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.
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 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.
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
The 56 signatures on the Declaration: Georgia: North Carolina: Massachusetts: Pennsylvania: New York: New Hampshire: Button Gwinnett William Hooper John Hancock Robert Morris William Floyd Josiah Bartlett Lyman Hall Joseph Hewes Benjamin Rush Philip Livingston William Whipple George Walton John Penn Maryland: Benjamin Franklin Francis Lewis Samuel Chase John Morton Lewis Morris Massachusetts: South Carolina: William Paca George Clymer Samuel Adams Edward Rutledge Thomas Stone James Smith New Jersey: John Adams Thomas Heyward, Jr. Charles Carroll George Taylor Richard Stockton Robert Treat Paine Thomas Lynch, Jr. George Ross John Witherspoon Elbridge Gerry Arthur Middleton Virginia: James Wilson Francis Hopkinson George Wythe John Hart Rhode Island: Richard Henry Lee Delaware: Abraham Clark Stephen Hopkins Thomas Jefferson Caesar Rodney William Ellery Benjamin Harrison George Read Thomas Nelson, Jr. Thomas McKean Connecticut: Francis Lightfoot Lee Roger Sherman Carter Braxton Samuel Huntington William Williams Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire: Matthew Thornton