|
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /> www.archives.gov July 6, 2011
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
<br />IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
<br />The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
<br />When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have
<br />connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws
<br />of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
<br />causes which impel them to the separation.
<br />We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
<br />unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments
<br />are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of
<br />Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
<br />Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely
<br />to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed
<br />for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils
<br />are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses
<br />and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their
<br />right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the
<br />patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of
<br />Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in
<br />direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid
<br />world.
<br />He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
<br />He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in
<br />their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to
<br />attend to them.
<br />He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people
<br />would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable
<br />to tyrants only.
<br />He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository
<br />of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
<br />He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on
<br />the rights of the people.
<br />He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the
<br />Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the
<br />State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions
<br />within.
<br />He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for
<br />Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the
<br />conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
<br />He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary
<br />powers.
<br />He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and
<br />payment of their salaries.
<br />He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and
<br />eat out their substance.
<br />He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
<br />He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
<br />He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged
<br />by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
<br />For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
<br />For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the
<br />Inhabitants of these States:
<br />For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
<br />For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
<br />For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
<br />
|