That all men (by which Jefferson meant humanity, humankind) are created equal;
that by the very fact of their existence they have rights that inhere to them by their nature;
that among these right — that is, there are other natural rights that Jefferson doesn’t assert for the purposes of his argument — are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness;
that governments exist by the consent of the governed to secure — protect — those rights;
that a government’s only reason or justification for existence is to secure those rights;
and that a government’s only legitimacy and authority derives from that consent.
