Republican gazette — Concord, N.H., 1801-07-23 00:00:00, page 1

The Spirit of 1776.
[o° Herein you may find the cause, why
the Royalijis, the BritiJh FederaliJls, the
old and young Tories, hold such an im
placable hatred to Mr. Jefferfon, whom
they have called a " coward," because
they could never intimidate, nor war,
him from his inflexible republican prin#
ciples. After reading the following, it
will readily be granted, that the Tories
and Friends to Great Britain will never
forget Thomas Jefferson.
The GERMED LIBERTY.
[- The following Declaration ought to be
read, as an introductory to the public ex
ercises, on every anwverfar, of the e
mancipation of these States from BritiJh
tyranny and oppreflion : and the Spirit
of it ought to govern the proceedings of
the American People on this auf,icious
day, which ought ever to be held in dear
remembrance, as the Birth-Day of a
great, enlightened Nation.]
g Aa —
From tbi Tekgrafa if^A, fb.
The Test of Principles.
Penned by President JEFFERSON.
CT THIS day, being the anniversary of our glo
rious Independence, & the audor of this Germe
of Liberty, by the fuffrages of a free and inde.
pendent people, being nowat the head of our na
tional councils, we prefome it will be pleasing to
our readers, to pnblifyfhe Declaration of lode
" „ndence— This ioftramcnt ought to be in the
hand of every republican, that its spirit may thrill,
its fibre glow in the tans and animate the bosoms
of the Sons of Freedom—That the sacred truths
it contains will be perpetual ed—that its venerat
ed author will continue to deserve the confidence
of his fellow citizens, and be justly esteemed for
this ineftimaole produaion, there is no question.
Republicans —awake to your destiny, and
make your free Constitutions the wonder and
boast of Succeeding generations.
In Congress, Tburfah, ,J, 4, 1776.
WHEN in the course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth,
the separate and equal Nation, to which
the laws of nature and of nature's God
entitle them, a decent refpe& to the 0#
pinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes, which impel
them to the feperation.
We hold these truths to be felf evi
dent—that all men are created equal :
that they are endowed, by their creator,
with certain unalienable rights ; that a
mong these are life, liberty, and the pur
suit of happiness.—Thai to secure these
rights governments are inftuuted among
men, deriving their just power from the
consent of the governed ; that whenever
any form of government becomes de
ftru&ive of these ends, it is the right of
the people to alter or abolish it, and to
institute a new government, laying its
foundation on such principles, and or
ganizing its power in such form, as to
them shall seem most likely to effed
DECLARATION
or
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
REPUBLICAN GAZETTE.
CONCORD, J2etobampo(re, T HURSD AY, July 23, 1801.— Vol. 1—25.
their fafety and happiness. Prudehce
indeed, will dictate, that government
long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes; and ac
cordingly allexperience hath shown that
mankind are more disposed to fuffer,
while evils are fufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to
which they are accustomed. But when
a long train of abuses and usurpations,
pursuing invariably the fame object, e
vinces a design to reduce them under
absolute despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty, to throw off such government
—and to provide new guards for their
future security.—Such has been the pay
tient fufferance of these colonies; and
such is now the necessity, which con
strains them to alter their former systems
of government. The hiftory of the pre
sent king of Great Britain, is a hifory of
repeated injuries and usurpations, all hav=
ing in direct object the iJlabliJhment of an
absolute tyranny over/ these States. To
prove this, let saps be submitted to a
candid world :—
He has refufed his assent to laws, the
most wholetome and necessary for the
public good.'
He has forbidden bis governors to pass
laws of immediate and pressing import
ance, unless suspended in their opera
tion, till his assent should be obtained ;
and when so suspended, he has utterly
neglected to attend to them.
He has refufed to pass other laws for
the accommodation of large diftrifts of
people, unless these people would re
linquifh the right of representation in the
legislature ; a right inestimable to them,
and formidable to tyrants only..
He has called together legislative bo#
dies at places unusual, uncomfortable,
and distant from the depository of their
public records, for the sole purpose of
fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved representative houses
repeatedly, for opposing with manly
firmnefs, his invasions on the rights of
the people.
He has refufed for a long time, after
such diffolutio' s, to cause others to be
elected ; whereby the legislative powers,
incapable of annihilation, have returned
to the people at large for their exercise ;
the state remaining in the mean time ex#
posed to all the dangers of invasion from
without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the
population of these states; for that pur
pose obftru&ing the laws for naturaliza
tion of foreigners; refufing to pass others
to encourage their migrations hither, and
railing the conditions of new appropri
ations of lands.
He has obftrufted the administration
ofjuftice, by refufing his assent to law,
for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependant oh
his will alone, for the tenure of their
offices, and the amount and payment of
their salaries.
He has ereCted amultitude of new of
fices, and sent hither a swarm of officers
to harrafs our people, and eat out their
fubflance.
LIBERTY AND THE CONSTITUTION
He has kept amongst us, in times of
peace, standing armies, without the con
sent of our legislatures.
He has affeCted to render the milita
ry independant of and superior to the
civil power.
He has combined with others to fub
je& us to a jurifdi&ion, foreign to our
constitutions and unacknowledged by
our laws ; giving his assent to their ads
of pretended legislation.
For quartering large bodies of troops
among us : For protecting them by a
mock trial, from punishment for any
murders which they should commit on
the inhabitants of these States-
For cutting off our trade with all parts
of the world.
For imposing taxes on us without our
consent.
For depriving us in many cases of the
benefit of a trial by jury.
For transporting us beyond sea to be
tried for pretended offences.
For abolishing the free system of En
glish law in a neighboring province, es
tablishing therein an arbitrary govern
ment, and enlarging its boundaries, so
as to render it at once an example and
fit instrument for introducing the fame
absolute rule into the colonies.
For taking away our charters, abol
ishing our most valuable laws, and al
tering fundamentally the forms of our
government.
For suspending our own legislatures,
and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases
whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here,
by declaring us out of his protection,
and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged
our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroy
ed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large
armies of foreign mercenaries, to com
plete the works of death, desolation and
tyranny, already begun with circumftan#
ces of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely pa
rallaled in the most barbarous ages, and
totally unworthy the head of a civilized
nation.
He has condrained our fellow citizens,
taken captive on the high seas, to bear
arms against their country, to become
the executioners of their friends and
brethren, or to fall themselves by their
hands.
He has excited domestic infurredions
among us, and has endeavored to bring
on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the
merciless Indian savages, whose known
rule of warfare is an undistinguished de
ftru&ion of all ages, sexes & conditions.
In every stage of these pppreffions 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, is unfit to be the ruler
of a free people.
Nor have wp been wanting in atten
tions to our brethren. We have warn
ed them, from time to time, of attempts
by their legislature to extend an unwary