Happy 4th

An outline of The United States Declaration of Independence, & an evaluation

P1. A people have the natural right to "alter or abolish" their government if it thwarts the natural end of government, viz., "to secure" natural rights, e.g., claims to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" (A).*
P2. King George III's reign has in fact acted athwart that end in the Thirteen Colonies.
C. It is therefore the natural right of the people of the Thirteen Colonies to alter or abolish King George III's reign over them.

Their representatives chose the latter.

Consequently the colonies were colonies no longer, but now "Free and Independent States" (ibid.). Summing up the two hundred years of history since then, that's more or less how they still are.

As for the evaluation, do a people actually have the natural right to reform or rebel against bad government? The declaration seems to say that this right is from divine providence: its mention comes without any distinction shortly after "all men ... are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" (ibid.). One may wonder how such an appeal to the heavens would fare today. There were critics even then. Bentham called natural rights "nonsense upon stilts" (B).

One may hope he was mistaken. But if he wasn't, then the argument of this founding document is as much nonsense. That might interest its heirs.

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*N.b., from "to secure" by itself it's unclear whether government's natural end is merely to protect natural rights, or to do more; but promotion as well as protection may be in view, since it's part of the right to reform or rebel against bad government that the people may then establish the government "most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness" (A).

Sources
A. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
B. https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/bentham-the-works-of-jeremy-bentham-vol-2