Document of Freedom

The American Declaration of Independence stated, “We hold these 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.” The Constitution guarantees that the government may not violate a person's conscience: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”LF 125.5

“The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that a person's relationship to God is above human legislation, and the rights of conscience are not to be violated.... It is an inborn principle that nothing can eradicate.”^{10Congressional Documents (U.S.A.), serial number 200, document number 271.}LF 125.6

The news spread through Europe about a land where all could enjoy the fruits of their own labors and obey their own consciences. Thousands flocked to the shores of the New World. Within twenty years of the first landing at Plymouth (1620), twenty thousand Pilgrims had settled in New England.LF 125.7

“They asked nothing from the soil but the reasonable returns of their own labor.... They patiently endured the hardships of the wilderness, watering the tree of liberty with their tears and with the sweat of their brow, till it took deep root in the land.”LF 125.8