When in the course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which
have
connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which
the laws of nature and of nature's
God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires
that they
should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
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.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
governments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes;
and accordingly all experience hath
shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable
than to
right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism,
it is their
right, it is their duty, to throw off
such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
Declaration
of Independence July 4 1776 |
