Part The following text is the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. What similarities does it have to the preamble of
the 1842 Choctaw Constitution?
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.
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--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.