July 4, 1776

-CB-

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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 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 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.
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
John Hancock
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton
 
Proof that this nation is based on Liberal policy

no Conservative in his right mind would openly rebel against his government

now that is something to think about next time you want to flame a Liberal

no I am not a Liberal, or a Conservative, I am registered as not picking a party. I think they are all NUTS
 
Jusatele said:
Proof that this nation is based on Liberal policy

no Conservative in his right mind would openly rebel against his government

now that is something to think about next time you want to flame a Liberal

no I am not a Liberal, or a Conservative, I am registered as not picking a party. I think they are all NUTS
[/quote

You are my new hero!]
 
There's a huge difference between the liberal ideology in the declaration of independence and the liberal practices at work in today's America. All freedom-loving Americans share liberal ideas, but some still believe that with liberty comes personal responsibility and accountability.....something lost among many modern liberal leaders.
 
Jusatele said:
Proof that this nation is based on Liberal policy

no Conservative in his right mind would openly rebel against his government

now that is something to think about next time you want to flame a Liberal

no I am not a Liberal, or a Conservative, I am registered as not picking a party. I think they are all NUTS

Justa a like ya, and you're entitled to your opinions.  Thanks for crapping on this thread with them.
 
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.

Our buddy Jefferson seems to be a true student of human nature.

Happy Independence Day, fellow citizens of these United States.  I beg you all to remember that this was an unpopular revolution at its onset, and that most people did not support it.  The status quo and tradition are not, on their own, reason enough to suffer evils... especially the ones we forget to remember.

-Mark
 
I'll admit to being a registered Democrat, and I'll admit that while I'm political, I don't bring it here often, if ever. The biggest reason is that I know and understand that this forum goes around the world, and I personally feel bad as an American that so few people in my country consider that there are other nations of the world with their own ideals and traditions. I'll never forget how sick I felt at a Starbucks one time. A gentleman from the United Kingdom was ordering a drink, and the gal on the other side of the counter shouted out "Ohmigod!  You sound like Austin Powers!"  

On America's birthday, there are a lot of folks out there who need to remember that we share this world with others, and when we go visit these other places, we need to be respectful. Its kinda sad that those who know the lesson of international respect from my country feel the urge to sew a flag of another country on their backpack, just because of the chosen few morons who have done us the favor of embarassing us in someone else's country.
 
=CB= said:
Jusatele said:
Proof that this nation is based on Liberal policy

no Conservative in his right mind would openly rebel against his government

now that is something to think about next time you want to flame a Liberal

no I am not a Liberal, or a Conservative, I am registered as not picking a party. I think they are all NUTS

Justa a like ya, and you're entitled to your opinions.  Thanks for crapping on this thread with them.

CB have you read that document?

and you said I crapped on a thread?

re read it and tell me what it is not saying about our current government ?

it is telling us that we need to be represented by our government, not overran, overtaxed, over regulated and told how to live our lives.

I am fiercely proud of that document, so proud in fact that I think it the war of Northern oppression was fought to restate those views and we need a rebellion today to make sure we can reinstate them again today instead of having our state and personal freedoms destroyed at a rate never seen before. Our rights to Gun ownership are fought daily, out rights to choose our own form of health care have been stolen from us, our rights to bring our children up in a land not over burdened with taxes has been stolen by stimulus packages to the uber rich and corporate bailouts while the middle class man loses his house.

Your Federal government is enslaving you to them more each day and is shitting on that document as we discuss this.
 
Orpheo said:
I always thought George Washington signed the Declaration too...  :sad1:

No, he was off fighting the British so that could happen. You might be thinking of the Constitution, which he had a heavy hand in and which followed the Declaration by a year or two once we became an independent sovereign nation.
 
Cagey said:
Orpheo said:
I always thought George Washington signed the Declaration too...  :sad1:

No, he was off fighting the British so that could happen. You might be thinking of the Constitution, which he had a heavy hand in and which followed the Declaration by a year or two once we became an independent sovereign nation.

i see, thanks!
 
Cagey said:
Orpheo said:
I always thought George Washington signed the Declaration too...  :sad1:

No, he was off fighting the British so that could happen. You might be thinking of the Constitution, which he had a heavy hand in and which followed the Declaration by a year or two once we became an independent sovereign nation.

I'm curious what you mean by Washington having had a heavy hand in the Constitution.  I'm not baiting you or talking trash, I'm honestly curious.  I'm a student of both Washington (one of my favorite people) and the birth of our nation. 

-Mark
 
"Heavy hand" may be a poor choice of words on my part. He presided over the constitutional convention of 1797 where it was written.

Constitutional Convention (1787)

Washington's retirement to Mount Vernon was short-lived. He made an exploratory trip to the western frontier in 1784, was persuaded to attend the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, and was unanimously elected president of the Convention. He participated little in the debates (though he did vote for or against the various articles), but his high prestige maintained collegiality and kept the delegates at their labors. The delegates designed the presidency with Washington in mind, and allowed him to define the office once elected. After the Convention, his support convinced many to vote for ratification; the new Constitution was ratified by all thirteen states.

There's more detail here.
 
what must be remembered here  is the first Federal Gov we had failed, the Articles of Confederation, and we took the ashes and wrote the constitution out of that. One of the biggest fears they had, and rightfully so was that the Federal Government would get to big, and they restricted it too much under the Articles. I believe the Constitution as we have it today is a great form of Government, it is just the Federal government has gotten too strong. We need a lot more rights for the states and less for the Fed.
Remember the Federal government is here to protect the states, and do stuff they need to do collectively, all other rights belong to the states. We have lost that and need to regain it.
 
Jusatele said:
Remember the Federal government is here to protect the states, and do stuff they need to do collectively, all other rights belong to the states. We have lost that and need to regain it.

I don't know that it's been lost so much as horribly abused. There are a number of things that are now considered collective rights, entitlements and controls that actually aren't any of those things.
 
Oddly enough, in 1988, Congress passed a resolution to acknowledge the Iroquois Constitution for its influence on the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Patrick

 
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