The Declaration of Independence
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People
to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Sta
tion to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a de
cent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should decla
re the causes which impel them to the Separation.We hold these Truths t
o be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowe
d by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these ar
e Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rig
hts, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers f
rom the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government b
ecomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alte
r or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundat
ion on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to t
hem shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Pruden
ce, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not b
e changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experienc
e hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which
they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, p
ursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them und
er absolute Despotis/m, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw o
ff such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security
. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is n
ow the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of
Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a Hist
ory of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object t
he Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove thi
s, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.He has refused his Assent t
o Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.He has for
bidden 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 attend to them. He
has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large District
s of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Represen
tation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable
to Tyrants only.He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unu
sual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Re
cords, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his
Measures.He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposin
g with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.He has
refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be
elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, ha
ve returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remain
ing in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from withou
t, and Convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the Population
of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalizat
ion of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migration
s hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.He
has obstructed 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 Pay
ment of their Salaries.He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and s
ent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their
Substance.He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, wit
hout the consent of our Legislatures.He has affected to render the Mili
tary independent of and superior to the Civil Power.He has combined wit
h others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, a
nd unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of prete
nded Legislation:For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:F
or protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders wh
ich they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:For cutting o
ff our Trade with all Parts of the World:For imposing Taxes on us witho
ut our Consent:For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Tria
l by Jury:For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Off
ences:For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring
Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging i
ts Boundaries, 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, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fund
amentally the Forms of our Governments:For suspending our own Legislatu
res, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us i
n all Cases whatsoever.He has abdicated Government here, by declaring u
s 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 o
ur People.He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mer
cenaries to complete the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, alrea
dy begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled
in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civiliz
ed Nation.He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the h
igh 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 Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to
bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savage
s, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of a
ll Ages, Sexes and Conditions.In every stage of these Oppressions we ha
ve Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petiti
ons have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Charact
er is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to b
e the Ruler of a free People.Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to
our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts
by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us.
We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settle
ment here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, an
d we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow th
ese Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and
Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of
Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which de
nounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind,
Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.We, therefore, the Representatives of
the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealin
g to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions
, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonie
s, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of
Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved
from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Conne
ction between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be t
otally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have fu
ll Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Com
merce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may
of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reli
ance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.