The Declaration of Independence In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, WHAT IT ACTUALLY SAID WHAT THAT MEANS When in the Course of human events, it becomes When it becomes necessary for a group of necessary for one people to dissolve the political people to end their connection to government, and to bands which have connected them with another, and to become separate and equal (which the Laws of Nature assume among the powers of the earth, the separate say they have a right to be), it is nice for them to tell and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of the world why they are ending their bond to Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the government. 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 We hold these truths to be obvious: that all men men are created equal, that they are endowed by are naturally equal, that they all have certain rights their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that which no one may take away, that among these are a among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of right to life, to liberty, and to pursue happiness in Happiness. any nonviolent way they like. That to secure these rights, Governments are To secure these rights, governments are created instituted among Men, deriving their just powers by people, and they get whatever justifiable power from the consent of the governed, they have from the people being governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes Whenever any form of government starts destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the violating these natural rights, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new people to change or to get rid of their government. Government, laying its foundation on such principles If they wish, they may also create a new government, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them building it on whatever principles and with whatever shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and structure they believe is most likely to keep them Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that safe and happy. It’s probably not best to change Governments long established should not be changed governments that have been around for a long time if for light and transient causes; and accordingly all the reasons for making the change are not very experience hath shown, that mankind are more important; and, it seems that people don’t mind disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to putting up with some evil as long as the evil is small, right themselves by abolishing the forms to which even if they could change things for the better. But they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses when a government has a history of being bad, of and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object continually violating people’s natural rights, it is evinces a design to reduce them under absolute their right and their duty to get rid of their Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw government, and to provide different methods for off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these This is what these Colonies have been putting up Colonies; and such is now the necessity which with; this is why we must end our ties with the constrains them to alter their former Systems of government of Great Britain. The history of King Government. The history of the present King of George III, the current King of Great Britain, is a Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and history of repeated violations of natural rights, and usurpations, all having in direct object the these violations all aim to place our states under establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these complete tyranny. To prove this, we present these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a facts to the world. candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most The king has refused to pass laws that the wholesome and necessary for the public good. people believe are good and necessary. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of The king has prevented the Governors here from immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended passing laws of great importance, and has been slow in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; in giving his approval even when he didn’t have a and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to problem with the laws. attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the The king has refused to pass other laws that accommodation of large districts of people, unless the people wanted, and told them that if they wanted those people would relinquish the right of these laws passed, the people would would have to surrender Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable their right to be represented in the legislature (the to them and formidable to tyrants only. body that passes and repeals laws), a right of great importance to the people; this surrender of rights is something only a tyrant would ask for. He has called together legislative bodies at The king has told the American legislative bodies places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the to convene (gather) at strange or unusual places, depository of their public Records, for the sole sometimes even at places that are very far from their purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his public records. He has done this simply to make the measures. people think that localised government is too difficult and tiring; and the reason he wanted people to be tired of localised government so that they would be more willing to go along with HIS demands. He has dissolved Representative Houses The king has repeatedly prevented local repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his legislatures from even meeting at all, simply because invasions on the rights of the people. these local legislatures have been noble enough to stand up to his bullying, to his attempts to take away the rights of people. He has refused for a long time, after such Even after telling local legislatures that they dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby could no longer meet, he has not allowed for new the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, legislators (law-makers) to be elected to take the have returned to the People at large for their place of those who use to meet. Since these powers exercise; the State remaining in the mean time cannot really be destroyed, these powers have simply exposed to all the dangers of invasion from fallen back into the hands of the people, which means without, and convulsions within. the people are no longer really living under any legitimate government at all. And since there is no legitimate government in place, the illegitimate (bad) government that IS in place is constantly in danger. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of The king has tried to prevent any increase in the these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws population of these states. In order to stop this, he for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass has stood in the way of the people passing laws that others to encourage their migrations hither, and would allow foreigners (people from other countries) raising the conditions of new Appropriations of to become American citizens, and stood in the way of Lands. other laws that would encourage them to come to America. He has even made it more difficult for people to acquire (gain) land. He has obstructed the Administration of The king has stood in the way of justice by Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for refusing to allow laws that would create courts. establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, The king has made sure that judges had to agree for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and with HIM, King George III, in order to remain judges, payment of their salaries. and in order to earn money. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and The king has created many new government offices, sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and sent loads of officers here to bully our and eat out their substance. people, and to make our people poor. He has kept among us, in times of peace, The king has kept armed government employees Standing Armies without the Consent of our in our colonies, even in times of peace, and despite legislatures. the fact that our legislatures have said NO. (To be armed means to have weapons.) He has affected to render the Military The king has made it so that the military has independent of and superior to Civil power. more power over us than our local governments. He has combined with others to subject us to a The king has teamed up with others to force us jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and to follow laws that go against OUR laws. He has given unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to his support to these unjust laws listed below. their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops • Making us live around many armed troops. among us: For protecting them, by mock Trial, from punishment • Protecting these troops from punishment for for any Murders which they should murder by setting up mock trials (trials where the commit on the Inhabitants of these States: judges or juries were going to say “not guilty” regardless of how much evidence was against the alleged murderers). For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the • Preventing us from trading freely with all world: parts of the world. For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: • Stealing from us (taking money from us without us saying it was okay first). For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits • Not letting us have jury trials. (Jury trials of Trial by Jury: are trials where a group of common people from your community have to agree that you are guilty before you can be punished.) For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for • Taking some of us to other places in order to pretended offences: try us for things we did not even do. For abolishing the free System of English Laws • Doing away with traditional English laws in a in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an neighbouring province, creating a government there Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries that might do just about anything, and making the so as to render it at once an example and fit boundaries of that province larger, so as to threaten instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in that our local governments might also be changed, to these Colonies: threaten that absolute rule might start to be used here, too, just as it is used there. For taking away our Charters, abolishing our • Taking away our charters, getting rid of our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the most valued laws, and changing in a big way the forms Forms of our Governments: of our governments. For suspending our own Legislatures, and • Stopping our own legislatures from meeting, declaring themselves invested with power to legislate and declaring that those with whom the king has for us in all cases whatsoever. teamed up have the power to create laws for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring The king has stopped pretending that he is a us out of his Protection and waging War against us. legitimate ruler over us, by saying that we are no longer under his protection, and by starting war against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, The king has stolen from us in the Atlantic burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our Ocean, destroyed our coasts, burned our towns, and people. destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of This king is, at this time, moving large armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, men hired by the government to continue his deadly, desolation and tyranny, already begun with destructive, and tyrannical war against us. He has circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely waged this war in a very mean way—not at all in the paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally way one would expect a leader of a civilised nation to unworthy the Head of a civilised nation. do it. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken The king has taken our fellow citizens (those Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their taken captive on water) and forced them against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends will to use weapons against their own people, and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. forced them to become the killers of their friends and family. Those who refused to do this were required to kill themselves. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst The king has made attacking us seem like a really us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants good idea to the native Americans (sometimes of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose incorrectly called Indians). The native Americans known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction have been known to attack everyone, regardless of of all ages, sexes and conditions. age, gender, or other factors, when they go to war. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Every time the government created a new law to Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: oppress us, we have gone to the government and asked Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by them very nicely to stop oppressing us, to stop repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus violating our rights. But, the government has not marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is listened, and has in response just bullied and unfit to be the ruler of a free people. oppressed us even more. A leader who keeps violating people’s natural rights is unworthy to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our We have tried, over and over again, to explain to British brethren. We have warned them from time to the people in Britain that their legislature has acted time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unjustly to us, has used too much power over us, and unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have we have also reminded the British people of how and reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration why we moved to America in the first place. We have and settlement here. We have appealed to their asked them to consider their sense of justice and native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured their sense of forgiveness, and we have reminded them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow them that we have mostly come from Britain—we have these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt reminded them of all of this and asked them to make our connections and correspondence They too it clear to their leaders that they are on OUR side, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of, against the violations by their leaders of our natural consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the rights, since these violations would definitely necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold interrupt our connections and communication. But them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, they, like their king, have ignored us and avoided in Peace Friends. supporting justice and brotherhood. We must, therefore, in declaring our separation from the king and from the people of Great Britain, say that the people of Great Britain are our friends in times of peace (just like the rest of the world) and our enemies in times of war (just like the rest of the world). We, therefore, the Representatives of the Therefore, we (the representatives of these united States of America, in General Congress, united states in America, as assembled in a congress), Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the in the name of, and by authority of, the people of world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the these colonies, unjokingly publish and declare that Name, and by authority of the good People of these these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these free and independent states; that these states are no United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free longer connected to the government or king of Great and Independent States; that they are Absolved Britain; and that, as free and independent states, from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all these states have full power to start war, to agree to political connection between them and the State of be peaceful, to form alliances, to allow the existence Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; of trade and of private businesses, and to do all and that as Free and Independent States, they have other things that independent states may do full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract rightfully. And, we hope that whatever deity, god, or Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other spirit may exist, and who might be judging our Acts and Things which Independent States may of actions, approves OF our action. right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a To support this declaration, and relying on the firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, assumption that whatever deity exists supports our we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our cause and will not stand in its way, we (the signers) Fortunes and our sacred Honour. pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour. SIGNED BY New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton FUN FACTS! This document was drafted by Thomas Jefferson. He preserved throughout his life a four-page draft which he called the “original Rough draught” (original rough draft). The document was highly influenced by Two Treatises of Government by John Locke. Originally, one of the reasons Jefferson said we should secede (that is, separate ourselves) from the King was the slave trade. However, the assembled Congress of the united colonies removed this section. Jefferson resented the change. Benjamin Franklin was on the committee revising the Declaration of Independence. At age 70, he was the oldest on the committee. When John Hancock, President of the Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence, he signed his name very largely, so as to ensure that King George III would see it. Many believe that the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th. This is actually incorrect. It was OFFICIALLY ADOPTED on July 4th by the representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, but was not signed until August 2nd, 1776. Some signed even later. Two people who would go on to later become presidents of the United States, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, were among the signers. Click here to read the Declaration of Independence as it was originally written. Click here to return to the Kids Corner. • No rights reserved. •