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"IN |
CONGRESS, |
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July |
4, |
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1776.\n" "The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.\n" "When in the Course of human |
events, |
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it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with |
another, |
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" "and to assume among the powers of the |
earth, |
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the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature 's God entitle |
them, |
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a decent " "respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.\n" "We hold these truths to be self- |
evident, |
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that all men are created |
equal, |
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that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable |
Rights, |
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" "that among these are |
Life, |
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Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these |
rights, |
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Governments are instituted among |
Men, |
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deriving their " "just powers from the consent of the |
governed, |
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That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these |
ends, |
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it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish |
it, |
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" "and to institute new |
Government, |
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laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such |
form, |
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as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and " "Happiness. |
Prudence, |
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indeed |
, |
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will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;and accordingly all experience hath |
shewn, |
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" "that mankind are more disposed to |
suffer, |
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while evils are |
sufferable, |
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than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. " "But when a long train of abuses and |
usurpations, |
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pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute |
Despotism, |
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it is their |
right, |
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" "it is their |
duty, |
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to throw off such |
Government, |
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and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies;and such is now " "the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and " " |
usurpations, |
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all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove |
this, |
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let Facts be submitted to a candid world.\n" "He has refused his Assent to |
Laws, |
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the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.\n" "He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing |
importance, |
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unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained;" "and when so |
suspended, |
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he has utterly neglected to attend to them.\n" "He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of |
people, |
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unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the |
Legislature, |
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" "a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.\n" "He has called together legislative bodies at places |
unusual, |
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uncomfortable |
, |
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and distant from the depository of their public |
Records, |
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for the sole purpose of fatiguing them " "into compliance with his measures. \n" "He has dissolved Representative Houses |
repeatedly, |
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for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.\n" "He has refused for a long |
time, |
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after such |
dissolutions, |
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to cause others to be elected;whereby the Legislative |
powers, |
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incapable of |
Annihilation, |
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have returned to the People " "at large for their exercise;the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from |
without, |
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and convulsions within.\n" "He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States;for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners;refusing to pass others to encourage " "their migrations |
hither, |
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and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.\n" "He has obstructed the Administration of |
Justice, |
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by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.\n" "He has made Judges dependent on his Will |
alone, |
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for the tenure of their |
offices, |
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and the amount and payment of their salaries.\n" "He has erected a multitude of New |
Offices, |
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and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our |
people, |
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and eat out their substance.\n" "He has kept among |
us, |
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in times of |
peace, |
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Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.\n" "He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.\n" "He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our |
constitution, |
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and unacknowledged by our laws;" "giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:\n" "For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:\n" "For protecting |
them, |
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by a mock |
Trial, |
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from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:\n" "For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:\n" "For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:\n" "For depriving us in many |
cases, |
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of the benefits of Trial by Jury:\n" "For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences.\n" "For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring |
Province, |
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establishing therein an Arbitrary |
government, |
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and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at " "once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:\n" "For taking away our |
Charters, |
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abolishing our most valuable |
Laws, |
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and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:\n" "For suspending our own |
Legislatures, |
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and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.\n" "He has abdicated Government |
here, |
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by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.\n" "He has plundered our |
seas, |
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ravaged our |
Coasts, |
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burnt our |
towns, |
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and destroyed the lives of our people.\n" "He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of |
death, |
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desolation and |
tyranny, |
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already begun with circumstances of Cruelty &" "perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous |
ages, |
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and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.\n" "He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their |
Country, |
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to become the executioners of their friends and |
Brethren, |
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" "or to fall themselves by their Hands.\n" "He has excited domestic insurrections amongst |
us, |
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and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our |
frontiers, |
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the merciless Indian |
Savages, |
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whose known rule of |
warfare, |
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" "is an undistinguished destruction of all |
ages, |
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sexes and conditions.\n" "In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms:Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. " "A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a |
Tyrant, |
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is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.\n" "Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable " "jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and |
magnanimity, |
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" "and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these |
usurpations, |
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which |
, |
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would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. " "They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We |
must, |
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therefore |
, |
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acquiesce in the |
necessity, |
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which denounces our |
Separation, |
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and hold |
them, |
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" "as we hold the rest of |
mankind, |
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Enemies in |
War, |
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in Peace Friends.\n" " |
We, |
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therefore |
, |
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the Representatives of the united States of |
America, |
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in General |
Congress, |
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Assembled |
, |
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appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of " "our |
intentions, |
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do |
, |
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in the |
Name, |
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and by Authority of the good People of these |
Colonies, |
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solemnly publish and |
declare, |
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That these United Colonies |
are, |
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and of Right ought " "to be Free and Independent States;that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British |
Crown, |
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and that all political connection between them and the State of Great " " |
Britain, |
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is and ought to be totally dissolved;and that as Free and Independent |
States, |
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they have full Power to levy |
War, |
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conclude |
Peace, |
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contract |
Alliances, |
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establish " " |
Commerce, |
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and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this |
Declaration, |
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with a firm reliance on the protection of " "divine |
Providence, |
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we mutually pledge to each other our |
Lives, |
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our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." |
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) |
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static |
1.8.17