When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to disso
lve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, a
mong the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws o
f Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of m
ankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the sepa
ration.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 amo
ng these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these r
ights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the
 consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructi
ve of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and t
o institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organiz
ing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their S
afety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long establ
ished 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. --Such has been the patient sufferance of the
se Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their
former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain i
s a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object th
e establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Fac
ts be submitted to a candid world.He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wh
olesome and necessary for the public good.He has forbidden his Governors to pass
 Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation
till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglec
ted to attend to them.He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of
 large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Re
presentation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to t