The Declaration of Independence

"...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. --Such has
been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity
which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government..."
--The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies In CONGRESS, July
4, 1776