Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-07-03
IN CONGRESS-, July 4, l776.
A DECLARATION.

IL oOoolhSo NECESSARY IOr one people 10
dissolve the political bands which have
connected them with another, and to as
sumo among the powers of the earth,
the separate and equal station to which
the laws of nature and of natures God
entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they
should declare the causes which ilnpel
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evi-
dent, 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 Sc
cure these rights, governments are in-
stituted among men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the govern
ed; that whenever any form of govern
mcnt becomes destructive ofthese ends,
it is the right of the people to alter or
abolish 1t, and to institute new govern
ment, laying its foundation on such prin-
ciples, and organizing its powers in such
form, as to them shall seem most likely
to effect their safety and happiness
Prudence indeed will dictate, that gov
ernments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes,
and accordingly all experience hati,
shewn, that mankind are more disposed
to suffer, while evils are suiferable, than
to right themselves by abolishing the
forms to which they are accustomed
But when long train of abuses and
usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same object, evinces 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 patient sufferancc of these
colonies; and such is now the necessity
which constrains them to alter their
former system Of government. The
history of the present king of Great
Britain is history of repeated injuries
and usurpations, all having in direct OBJ
ject, the establishment of an absolute tya
ranny over these states. To prove this,
let facts be submitted to candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws
the most wholesome and necessary for
inc puDllC SOOu.
He has forbidden his governors to
pass laws of immediate and pressing i'm
portance, unless suspended in their
operation till his assent should be obtain
ed; and when so suspended, he has ut
terly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for
the accommodation of large districts of
people unless those people would re
linquish the sight of representation in
the legislature; right inestiinable 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
fatlguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved representative hous-
es repeatedly, for opposing with manly
lirinness his invasions on the rights Of
the people.
He has refused for a long time, after
such dissolutions, to cause others to be
elected whereby the Legislative powers,
incapable of humiliation, have returned
to the people at large, for their exer-
else; the state remaining in the mean
time exposed to all the dangers Of inva-
sion from without and commissions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the
population OF these states; for tbat pur-
pose obstructing the laws for the natu-
ralzation of foreigners; refusing to pass
others to encourage their migration
hither, and raising the conditions of new
appropriations oflands.
He has INSTRUCTED the administration
ofJustlce, by refusing his assent to laws
for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his
will alone, for the tenure Of their Offices.
and the amount and payment of their
salaries.
He has erected multitude of new of
fees, and sent hither swarms ofoHicers
to harrass our people and cat out thcir
substance.
He has kept among us, in time Of
peace, standing armies, without the con-
sent OF our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military
independent of, and superior TO, the civil.
power.
He has combined with others to & ~
ject us to a jurisdiction foreign toB NJ
constitution, and unacknowledged
our laws; giving his assent to thcirY
of pretended legislation.
For quartering large bodies of II
among Us;