THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Page

XLV

The delegates of the United Colonies of New Hampshire; Mas-

sachusetts Bay; Rhode Island and Providence Plantations; Con-

necticut; New York; New Jersey; Pennsylvania; New Castle,

Kent, and Sussex, in Delaware; Maryland; Virginia; North Caro-

lina, and South Carolina, In Congress assembled at Philadelphia,

Resolved on the 10th of May, 1776, to recommend to the respec-

tive assemblies and conventions of the United Colonies, where no

government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs had been

established, to adopt such a government as should, in the opin-

ion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the hap-

piness and safety of their constituents in particular, and of

America in general. A preamble to this resolution, agreed to on

the 15th of May, stated the intention to be totally to suppress

the exercise of every kind of authority under the British crown.

On the 7th of June, certain resolutions respecting independency

were moved and seconded. On the 10th of June it was resolved,

that a committee should be appointed to prepare a declaration

to the following effect: ‘‘That the United Colonies are, and of

right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are ab-

solved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all po-

litical connection between them and the State of Great Britain

is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.’’ On the preceding day it

was determined that the committee for preparing the declara-

tion should consist of five, and they were chosen accordingly, in

the following order: Mr. Jefferson, Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Franklin,

Mr. Sherman, Mr. R. R. Livingston. On the 11th of June a resolu-

tion was passed to appoint a committee to prepare and digest

the form of a confederation to be entered into between the colo-

nies, and another committee to prepare a plan of treaties to be

proposed to foreign powers. On the 12th of June, it was resolved,

that a committee of Congress should be appointed by the name

of a board of war and ordnance, to consist of five members. On

the 25th of June, a declaration of the deputies of Pennsylvania,

met in provincial conference, expressing their willingness to

concur in a vote declaring the United Colonies free and inde-

pendent States, was laid before Congress and read. On the 28th

of June, the committee appointed to prepare a declaration of

independence brought in a draught, which was read, and ordered

to lie on the table. On the 1st of July, a resolution of the conven-

tion of Maryland, passed the 28th of June, authorizing the depu-

ties of that colony to concur in declaring the United Colonies

free and independent States, was laid before Congress and read.

On the same day Congress resolved itself into a committee of the

whole, to take into consideration the resolution respecting inde-

pendency. On the 2d of July, a resolution declaring the colonies

free and independent States, was adopted. A declaration to that

effect was, on the same and the following days, taken into fur-

ther consideration. Finally, on the 4th of July, the Declaration

of Independence was agreed to, engrossed on paper, signed by

John Hancock as president, and directed to be sent to the sev-

eral assemblies, conventions, and committees, or councils of

safety, and to the several commanding officers of the continen-

tal troops, and to be proclaimed in each of the United States,

and at the head of the Army. It was also ordered to be entered

upon the Journals of Congress, and on the 2d of August, a copy

engrossed on parchment was signed by all but one of the fifty-

six signers whose names are appended to it. That one was Mat-

thew Thornton, of New Hampshire, who on taking his seat in No-

vember asked and obtained the privilege of signing it. Several

who signed it on the 2d of August were absent when it was adopt-

ed on the 4th of July, but, approving of it, they thus signified

their approbation.

OTE

.—The proof of this document, as published above, was

read by Mr. Ferdinand Jefferson, the Keeper of the Rolls at the

Department of State, at Washington, who compared it with the

fac-simile of the original in his custody. He says: ‘‘In the fac-

simile, as in the original, the whole instrument runs on without

a break, but dashes are mostly inserted. I have, in this copy, fol-

lowed the arrangement of paragraphs adopted in the publication

of the Declaration in the newspaper of John Dunlap, and as

printed by him for the Congress, which printed copy is inserted

in the original Journal of the old Congress. The same paragraphs

are also made by the author, in the original draught preserved

in the Department of State.’’

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—1776

ONGRESS

, J

ULY

4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united

States of America

HEN

in the Course of human events, it be-

comes 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 man-

kind 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 en-

dowed 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 Gov-

ernment 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. Pru-

dence, indeed, will dictate that Governments

long established should not be changed for light

and transient causes; and accordingly all experi-

ence hath shewn, that mankind are more dis-

posed 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 invari-

ably 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 secu-

rity.—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 re-

peated injuries and usurpations, all having in di-

rect 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 sus-

pended in their operation till his Assent should

be obtained; and when so suspended, he has ut-

terly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the ac-

commodation of large districts of people, unless

those people would relinquish the right of Rep-

resentation in the Legislature, a right inestima-

ble to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at

places unusual, uncomfortable, and distance

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THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—1776

from the depository of their public Records, for

the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compli-

ance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses re-

peatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his

invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dis-

solutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby

the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihila-

tion, 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 Appro-

priations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Jus-

tice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for estab-

lishing 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 peo-

ple, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace,

Standing Armies without the Consent of our leg-

islatures.

He has affected to render the Military inde-

pendent 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 Con-

sent:

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 neighbouring Province, establishing

therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging

its Boundaries so as to render it at once an ex-

ample 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 de-

claring themselves invested with power to legis-

late for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declar-

ing 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 scarce-

ly paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and to-

tally 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 In-

dian 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 an-

swered 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 magnanim-

ity, and we have conjured them by the ties of

our common kindred to disavow these usurpa-

tions, which, would inevitably interrupt our

connections and correspondence. They too have

been deaf to the voice of justice and of con-

sanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the

necessity, which denounces our Separation, and

hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, En-

emies in War, in Peace Friends.

THEREFORE

, the Representatives of the

UNITED

TATES OF

MERICA

, 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 Peo-

ple of these Colonies, solemnly publish and de-

clare, That these United Colonies are, and of

Right ought to be F

REE AND

NDEPENDENT

TATES

; that they are Absolved from all Alle-

giance to the British Crown, and that all politi-

cal connection between them and the State of

Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dis-

solved; 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 Inde-

pendent States may of right do. And for the sup-

port of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on

the protection of divine Providence, we mutu-

ally pledge to each other our Lives, our For-

tunes and our sacred Honor.

JOHN HANCOCK.

New Hampshire

OSIAH

ARTLETT

, M

ATTHEW

HORNTON

. W

HIPPLE

Massachusetts Bay

AML

. A

DAMS

, R

OBT

. T

REAT

AINE

OHN

DAMS

, E

LBRIDGE

ERRY

Rhode Island

TEP

. H

OPKINS

, W

ILLIAM

LLERY

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THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE—1776

Connecticut

OGER

HERMAN

, W

. W

ILLIAMS

’

UNTINGTON

, O

LIVER

OLCOTT

New York

. F

LOYD

, F

RANS

. L

EWIS

HIL

. L

IVINGSTON

, L

EWIS

ORRIS

New Jersey

ICHD

. S

TOCKTON

, J

OHN

ART

. W

ITHERSPOON

, A

BRA

. C

LARK

RAS

. H

OPKINSON

Pennsylvania

OBT

. M

ORRIS

, J

. S

MITH

ENJAMIN

USH

, G

. T

AYLOR

ENJA

. F

RANKLIN

, J

AMES

ILSON

OHN

ORTON

, G

. R

OSS

. C

LYMER

Delaware

AESAR

ODNEY

, T

. M’K

EAN

. R

EAD

Maryland

AMUEL

HASE

, C

HARLES

ARROLL OF

. P

ACA

, Carrollton.

HOS

. S

TONE

Virginia

EORGE

YTHE

, T

HOS

. N

ELSON

, jr.,

ICHARD

ENRY

, F

RANCIS

IGHTFOOT

. J

EFFERSON

, L

ENJA

. H

ARRISON

, C

ARTER

RAXTON

North Carolina

. H

OOPER

, J

OHN

ENN

OSEPH

EWES

South Carolina

HOS

. H

EYWARD

, T

HOMAS

YNCH

, Junr.,

Junr., A

RTHUR

IDDLETON

DWARD

UTLEDGE

Georgia

UTTON

WINNETT

, G

. W

ALTON

YMAN

ALL

OTE

.—Mr. Ferdinand Jefferson, Keeper of the Rolls in the De-

partment of State, at Washington, says: ‘‘The names of the sign-

ers are spelt above as in the fac-simile of the original, but the

punctuation of them is not always the same; neither do the

names of the States appear in the fac-simile of the original. The

names of the signers of each State are grouped together in the

fac-simile of the original, except the name of Matthew Thorn-

ton, which follows that of Oliver Wolcott.’’

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