The native American., 1840-07-04

ton of these states; for that purpose, obstruc'
ing the laws for naturalization OF foreigners i
refusing to pass others to encourage their mi
grafton hither, and raising the conditions o.
new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration Of
justice, by refusing his assent to laws for es
tablishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will
alone, for the tenure of their offices. and tn
amount and payment of the salaries.
He has erected multitude of new Offices
and sent hither swarrns Of officers, to harras>
our people, and eat out their substance
He has kept among us, i'll time OF peace,
standing armies, without the consent of our
legislatures
He has affected to render the military in
dependent OF, and superior to, the civil pow
er
He has combined with others TO subject us
to jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws; giving
assent to their acts of pretended legislation );
for quartering large bodies of armed troops
among lis for protecting them, by 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 OH us with
out our consent; for depriving us, IN many
cases, of the benefits of trial by jury for
transporting us beyond seas to be tried for
pretended offences; for abolishing the free
system Of English laws in u neighbVsing pre-
vince, establishing therein all arbitrary govern
ment, and enlargng its boundaries, so as to
render it at once an example aud lit lnstru-
men for Introducing the same absolute rule
into these colonies; for taking away our
charters, abolshing our most valuable laws,
and altering, fundamentally, the forms OF our
governments for suspendlng our own legls-
latures, and declaring theua%yVes invested with
power to Iegislate for us in all cases whatso-
ever
He has abdlcated government here, by
declaring us out of his protection, and waging
war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravagcd our
coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed tho
lives of our people.
He is al this tine transporting large armies
of foreign mercenaries to complete the works
|of death, deSolation, and tyranny, already be-
gun with circumstances Of cruelty and peril
dy, scarcely paraIellcd in the most barbarous
ages, and totally unworthy the head Of civil
llzed nation.
He has constrained onr fellow citizens,
taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms
|agalnst their country, TO become the exc
cutioners of their tfeDds and brethren, or to-
fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic instructions
amongst us, and has endeavored to bring Oh
the inhabitants Of our frontiers the merciless
Indian savages, whose known rule of war
fare is an undistinguished destruction of all
|ages, sexes AMI conditions.
In every stage of these expressions, we
have pettioned for redress. iii the most humble
terms: our repeated petitions have been an
swered only by repeated injury. Aprince,
whose character is thus marked by every act
which may dehne tyrant, is unfit to be the
ruler of free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to
our British brethren. We have warned them,
from time to time, of attempts made by their
Legislature to extend an unwarrantable juris-
dction over us. We have reminded them of
the circumstances of our emigration and set
tlement here. We have appealed to their ma
tive justice and magnanimity, and we have
conjured them, by the ties Of our common
kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which
Wollu lucVldDly pt our ColilcAlOliS anu
correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to
the voice Of justice and consanguinity. We
must therefore, acquiesce in the necessity
which denounces our separation; and hold
them, as we hold the rest of mankind enc
mics in war, in peace friends.
We therefore, the representatives of the
United States of America, III general con.
gress assembled, appealing to the Supreme
Judge of the world, for the rectitude OF our
intensions, do, in the name and by the authori-
ty OF the good people of these colonies
soumnly publish and declare, that these unit
ed colonies are and of right ought to be, free
and independent states; that they are absov-
ed from all allegiance TO the British crown,
and that all political connexion between them
and the state of Great Britain, is, and ought
to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and
independent states, they have full power to
levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances,
establish commerce, and to do all other acts
and things which independent states may Of
right do. And tor the support of this decla-
ration, with firm reliance OH the projections
of Divine providence we NATURALLY DleGDe