The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1855-07-04
DECLARATION or INDEPENDENCE.
In Congress, July 4, 1176.

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE
THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
WHEN, in the course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to dis
solve the political bands which have con-
nected them with another, and to assume,
among the powers of the earth, the sepa-
rate 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 impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident
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 secure these rights, governments
are instituted among men, deriving their
Just powers from the consent of the gov
erned; that whenever any form of govern
ment becomes destructive of these ends,
it is the right Of the people to alter or to
abolish it, 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. Pru-
dence, indeed, will dictate, that govern
ments long established should not be
changed for light and transient causes;
and accordingly all experience hath shown,
that mankind are more disposed to suffer
while evils are sufferable, than to right
themselves by abolishing the forms to
which they are accustomed. But when a
) long train of abuses and usurpations, pur-
suing invariably the same object, eyinces
a design to reduce them under absolute
despotism it is their right, it is their du-
ty, to throw off such government, and to
provide new guards for their future secu.
, rity. Such has been the patient suffer.
ance of these colonies; and such is now
the necessity which constrains them to al
: ter their former systems of government
: The history of the present king of Great
, Britain, is history of repeated injurie:
and usurpations, all having in direct OBJ
! ject the establishment of an absolute tyr
/ amy over these states. Toprove this, lei
> facts be submitted to candid world.
: He has refused his assent to laws tht
most wholesome and necessary for thu
S public good.
' He has forbidden his governors to pas
E laws of immediate and pressing import
f ance, unless suspended in their operation
E till his assent should be obtained; and wher
r so suspended, he has utterly neglected tt
g attend to them. He has refused to pas.
? other laws for the accommodation of large
e districts of people, unless those people
E would relinquish the right of representa-
Y ton in the legislature right inestima
, BILE to them, and formidable to tyrants only
He has called together Legislative bod
les at places unusual, uncomfortable, ant
: distant from the repository Of their public
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguine
them into compliance with his measures
He has dissolved representative house.
3 repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firm
, ness, his invasion of the rights Of the people
He has refused, for long time aftel
such dissolutions, to cause others to bt
elected; whereby the legislative powers
l incapable of annihilation, have returned
to the people at large, for their exercise
f the state remaining, in the mean time, ex
posed to all the dangers of invasion from
: without, and convulsions within.
5 He has endeavored to prevent the pop
E ulation of these States; for that purpos,
4 obstructing the laws for naturalization o
!. foreigners; refusing to pass others to en-
J, courage their migration hither, and raising
$ the conditions of new appropriations O
: lands zs afa 9sa
He has obstructed the administration
, of justice, by refusing his assent to law
9 for establishing judiciary powers.
: He has made Judges dependent on hi
) will alone, for the tenure of their offices
: and the amount and payment of their sal
E aries .seissta@ @ - - s5at -
Ell He has erected multitude of new
s Offices, and sent hither swarms of officers
r to harass our people, and eat out thei
: substance. R-4hs5S-eslo szls6sA
/, He has kept among us, in times O
E peace, standing armies, without the con
sent of our legislatures s ~
: He has affected to render the military
> independent Of, and superior to, the civi
flpower. ts
: He has combined with others to subjec
us to jurisdiction foreign to our consti
tuition, and unacknowledged by our laws
i giving his assent to their acts of pretend
: ed legislation: .
! For quartering large bodies of armed
: troops among us:
II For protecting them, by q mock trial
from punishment for any murders whiel
they should commit on the inhabitants o
3 these States:e ass 80
For cutting off our trade with all part
t of the world: SIS sseasAs
Y For imposing taxes on us without oul
+ consent as g s77ases s5g = sss4A
: For depriving US, in many cases, o
the benefits Of trial by jury: 7a 81 Z
For transporting us beyond seas to b
+ tried for pretended offences: :Sss ss {
i For abolishing the free system of En-
!, ot1sSh lows in a uairbhor;nrs xxrr,-;noo 30