The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States ofAmerica
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for onepeople to dissolve the political bands which have connected them withanother, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate andequal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitlethem, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that theyshould declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are createdequal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienableRights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit ofHappiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted amongMen, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,—Thatwhenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it isthe Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute newGovernment, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing itspowers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect theirSafety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governmentslong established should not be changed for light and transient causes;and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are moredisposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselvesby abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a longtrain of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Objectevinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is theirright, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to providenew Guards for t