•When in the Course of human events,
•it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have
connected them with another,
•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
•the pursuit of Happiness.
•That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed,