When in the course of human affairs it becomes necessary for citizens to break the political chains that have hitherto bound them, and to reclaim the individual sovereignty which is their birthright, it can be opportune for them to declare the causes which have impelled them to self-liberation. We, the freedom-loving citizens of New Zealand, choose to do so at this epoch-making moment.

We hold these truths to be demonstrable in reality: that human beings are individually possessed of certain inalienable rights, which are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of private property and happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers - and only such powers - from the consent of the governed; that all laws legislated by governments must be for the purpose of securing these rights; that no laws legislated by government may violate these rights; that all citizens are equal before such laws; and that whenever any government becomes destructive of these rights, it is in rebellion against its citizens, who may then remove it and institute new government.

Now is such a time.  More