The Declaration of Independence

Jefferson told John Adams (do you remember him? He was Samuel Adam's nephew or something.) to write the Declaration of Independence. But John told Jefferson to write it, and finally Jefferson gave in. He wrote:

We hold the 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.

Jefferson thought that slavery was wrong. He wrote a long paragraph in the Declaration of Independence that talked all about slavery-but Jefferson had slaves. John Hancock was the first man to sign the Declaration of Independence.