Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-07-04
1776!
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE,

political bands which have coutlectcl thtu Win
another. and TO assume among the powers Of the
earth the separate aud -vIusl station Ia which the
Laws Of nature and OF natures God entitle them.
a decent respect 20 the opinions OF mankind re
ouires that they should declare the causes which
impel them 10 the separation.
We hold these truths 10 be self evident: that
all men are created equal; that they are endowed
by their Creator With certain inaenable rights;
that among these are life liberty. and the pursuit
Of happiness. That TO secure these rights, gov
ernments are instituted among men, deriving
their Just powers from the contest of the gov
erned: and that, whenever any form of govern
ment becomes destructive OF these ends, u y the
right of the people TO alter abolish IL, aud TO
institute new government, laying rs foundation
on such principles. and organizing its power IN
such form as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their safety and happiness Prudence. in
deed. will dictate that governments. long estab-
lished, should not be changed for light and tran
sient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath
shown, that mankind more disposed to suffer,
while evils are sutferable, than To right them
selves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed But when long train of abuses
and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same
object, evlnce a design to reduce them under alb
soute despotsm il is their right it is their duty,
TO throw of such government, and 70 provide
new guards for their future security. Such has
been the patient sufferance Of the colonies, and
such is now the necessity which constrans them
to alter their former systems of government.
The history of the present king of Great Britain
is a history of repeated injuries and usurpatl0Ds,
all having, in direct object, the establishment of
an absolute tyranny over these States. To
prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid
world:
He has refused his assent to laws the most
wholesome and necessary Tor the public good
He has forbidden his Governors TO pass laws
of immediate and pressing importance, unless
suspended in their operations Till his assent should
be obtained and, when so suspended, he has ut
terly 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
repository of their public records. for the sole
purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with
his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses
peatedly for opposing with manly tirmness his in
yasions OH the rights of the people.
He has refused, for long time, after such dis
solutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby
the legislative powers, incapable of humiliation,
have returned to the people at large for their ex
ercise; the State remaining, IN the meantime, ex
out. and commissions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population
of these States; for that purpose. obstructng the
laws OF naturalization of foreigners, refusing to
pass others 10 encourage their migration thither,
aud raising the conditions of new appropriations
of lands
He has INSTRUCTED the administration of ustice,
by refusing his assent TO laws for establishing ju
dietary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his will
alone for the tenure of their offices, and the
amount and pa yment of their salaries.
He has erected a 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 time OF peace, stand
ing armies, without the consent OF our Legisla-
lures.
He has affected to render the military indie
pendent Of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined, with others, to subject US
to a jurisdiction foreign to Constitution,
and unacknow lodged by our laws; giving his
assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops
among
For protecting them, by mock trial, from
punishment of 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 con
sent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit
of trial by jury.
For Transporting us beyond seas. to be tried for
pretended offences:
For abolishng the free system of English laws
in a neghborng province, establishing therein an
arbitrary government, and charging its bounda
ries so to render it at once example and fit
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule
into these colonies:
For taking away our charters, aboishing our
most valuable laws and altering, fundamentally
the forms of our Government:
For suspendng our own legislatures, and de-
claring themselves invested with power to legis-
late for Us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declar
ing us out of his protection, and waging war
against
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts,
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our
people.
He is, at this time, transporting large armies
Of foreign mercenares TO complete the works
of death, desolation and tyranny already be
gun, with circumstances of cruely and per
idy scarcely paralleed in the most barbarous
ages. aud totally unworthy the head OF a civilized
nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken
captive on the high seas, to bear arms against
their country to become the executioners Of their
friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by
their hands.
He has excited domestic Instructions amongst
US. and has endeayored TO bring OH the IN
habitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian
savases whose known rule of warfare is an indis
tngushed destruction OF all ages, sexes and con
ditions.
In every stage of these expressions. have
pet toned for redress in the most humble terms
Our repeated petitions have been answered
only by repeated injuries. a prince whose char
actcr is thus marked by every act which may
define tyrant, is unfit TO be the ruler of a free
people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention - our
British brethren. We have warned them from
time to time, of the attempts by their legislature
to extend an unwarranted jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the circumstances of
our emigration and settlement here. We have
appealed To their native justice and magnanimity,
and we have coniured them. by the ties of our
common kindred. to disavow these usurpltions.
which would inevitably interrupt our connections
and correspondence. They, too. have been deaf
To the voice of justice AMI consanguinity. We
must, therefore, acquiesce IN the necessity which
denounces our separation and hold them, as we
hold the rest of mankind-enemies in war; in
peace-iriends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the
United States of America, in General Congress
assembled. appealing TO the Supreme Judge of
the world tor the rectitude of our intentions, do
in the name and by the authority of the good peo-