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 entitles 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 shown, 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 System 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 the 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 oppressing 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 meantime exposed to all the
dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose
obstructing 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
harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our
Legislature.
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 offenses:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring
Provence, 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 complete the
works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and
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 endeavored to bring on the
inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose rule of warfare is an
undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppression 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 waiting in attentions to our British 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 denounced 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 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.
THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE:
Name Colony Occupation Adams, John Mass. Lawyer Adams, Samuel Mass. Merchant Bartlett,
Josiah N.H. Physician Braxton, Carter Va. Planter Carroll, Charles Md. Lawyer Chase,
Samuel Md. Lawyer Clark, Abraham N.J. Lawyer (1726 - 1794) Clymer, George Pa. Merchant
Ellery, William R.I. Lawyer Floyd, William N.J. Farmer Franklin, Benjamin Pa. Printer
Gerry, Elbridge Mass. Merchant Gwinnett, Burton Ga. Merchant Hancock, John Mass. Merchant
Hall, Lyman Ga. Physician Harrison, Benjamin Va. Farmer Hart, John N.J. Farmer
Hewes,
Joseph N.C. Lawyer Heyward, Thomas, Jr. S.C. Lawyer Hooper, William N.C. Lawyer Hopkins,
Stephen R.I. Farmer Hopkinson, Francis N.J. Lawyer Huntington, Samuel Conn. Lawyer
Jefferson, Thomas Va. Lawyer Lee, Richard Henry Va. Soldier Lee, Francis Lightfoot Va.
Farmer Lewis, Francis N.Y. Merchant Livingston, Philip N.Y. Merchant Lynch, Thomas, Jr.
S.C. Lawyer McKean, Thomas Del. Lawyer Middleton, Arthur S.C. Lawyer Morris, Lewis N.Y.
Farmer Morris, Robert Pa. Merchant Morton, John Pa. Surveyor Nelson, Thomas, Jr. Va.
Statesman Paca, William Md. Lawyer Paine, Robert Treat Mass. Lawyer Penn, John N.C. Lawyer
Read, George Del. Lawyer Rodney, Caesar Del. General Ross, George Pa. Lawyer Rush,
Benjamin Pa. Physician Rutledge, Edward S.C. Lawyer Sherman, Roger Conn. Shoemaker Smith,
James Pa. Lawyer Stockton, Richard N.J. Lawyer Stone, Thomas Md. Lawyer Taylor, George Pa.
Physician Thornton, Matthew N.H. Physician Walton, George Ga. Lawyer Whipple, William
N.H.
Sailor Williams, William Conn. Statesman Wilson, James Pa. Lawyer Witherspoon, John N.J.
Minister Wolcott, Oliver Conn. Physician Wythe, George Va. Lawyer
