The Declaration of Independence, summarized in three parts:
1. Democratic principles
-all men are created equal
-all men have rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
-the power of the government comes from the governed
-if the government doesn't protect these rights, it is the right of the people to change or get rid of it, and put a new government in place
-the King of Great Britain (George III) has attempted to establish tyranny in the colonies
2. List of some of the grievances
-prevented people from migrating west
-"he has…subject[ed] us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws"
-"quartering large bodies of armed troops among us"
-"cutting off our trade with all parts of the world"
-"imposing taxes on us without our consent"
-"He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people"
3. The conclusion
-"Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury"
-King George III, "a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."
-therefore, the colonies are "free and independent states" and have full power to "levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do."
photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Declaration_independence.jpg/1280px-Declaration_independence.jpg
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