The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-07-04
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENTS.

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 for the opinions Of mankind
requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them 20 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, il
is the right of the people to alter or to
abolish 1t, and to institute a new governs
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 governments
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 ac-
customed. But when a long train of abuses
and usurpations. pursuing invariably the
same object, evinces a design to reduce
them under absolute despotism, it is their
right, 1t is their duty, to throw OF such gov
eminent, and to provide new guards for
their future security. Such has been the pa
tient sufferance of these colonies; and such
is now the necessity which constrains them
to alter their former systems of govern
ment. The history OF the present King of
Great Britain is history of repeated in
juries and usurpations, 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 for the pub
lie good
He has forbidden his governors to pass
laws Of immediate and pressing Importance,
unless suspended in their operation till his
assent should be obtained: and when SO
suspended he has utterly neglected to at
tend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the
accommodation of large districts of people,
unless those people would relinquish the
right of representation in the legislature
a right inestimable to them. and formidable
to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies
at places unusual, uncomfortable, and dis
tant from the depository of their public
records, for the sole purpose Of fatiguing
them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses
repeatedly for opposing. with manly firm
ness. his invasions of the rights Of the peo-
pie.
He has refused long time after such
dissolutions. to cause others to be elected:
whereby the legislative powers incapable of
humiliation, have returned to the people at
large for their exercise. the State remain
ing. in the meantime. exposed to all the
dangers of invasion from without and con-
vulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the popula-
ton of these States: for that purpose. OBJ
structing the laws for naturalization of for
eigners, refusing to pass others to encour-
age their migration hither. and raising :ne
conditions Of new appropriations 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 and the
amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude Of new Of
fees, and sent hither swarms of officers
to harass our people and eat out their
substance.
He has kept among us, in times 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
power.
He 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 legis-
lation--
For quartering large bodies of armed
troops among us;
For protecting them, by a mock triaf,
from punishment for any murders which
they should commit on the inhabitants of
these States;
For cutting OF our trade with all parts of
the world;
For imposing taxes on US without our
consent:
For depriving US. In many cases, OF the
beenfits of trial by jury.
For transporting US beyond seas to be
tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of En-
glish laws in neighboring province, estab-
fishing therein an arbitrary government.
and charging its boundaries. so as to rem
der 1t at once an example and fit instru-
ment for introducing the same absolute rule
into these colonies;
For taking away our charters. abolishing
our most valuable laws, and altering, fun
damentally. the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and
declaring themselves invested with power
to legslate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by
declaring us out Of his protection, and
waging war against US.
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 ar
mics of foreign mercenarles to complete
the works of death. desolation, and tyr
amy, already begun. with circumstances OF
cruelty and perfldy scarcely paralleled in
the most barbarous ages and totally un-
worthy the head of 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 endeavored to bring
on the inhabitants of our frontiers the mer-