“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Thomas Jefferson
Declaration of Independence (Primary source)
The Declaration of Independence is America’s moment of resolve: a clear argument that people have rights, governments exist to protect them, and tyranny forfeits its authority. Part philosophy, part indictment, part breakup letter, it announces a radical idea—that legitimacy flows from the people, not power, and reshapes the modern world.
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“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.”
Thomas Jefferson
“For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”
— Thomas Jefferson Primary source“Never spend your money before you have it.”
— Thomas Jefferson Primary source“Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.”
— Thomas Jefferson Primary source“Never buy a what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you.”
— Thomas Jefferson Primary sourceMore quotes by Thomas Jefferson →
“If the government is cruel, the governor’s life is not safe.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“The law holds with equal sureness for all right action. Love, and you shall be loved. All love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary sourceLife Liberty Happiness Freedom Politics Vision