Declaration oI

Independence
|Adopted in Congress 4 July 1776|
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Declaration oI Independence 1
The Unanimous Declaration of the
Thirteen United States of America
hen, in the course oI human events, it becomes
necessary Ior one people to dissolve the political
bonds which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers oI the earth, the separate
and equal station to which the laws oI nature and oI nature's
God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions oI mankind
requires that they should declare the causes which impel them
to the separation.
W
We hold these truths to be selI-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that among these are liIe, liberty
and the pursuit oI happiness. That to secure these rights,
governments are instituted among men, deriving their just
powers Irom the consent oI the governed. That whenever any
Iorm oI government becomes destructive to these ends, it is
the right oI the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute
new government, laying its Ioundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such Iorm, as to them shall seem
most likely to eIIect their saIety and happiness. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that governments long established should
not be changed Ior light and transient causes; and accordingly
all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to
suIIer, while evils are suIIerable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the Iorms to which they are accustomed. But when
a long train oI 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
oII such government, and to provide new guards Ior their
Iuture security. Such has been the patient suIIerance oI
these colonies; and such is now the necessity which
constrains them to alter their Iormer systems oI government.
The history oI the present King oI Great Britain is a history
oI repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct
Declaration oI Independence 2
object the establishment oI an absolute tyranny over these
states. To prove this, let Iacts be submitted to a candid world.
He has reIused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and
necessary Ior the public good.
He has Iorbidden his governors to pass laws oI 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 reIused to pass other laws Ior the accommodation
oI large districts oI people, unless those people would
relinquish the right oI representation in the legislature, a right
inestimable to them and Iormidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomIortable, and distant Irom the depository oI their public
records, Ior the sole purpose oI Iatiguing them into
compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, Ior
opposing with manly Iirmness his invasions on the rights oI
the people.
He has reIused Ior a long time, aIter such dissolutions, to
cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers,
incapable oI annihilation, have returned to the people at large
Ior their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime
exposed to all the dangers oI invasion Irom without, and
convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population oI these
states; Ior that purpose obstructing the laws Ior naturalization
oI Ioreigners; reIusing to pass others to encourage their
migration hither, and raising the conditions oI new
appropriations oI lands.
He has obstructed the administration oI justice, by reIusing
his assent to laws Ior establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, Ior the
tenure oI their oIIices, and the amount and payment oI their
salaries.
He has erected a multitude oI new oIIices, and sent hither
swarms oI oIIicers to harass our people, and eat out their
substance.
Declaration oI Independence 3
He has kept among us, in times oI peace, standing armies
without the consent oI our legislature.
He has aIIected to render the military independent oI and
superior to civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
Ioreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws;
giving his assent to their acts oI pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies oI armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by mock trial, Irom punishment Ior
any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants oI
these states:
For cutting oII our trade with all parts oI the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases, oI the beneIits oI trial by
jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried Ior pretended
oIIenses:
For abolishing the Iree system oI English laws in a
neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary
government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at
once an example and Iit instrument Ior introducing the same
absolute rule in these colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable
laws, and altering Iundamentally the Iorms oI our
governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring
themselves invested with power to legislate Ior us in all cases
whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out oI
his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our
towns, and destroyed the lives oI our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies oI Ioreign
mercenaries to complete the works oI death, desolation and
tyranny, already begun with circumstances oI cruelty and
perIidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and
totaly unworth the head oI a civilized nation.
He has constrained our Iellow citizens taken captive on the
Declaration oI Independence 4
high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the
executioners oI their Iriends and brethren, or to Iall
themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavored to bring on the inhabitants oI our Irontiers, the
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule oI warIare, is
undistinguished destruction oI all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage oI these oppressions we have petitioned Ior
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 deIine a
tyrant, is unIit to be the ruler oI a Iree people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British
brethren. We have warned them Irom time to time oI attempts
by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction
over us. We have reminded them oI the circumstances oI our
emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their
native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them
by the ties oI our common kindred to disavow these
usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our
connections and correspondence. We must, thereIore,
acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation,
and hold them, as we hold the rest oI mankind, enemies in
war, in peace Iriends.
We, thereIore, the representatives oI the United States oI
America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the
Supreme Judge oI the world Ior the rectitude oI our
intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority oI the good
people oI these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that
these united colonies are, and oI right ought to be Iree and
independent states; that they are absolved Irom all allegiance
to the British Crown, and that all political connection
between them and the state oI Great Britain, is and ought to
be totally dissolved; and that as Iree and independent states,
they have Iull power to levey war, conclude peace, contract
alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and
things which independent states may oI right do. And Ior the
support oI this declaration, with a Iirm reliance on the
Declaration oI Independence 5
protection oI Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each
other our lives, our Iortunes and our sacred honor.