Pedidential Portraits: Thomas Jefferson

to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with inalienable 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 Institute new government laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness Jefferson's Preamble was followed by a list of indictments against King George III as if he were Prosecuting a case against the British king in a Virginia Court the strong denunciations of the king ensured that there