The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1900-07-06
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
by Jefferson Unanimously Adopted by Congress
Philadelphia July =, I776.
THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED
STATES AMERICA.

.
] constitution and UnackmOwledged by
our laws, giving his assent to their
I acts Of pretended legislation
For quartering large bodies Of armed
/ troops among Us
For protecting them, by mock trial,
from punishment for any murder
which they should commit on the in
I habitants Of the 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 benefits Of trial By jury.
/ For transporting Us beyond the seas
/ TO be tried for pretended offenses.
For abOlishing the free system Of
English laws IN neighboring province,
/ establishing therein an arbitrary gov
| eminent and enlarging its boundaries,
I so as to render it at once an example
and fit instrument for introducing the
same absolute rule into these colonies.
For taking away our charters, alb
Olishing our most valuable laws and
altering, fundamentally, the powers Of
our governments.
For sUspending our own legislatures
and declaring themselves invested with
power to legislate for rs In all cases
whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here
by declaring Us out OF his protection
and waging war against Us.
He has pIundered our seas, ravaged
our coasts, burnt our towns and de-
stroyed the lives Of our people.
He is, at this time, transporting large
armies Of foreign mercenaries to COM
plete the works Of death, desolation
and tyranny already begun, with cir
cUmstances Of cruelty and perfidy
scarcely paralleIed in the most bar
barOus ages, and totally unworthy the
head Of a civilized nation
He has constrained our fellow citi-
zens, taken captive on the high seas, to
bear arms against their country, to be
come the ezeCUtiOners Of their friends
and brethren, or to fall themselves by
their hands.
He has excited domestic insured
tiOns among Us, and has endeavored to
bring on the inhabitants Of our from
tiers the merciless Indian savages,
whose known rule Of warfare is an IN
distinguished destruction Of all ages,
sexes and conditions
In every stage Of these expressions
we have petitioned for redress IN the
most humble terms; our repeated Pc
titiOns have been answered only by
repeated injury. Aprince whose char
acter is thus marked by every act
which may define a tyrant is unfit to
be the ruler Of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting In atten-
ton to our British brethren We have
warned them from time TO time Of at
tempts made by their legislature to ex-
tend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction
over Us. We have reminded them Of
the circumstances Of our emigration
and settlement here We have ap-
pealed to their native justice and mag
nan1mity, and We have conjured them,
by the ties Of our common kindred, to
disavow these usurpatiOns, which
would inevitably interrupt our cOnnec-
ton and correspondence. They, too,
have been deaf to the voice Of justice
and consanguinity. We must, there
fore, acquiese In the necessity which
denOunces our separation and hold
them, as we hold the rest Of mankind,
enemies in war; in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the representative Of
the United States Of America, In gen
eraI congress assembled, appealing to
the supreme judge Of the world for the
rectitude Of our intentions, do, In the
name and by the authority Of the good
people Of these colonies, sOlemnly pub
Iish and declare that these united col
Onies are, and Of right ought to be, free
and independent states; that they are
absOIved from all allegiance to the
British crown, and that ali political
connections 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, con
tract aIIegiances, establish commerce
and TO do all other acts and things
which independent states may Of right
do. And for the support Of this decla-
ration, with a firm reliance on the pro
lection Of Divine Providence, We mu-
tuaIIy pledge to each other our lives,
our fortunes and our sacred honor.