THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
(excerpted from the 1776
document in which
the American colonies proclaimed their
independence from Britain)
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 [inalienable] 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 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
Systems of Government....
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.... 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.
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