Main Points
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
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Independence is declared.
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All men are created equal. “All men are created equal. We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal….”
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Men have unalienable Rights: Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
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Governments derive their authority from the consent of the people.
“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the
consent of the governed.”
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When a government acts despotically, the people have a right and a duty to
overthrow it. “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.”
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We have tried to compromise, but King George has persistently been a tyrant.