O F

INDEPENDENCE,

WHE

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776,

HEN, in the courfe of human events, it be, comes neceffary for one people to diffolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to affume, among the powers of the earth, the feparate and equal ftation to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent refpect to the opinions of mankind requires that they fhould declare the caufes which impel them to the feparation,

We hold thefe truths to be felf-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among thefe are life, liberty, and the purfuit of happiness.That to fecure thefe rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their juft powers from the confent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes deftructive of thefe ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on fuch principles, and organizing its powers in fuch form, as to them fhall feem moft likely to effect their fafety and happinefs. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that governments long eftablished, should not be changed for light and tranfient caufes; and accordingly, all experience hath fhewn,that mankind are more difpofed to fuffer, while evils are fufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abufes and ufurpations, pursuing invariably the fame object, evinces a defign to reduce them under abfolute defpotifm, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off fuch government, and to provide new

guards for their future fecurity. Such has been the patient fufferance of thefe colonies; and fuch is now the neceflity which conftrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the prefent King of Great-Britain, is a hiftory of repeated inju ries and ufurpations, all having in direct object the eftablishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be fubmitted to a candid world.

He has refufed his affent to laws the most wholefome and neceffary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and preffing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his affent fhould be obtained; and when fo fufpended, he has utterly neglected to attend

to them.

He has refufed to pass other laws for the accommodation of large diftricts of people, unless thofe people would relinquish the right of reprefentation in the le gislature; a right ineftimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legiflative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depofitory of their public records, for the fole purpofe of fatiguing them into compliance with his meafures.

He has diffolved reprefentative houfes repeatedly, for oppofing, with manly firmnefs, his invafions on the rights of the people.

He has refufed for a long time, after fuch diffolutions, 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 invafion from without, and convulfions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obftructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refufing to pafs others to encourage their migrations hither, and raifing the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obftructed the administration of justice, by refufing his affent to laws for establishing judiciary

powers.

He has made judges dependant on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their falaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and fent hither swarms of officers, to harrafs our people and eat out their fubftance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, ftanding armies, without the confent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the military independent of, and fuperior to the civil power.

He has combined with others to fubject us to a jurifdiction foreign to our conftitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his affent to their acts of pretended legiflation :

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punifhment for any murders which they fhould commit on the inhabitants of these ftates:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: For impofing taxes on us without our confent: For depriving us, in many cafes, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For tranfporting us beyond feas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free fyftem of English laws in a neighbouring province, eftablishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, fo as to ren der it at once an example and fit inftrument for introducing the fame abfolute rule into these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For fufpending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invefted with power to legiflate for us in all cafes whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us.

He has plundered our feas, ravaged our coafts, burnt our towns, and deftroyed the lives of our people.

He is, at this time, tranfporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, defolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, fcarcely 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 feas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themfelves by their hands.

He has excited domeftic infurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the mercilefs Indian favages, whofe known rule of warfare is an undistinguished deftruction of all ages, fexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppreffions, we have petitioned for redrefs 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 atyrant, 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 attemps by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumftances of our emigration and fettlement here. We have appealed to their native juftice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred, to difavow these ufurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connexions and correfpondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of confanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiefce in the neceffity which denounces our feparation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.

WE, therefore, the reprefentatives of the United States of America, in General Congrefs affembled, 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, folemnly publish and declare, That thefe United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are abfolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connexion between them and the ftate of Great-Britain, is, and ought to be, totally diffolved; 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 fupport of this de. claration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our facred honour.

JOHN HANCOCK.