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DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

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 station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's 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-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 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 becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience 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, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it 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 Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment 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 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 districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing 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, have returned to the People at large for their

exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations 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 payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military 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 Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its 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 fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us 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 our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high 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 Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character 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 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 settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these 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 denounces 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, appealing 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 Colonies, 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 connection 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, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, 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 reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

— John Hancock

New Hampshire:

Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:

John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:

Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:

Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:

William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:

Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:

Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:

Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:

Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:

George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:

William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:

Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:

Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Comments

[jj]

friends:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable 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 becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

the central concepts are found in the above paragraph:

1.)governments are formed by men, deriviing their just powers (to attain limited ends) from the consent of the governed, and
2.)whenever such government becomes destructive of those ends (as defined by the parameters of consent of the governed), it is the right of the people to abolish it.

we take these words somewhat for granted. but trust me, these concepts are as radical today, in today's world, as they were when jefferson penned them.

this paragraph is grounded in natural law theory, as derived from the tradition of writing of john locke, blackstone (the great compiler of the english common law), and as defined and articulated in the federalist papers, by hamilton, madison and jay.

man in the state of nature is powerful unto himself, including the power to kill and make war. but, without a ruler or a magistrate to intercede in conflict and resolve it, conflict is too open and violent. to deal with the injustice of this situation, men cede certain of their powers to a magistrate in order to secure domestic tranquility and peace, so that they may attend to their affairs. as a consequence, the powers of government are derivitive and defined precisely by those powers that men give to it, out of the quantum of power they possess in nature.

those powers not ceded to the sovereign/magistrate, are retained by the people. now, if all of this sounds vaguely familiar, i would remind you to read the bill of rights, which sets this out almost precisely as i have recounted it.

finally, locke and blackstone and the federalists postulated that as between sovereign and subject there existed reciprocal duties and obligations, rights and privileges. for instance, the sovereign was owed the right of obedience from his subjects, but, corollary to this, the sovereign had the duty to both protect his subjects and to govern over them wisely and fairly.

it was the doctrine of locke, blackstone, the federalists, and obviously thomas jefferson, that whenever the sovereign failed in his part of the bargain, or whenever he usurped the liberties and rights of his subjects, ... , his subjects were free, and some would say, beholden, ... , to rise up against him and eject him form office, and to form a new government more to their liking and needs.

the federalists, and jefferson, believed this to their core. if you will read the federalist papers, you will find that the right of an armed citizenry to overthrow a usurping ruler is directly contemplated by the authors, and such right is advocated. and, lest you doubt jefferson believed this, please take a look at his "tree of liberty" letter, in which he talks of the tree of liberty being watered by the blood of tyrant and patriot alike.

these men played hardball. they did not mouth platitudes. they fought a revolution against the mightiest power on earth fueled by a fervant belief in these beliefs, and in the assumption that men are free to govern themselves by their own lights. and, they were cold eyed and serious when they contemplated that men might have to do so again against a usurping cabal that might take control of government.

do not give up your guns. resist unto the pain of death any unjust attempts to take them, and any attempt to take them will be unjust, because it will be calculated to deprive you of your liberty.

be jealous of your rights and liberties, and be willing to not only die for them, but to kill for them in order to preserve them. there is a difference.

john jay
milton freewater, oregon usa

[jj]

post script:

as to the " ....facts to be submitted to a candid world, ... " in support of the declaration of independence.

all lawyers will instantly recognize this as being drawn in the for of a "bill of particulars" supporting the issues of a criminal indictment. in short, these are the facts and circumstances which compelled those who signed this document to believe that seperation from britain was demanded, and their duty to seek, because the sovereign had usurped their rights and overreached his, to their unjust detriment.

i just thought that i would add that observation.

john jay

[Doogie]

mr jay,

Thanks for posting here at such a prestigious place.

All of your points are salient ... especially the last three paragraphs.

Sincerely,

Publius (jk ... it's Buster)

[jj]

doogie:

i thought of "publius" for a moniker, that being the shared pen name of hamilton, madison and jay, when they wrote the broadsides we now call the "federalist papers."

i decided to use my true name, and true address, because i think it a time when we must all publically stand for what we believe.

it is time to be accountable. as john cash said, "... there's a man taken names ... ."

john jay
milton freewater, oregon

[Achilles]

A review of the Bill of Particulars demonstrates some interesting parallels between 1776 and 2009:

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

The Usurper-in-Chief has now appointed the following: Energy "czar" Carol Browner, Border "czar" Alan Bersin, Urban "czar" Adolfo Carrion, Jr., Infotech "czar" Vivek Kundra, Faith-based "czar" Joshua DuBois, Health Reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, TARP "czar" Herb Allison, Stimulus Accountability "czar" Earl Devaney, Non-proliferation "czar" Gary Samore, Terrorism "czar" John Brennan, Regulatory "czar" Cass Sunstein, Drug "czar" Gil Kerlikowske, and Guantanamo Closure "czar" Daniel Fried. We also now have: Afghanistan-Pakistan "special envoy" Richard Holbrooke, Mideast peace "envoy" George Mitchell, "special advisor" for the Persian Gulf and Southwest Asia Dennis Ross, Sudan "special envoy" J. Scott Gration, and Climate "special envoy" Todd Stern.

My guess is that none of these folks is working for cheap, and we're paying their large salaries and considerable expenses.

Moreover, the only area experiencing consistent job growth in the past few months has been government. These are jobs that by definition consume, rather then produce wealth.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

The Usurper wants to create a civilian national security force, beholding to him, and equal in size and ability to the military.

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

Several members of the Supreme Court now say that the U.S. Constitution and our laws should be interpreted in light of "international norms." The Usurper has said that he favors a "living" Constitution, which is a Constitution that means whatever those in power say it means at any given time. The Usurper is also in favor of several pending "Treaties" that would give unprecedented control over U.S. affairs to unelected bodies like the U.N. See, e.g., the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the Law of the Sea Treaty; and his support for new international treaty on "climate change."

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments

Hmmmm - GM takeover, Chrysler takeover, AIG takeover, pending health care legislation, multi-trillion dollar budget deficits, hate crimes legislation . . . .

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

What happens when a State attempts to defy a federal mandate? Well, when some States indicated that they might not be in favor of raising the drinking age to 21, the feds said that any State failing to do so would lose highway funds. And when Utah voiced opposition to turning Grand Staircase-Escalante into a National Monument, President Clinton's response was - who cares what Utah wants.

The Declaration of Independence, the ratification of which we celebrate today, provides the answer to the abuses our government continues to heap upon us every day:

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

It is time to exercise our right and do our duty! It is time for us to throw off this tyranny masquerading as a government or stop calling ourselves free men and women. We have enough delusional people in this world. There is no need to continue to tolerate those who confuse security and slavery with freedom and Liberty.

"I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"