# Our duty to seek and follow the will of the Creator is prior to all government. Accordingly, so is the liberty of religious conscience.

# The authority of the Creator as prior to all civil society and human authority must be respected for liberty to endure.

# There is a natural right to life, prior to all positive law, including the Constitution.

# There is a natural right to acquire, secure, and use property for safety and happiness.

# Men have a right and a duty to form governments to secure their rights, and to assist one another in striving for happiness.

# Men are authorized by the Creator to defend these rights, and accordingly, so are the governments they form. From this authority proceeds the right and duty to defend national sovereignty and security.

# Governments are made legitimate by the consent of the free and equal persons who form and sustain them. Governmental powers are always to be understood as a delegation from the persons who compact to form the political community.

# To enjoy the right of political self-government, men must be capable of personal self-government–the virtue of self-control. A people without decency cannot be secure in its liberty.

# The institutions by which the life of liberty is fostered, especially the marriage-based two-parent family, the churches, and other associations aiming at the good life, are to be protected and cherished.

# The vocation of citizenship in a free republic is noble and honorable. Public service, especially in the defense of the rule of law, merits praise and respect.

# The right to self-government entails the right to arms by which tyranny can be resisted and new government established when necessary.

# Governments may fail in many ways and still be tolerated. Peace is a precious good, and the people may be well advised to be patient with occasional governmental abuse to avoid rashly unleashing the season of popular passion and violence that will accompany any change in the fundamental form of government.

# But the worst failures, tending irrevocably to excessive concentration of power, consolidating the branches and depriving the people of its liberty, or withdrawing the protection of the laws from the people, constitute tyranny or anarchy, and may and sometimes should be resisted, even to the point of rebellion, as our Founders declared.

# Free speech and a free press are both required for the practice of responsible liberty, as necessary means by which the people can act together to govern themselves according to the laws of nature and of nature’s God.

# All persons have a right to equal treatment under the laws without regard to race, creed, or ethnicity.

# It is the duty of the people, individually and in their associations, private and public, to declare the principles of self-government, including the fundamental American creed that our liberties come as a gift of the Creator.

# Personal religious belief is not a requirement for American citizenship, but acknowledgment of our national belief that human equality and rights come from an authority beyond human will is a moral duty of citizenship. Its rejection constitutes a denial of natural rights and human equality, and is inconsistent with ordered liberty.

The Declaration was really nothing more than a letter written to King George III. There was nothing inherently “given” by the Declaration, but it did establish the right of the people to “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” It also contended that it was the duty of the people to overthrow a government when the ruler was unjust, and did not look out for the well-being of the people.

This quote may not be exact, because it’s from memory, but the important part I think you’re looking for is:

“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

They further wrote that the purpose of a government is to secure these rights for the people. When a government ceases to provide this security, the people must establish a new government to take it’s place.

The declaration is not very long, and it can help to read through it a few sentences at a time and try to figure out what they were saying. If you have trouble understanding what something in the Declaration means, feel free to post it here and we can try to explain it.