Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1823-06-28

people OF Madison county, and not as
the representative of the state at large !;
and he voted accordingly. Whereupon
this enlightened, liberal, and charitable
letter writer, Immediately burnt the re-
preventative an efgy!t
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
IN CONGRESS, JULY Attn, l776.
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
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 as
sumo among the powers of the earth,
| the separate and equal station TO which
the laws of nature and of natures God
eutitle them, decent respect for the
opinions of mankind requires, that they
| should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evi-
dent--tbat all men are created equal !;
that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights that
among these are life, liberty, and the pur.
suit of happiness. That to secure these
| rights, governments are instituted among
men, deriving their just powers from
the consent OF the governed /; that when
ever any form Of government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the right
OF the people to alter or abolish it, and
n Sf mi lau,r,rs ,te
foundation on such principles; and orga-
nlzing its powers in such form, as 10
them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate, that governments
long established should not be changed
for light and transient causes; and &C
cordingly all experience hath shown,
that mankind are more disposed to sut-
fer, while evils are sufferable, than to
right themselves by abolshing the forms
to which they are accustomed. But
when long train Of abuses and usurpa-
tons, pursuing invariably the same OBJ.
ject, evinces design 10 reduce them M
der absolute despotism, it is their right,
1t is their duty to throw off such govern
ment, and to provide new guards for
their future security. Such has been
the patient sutferance Of these colonies !;
and such is now the necessity which con-
strains them to alter their former sys-
TENS of government. The history Of
the present king of Great Britain is a
history of repeated injuries and usurpa-
tons, all having in direct object the es-
adjustment OF an absolute tyranny 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 the
public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass
laws OF immediate and pressing impor-
lance, unless suspended in their opera
ton, till his assent should be obtained ;
and, when so suspended, he has utterly
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 right Misrepresentation in the
leglslalure-a right inestimable to them,
and formidable o tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bo-
dies, at places unusual, uncomfortable,
and distant from the repository of the
public records, for the sole purpose of
fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved representative
houses repeatedly, for opposing, with
manly tirmness, his invasions on the
rights ofthe people.
He has refused for long time after
such dissolutions, to cause others to be
elected; whereby the legislative pow
ers, incapable of annlhilation, have re-
turned to the people at large, for their
exercise; the state remaining, in the
meantime, exposed to all the dangers of
invasion from without, and convulsions
within.
He has endeavored to prevent the po-
pulation of these states for that purpose
obstructing the laws for naturalization
Of foreigners; refusing to pass others,
TO encourage their migration hther, and
raising the conditions ofnew appropria-
lions of lands.
He has INSTRUCTED the administration
of justice, 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,