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[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Spanky

However, when Jefferson needed to come up with a reason to explain our right to succeed from Great Britain, all he could come up with was that our rights were God given, and that when a Government infringes on those God given rights, you could revolt. He could not come up with a rational reason for why we have rights.

• 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 to 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.

I actually think the argument is just as compelling without the first sentence (start with "Governments are instituted . . .")