Declaration of Independence

On July 2nd 1776, the Continental congress voted to become independent of Great Britain.  They decided that they should give their reasons and drafted the Declaration of Independence to do so. 

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station 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 which impel them to the separation.

This is pure Enlightenment, isn't it?  I especially like the idea that 'a decent respect for the opinions of mankind' means giving a full explanation.  That's a phrase that should make a comeback.  The second sentence is a biggie:

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.

 These are things that are 'self-evident' and require no more proof.  All men are created equal, so no more kings!  (Yes, there was a huge blind spot here in regards to slavery and women.  But this was still a step forward.)  All men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.  Non-religious types can easily read this sentence as saying that rights are not granted, but are inherent.  That is, we start off with these rights, regardless of what tyrants and despots may say and do.  Among those rights, are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  I love the 'among' there.  This is not a full list of rights, just a partial one. 
Let's take a moment to look at that partial list.  Sometimes governments are put into categories about what is allowed and what is compulsory.  The Declaration makes an enormous sphere of allowable actions to its citizens.  Their life is not cheap and must be safe-guarded by the state.  They have liberty to do what they will, without undo constraints.  And the part I love most, they have the right to pursue Happiness in whatever way they choose.  They aren't guaranteed to catch it but they can pursue it all they want.

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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are 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 right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

The state must have the consent of the people to whom it rules.  And when they lose that consent and become destructive, the people can change or even abolish the government.  Not that they would do this lightly, but they have the right to do so.  And once having done so, they will work hard to make sure that liberties are well protected in the future.
What follows is a full list of abuses that were committed against the colonists.  And then the signatories commit their lives, fortunes and sacred honor towards the revolution.  And the rest, as they say, is history.