The political philosophy on which the Declaration is based says people have a “duty to throw off” absolutist governments. Altering the government is at once a “necessity,” a “duty,” and a “right.” Jefferson says that it is “necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another” and speaks of “the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.” Rights, necessities, and duties, not obedience, sin, and submission.
