, 1915-07-01
DOCUMENT THAT
MADE A nation
Text Of the Immortal Declara-
ton of Independence With
Which All Americans Should
Be Familiar.

wv events, 1t becomes necessary for
one people to dissolve the politi-
cal 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 natures God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions
of mankind requires that they should
declare the causes which impel them
to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evi-
dent-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 Sc
cure these rights, governments are in
stituted among men deriving their
Just powers from the consent Of the
governed; that whenever any form Of
government becomes destructive of
these ends, 1t is the right of the peo-
pie to alter or to abolish 1t, and to
institute a new government, laying its
foundation on such principles, and or
ganizing it's power in such form as to
them shall seem most likely to effect
their safety and happiness. Provi-
ernments long established should not
be changed for light and transient
causes; and. accordingly, all expert
ence hath shown, that mankind are
more disposed to suffer, while evils
are siderable. than to right them
selves by abolishing the forms to
which they are accustomed. But when
a long train of abuses and u%surpations,
pursuing invariably the same object.
evinces a design to reduce them un-
der absolute despotism, 1t is their
right, it 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 govern
ment. The history of the present king
of Great Britain is a history Of repeat
ed injuries and usurpations, all hav-
ing. in direct object, the establish
ment 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 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 OBJ
tanned; and, when so suspended. he
has utterly neglected to attend to
them.
He has refused to pass other laws
for the accommodation Of large dis
tricts Of people, unless these people
would relinquish the right Of repre-
sentation in the legislature; alright
inestimable to them, and formidable
to tyranny only.
He has called together legislative
bodies al places unusual, uncom-
Portable and distant from the depos-
tory Of their public records, for the
sole purpose of fatiguing them into
compliance with his
He has dissolved representative
houses repeatedly for opposing with
manly firmness his invasions on the
rights of the people. d,
He has kept among us, in time OF
peace, standing armies, without the
consent OF our legislatures.
He has affected to render the mill
tary independent of, and superior to
the civil power.
He has combined, with others. to
subject US to a 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 in
h~abitants of these states;
For cutting off our trade with all
parts Of the world;
For imposing taxes on US without
our r0naanf