights are fundamental, and the purpose of government is to secure the rights.  Government is merely a tool to serve the protection of the rights ("to secure these rights, Governments are instituted . . ."  Government is arguably not fundamental.  Logically, if rights could be secured without government, we could abolish government.  However, the later words suggest that some form of government is necessary to preserve rights.  Government needs to protect citizens from other citizens who would interfere with these rights. As stated in the "Federalist" # 51: "If men were angles, no government would be necessary." However, government itself is not authorized to violate these rights(See the rest of # 51). "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. ([1788] n.d., 337)"  This sounds like classical libertarian theory.  If the current "tool" (government) is destructive of rights, the people have right to abolish it and start a new one. This is, of course, also a plain statement of natural law/rights theory which is also reflected in the Ninth Amendment.