tions and unacknoleged by our laws; giving his assent to their foretended to Alegislation, for quartering large bodies farmed troops among us;. for protecting them by a mock-trial from punishment for any murders which Λ they should commit on the inhabitants of these states; for cutting offour trade with all parts of the world; without our consent; for deprowing us of the benefits of trial by jury; for trans posting us beyond yeas to be tried for pretended offences: for abolishing the free system of Englishlates in a neighwoning province, cotable it's boundance, war torender it at once anedamosos establishing those in an arbitrary govemment and enlarging colomes: [states] -- Tabolishing valuable our most important Laws for taking away our charters, Valtering fundamentally the forms of our governments our own legislatures & declaring themselves invested with power is in all cases whatsoever for suspendery legislate for us he has abdicated government here, [withdrawing his governors, & declaring of his allegiance & protection:] us out your seas, ravaged our courts, burnt our towns & destroyed the he has plundered or lives of our people: Scolet and other he is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death desolation & tyranny already begun with circumstances I has of envelty & perfidy unworthy the head of a civilized nation. he has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indhan savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destriction of all ages sexes, & conditions [if existence.] he has incited treasonable insurrections of our fellow-citizens with the allurements of forfeiture & confiscation of our property, their shunday berbandin exercis inet war against human nature itself, violating it's most sa -ered rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never fended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemis гит sphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither, this amongues, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived their by murdering the people upon whom he also ruded them: Thurs payry off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people with crimes :hich he urges them to commit against the lives of another. ] in every stage of these oppressions" we have petitioned for redress in the most humble + only terms"! our repeated polition's have been answered by repeated injuries, a prince whose character is thus mashed' by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit free to be the niter of a people who mean to be pee" juture ages will scarce believé that the hardiness of one man adverhered within the short compass of twelve years to Do a foundation fo broad & undisguised for tyranny only, fatigangbangs over a people fostered & fixed in principles If battery, freedom"] us Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren: we have varned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend a juris -diction over [these our states, we have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration & settlement here, [no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expence of our own blood & treasure, we had Cadopted one common. unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constiketing indeed our several forms of government, common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league & amity with them: bit that submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea if history may be a world inevitably Jour common kindred to disavow these usurpations which were likely its fincerrupt our comespondence. Vonnection. they too have been deaf to the voice of justice & of consanguinity. & when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have by their free election re-established them in power. at this very time too they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch & foreign mercenaries te invade & did these fact destroy us. have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to re-nounce for ever these unfeeling brethren, we must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and to hold them as we hold the seat of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends we might have been a free & a great people together; but a commu. •mecation of grandeur & of freedom it seems is belowe their dignity, be it so since they will have it: the road to your happiness is open to us too; we will cloned it on antity lists, and acquiesce in the necessity which pronounced our is paren apart from them, Party External ] reparation! we must theref & to glory de to the samine pulse of the world for the rectitude of our intentions our t We therefore the representatives of the United States of America in General Conopress assembled, do in the name & by authority of the good people of these [states] [reject and renounce all allegiance Voubjection to the kings of Great Britain &all shers who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve I took off all political connection which may home heretofore sub-sisted between us & the people or parliament of Great Britain; and finally we do assertions declare these colonies to be pee and independant states, and that as Ace & independant tales they shalt tarafter have power to levy was conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, & to do all' other acts and things which independant states may of fight do And for laks full support of this declaration] we mutually pledge to each other forkenes &our sacred honour. the ing 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 harrass 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 benefits 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 Brittish 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 the 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 |