According to the Declaration of Independence a ruler's denial of citizens rights was a justification for the open rebellion against such a government. The Declaration of Independence was to declare and to justify why the colonies sought to rid themselves of the British Crown's control because they felt their natural rights to self-government and representation were being denied by the British Government.
The ideas of the Enlightenment, which emphasized science and reason over faith and superstition, strongly influenced the American colonies in the eighteenth century.
