The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1910-02-24
A Sacred
Document
The Declaration of independence of
the Thirteen Original States
of America.
[PRINTED BY REQUEST

When, in the course of human events,
it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have
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, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they |
should declare the causes which impei
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to tie self
evident: that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed, by their Crea-
tor, with certain inalienable 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 governed; that
whenever any form of government be-
comes destructive of these ends, it is
the right of the people to alter or to
abolish it, and to institute new govern
ment, laying it's foundation on such
principles, and organizing It's powersin
such form as to them shall seem moet
likely to effect their safety and happi-
ness. Prudence, 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 ferns to which they
are accustomed. But when long
train of abuses and usurpatiOne, pur-
suing invariably the same object, evin-
ces design to reduce them under alb
soiute despotism, it is their right, it is
their duty to throw off such govern
ment, 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 usur-
pations, all having in diIec object the
establishment of an absolutn tyranny
over the 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
public 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 susl ended, he
has utterly neglected to attend to them
4 He has refused to pass other laws
for the accommodation of large dis
tricts Of people, unless those people
would relinquish the right of Fepresen
tation in the legislatures right in
estimable to them, and formidable tt
tyrants only.
He has called together Legislative
bodies at places unusual, uncomfort
able, and distant from the repository O.
t their public records, for the sole pur
pose of fatiguing them into compliance
with his measures.
3 He has dissolved representative
3 houses repeatedly, for opposing, will
r manly firmness, his invasions on th'
rights Of the people.
= He has refused for long time afte
D such dissolutious,tO cause others to b.
a elected; whereby the legislative power
? incapable of annihilation, have eturne'
= to the people at large, for their exercise
the state remaining, in the meantime
8 exposed to all the dangers of invasion
from without, and convalsions within
f He has endeavored to prevent tn
population of these states. for that PM
q pose obstructing the le zss4Nr natura
ization of foreigners; refusing to pas