, 1859-07-01
Declaration Of Independence.

When, in the course Of human events, II be-
comes 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 station to which the
laws Of nature and Of natures God entitle them,
q decent respect to the opinions Of mankind re-
quires that they should declare the causes which
impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be selfevident, that
all men arc created equal; that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain inalienabe 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 gov
erned; that, whenever any form Of government
becomes destructive Of these ends, II is the right
Of the people to alter to abolish it. and to insti-
tutc a new government, laying its foundation on
such principles aud organizing its powers in such
form as to them shall seem most likely TO effect
their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed,
will dictate that governments long established
should not DO changed for light and transient
causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath
shown that mankind arc more disposed to suffer.
while evils are suierable than to right themselves
by aboliShing the forms to which they are accus-
toned. But when 4 long train of abuses and usur-
pations, pursuing invariably the same object,
despotism, it is their right, II is their duty, to
throw off such government, and to provide new
guards for their future security. Such has been
the patient sufferance Of these colonies, and such
is now the necessity which constrains them to
alter their former systems Of government The
history of the present king Of Great Britain is
history Of repeated injuries and usurpatiOns, all
having, in direct object the establishment Of an alb
solute tyranny over these States To prove this,
let facts be submitted to 4 candid world:
lie has refused his assent to laws the most
wholesome and necessary for the public good.
lie has forbidden his Governors to pass laws
Of immediate and pressing importance, unless sus-
pended in their operations 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 ac-
commodation Of large districts Of people, unless
those people would relinquish the right Of repre-
sentation in the legislature; right inestimable
to them, and formidable to tyrantS only.
He has called together legislative bodies 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.
lie has dissolved representative houses repeat
odly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his inva-
siOns on the rights Of the people.
lie has refused, for 4 long tune after such dis
solutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby
the legislative powers, incapable Of annihilatiOn,
have returned TO the people at large sor their exer
else; the State remaining, in the meantime, ex-
posed to all the dangers Of invasion from without
and commissions within.
lie has endeavored TO prevent the population
Of these States; for that purpose, obstructing
the laws for naturalization Of foreigners; reius-
ing to pass others to encourage their migration
hither, and raising the conditions Of new apprO-
priations Of lands
He has obstructed the administration Of JUS
tce, by refusing his assent to laws for establish
ing judiciary powers
lie 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 Offices, and
sent hither swarms Of officers to harass our peo-
pie, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times Of peace,
standing armies, without the consent Of our leg
islature
He has affected to render the military inde.
pendent Of and superior to the civil power.
lie has combined with others to subject US
to jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and
unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent
to their acts Of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies Of armed 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 benc-
fits Of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for
pretended offences;
For abOlishing the free system Of English laws
in neighbuing province, establishing therein
an arbitrary government, and enlarging its
boundaries, 80 as 10 render Il at once an example
and ct instrument for introducing the same abso-
Lutte rule into these colonies:
For taking away our charters, aboliShing our