The Preamble of their Declaration reads: "When, in the course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one portion of the family of man to
assume among the people of the earth a position different from that which
they have hitherto occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of
nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a
course."

The declaration is as follows: "We hold these truths to be self-evident:
That all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights
governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to
it, and to insist upon the institution of a 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 shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while
evils are suffer able, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to
which they were 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 duty to throw off such
government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has
been the patient sufferance of the women under this government, and such
is now the necessity which constrains them to demand the equal station to
which they are entitled. The history of mankind is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct