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Medley: The Declaration / A Change Is Gonna Come / People Gotta Be Free Lyrics

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 it's foundation on such
Principles and organizing it's
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 shown

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

For their future security
For their future security
For their future security...
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Portrait (1970)