"Texas is a free and independent State ... All political power is inherent in the
people ... they have at all times the inalienable right to alter their government
in such manner as they might think proper."
— Texas Constitution (1876)
— Texas Constitution (1876)
"Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed...
Whenever government becomes destructive to life, liberty, or property [i.e., the
pursuit of happiness], it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it...
It is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide
new guards for their future security."
— American Declaration of Independence (1776)
— American Declaration of Independence (1776)