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declaration of independence
God made all men equal and gave them the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the main business of government is to protect these rights -
E Pluribus Unum
"One from many," the phrase offered a strong statement of the American determination to form a single nation from a collection of states. -
US constitution
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. -
bill of rights
the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans' rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual like freedom of speech, press, and religion -
Alex de Tocqueville and his Five Principles : Liberty, Egalitarianism, Individualism, Populism, and Laissez-faire.
Democracy in America, which he wrote after spending 10 months of 1831 and 1832 in the United States on a mission from France to study American prisons -
eminent domain
the right of a government or its agent to expropriate private property for public use, with payment of compensation. -
In God We Trust
there is God everywhere, whether we are conscious or not.