The passage you provided is from the Preamble to the Declaration of Independence. This document was drafted by Thomas Jefferson in 1776 and outlines the foundational principles of American democracy, including the ideas of equality, unalienable rights, and the right of the people to alter or abolish government that does not serve their interests.
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HS: US History A [M] (Prescriptive) (GP) / 1:The American Revolution
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Identify the passage:
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 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 shewn, 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.
U.S. Constitutional Amendments
Preamble to the Declaration of Independence
Bill of Rights
Charters of Freedom
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