Declaration of Independence (Abridged)

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [People] 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 [the People], deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

The history of the present [administration] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

  • He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

  • He has forbidden his [government] to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained…

  • He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people…

  • He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; …obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners…

  • He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people…

  • He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

  • He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

  • For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

  • For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

  • For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

  • He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

We, therefore, …do…solemnly…declare, that these United [States] are…Free and Independent States.

 

U.S. Congress, July 4, 1776

https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

U.S. Constitution, 1787

https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/