| After the Proclamation, By The King, For Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition was issued in August 1775, and their peitions to explain their actions were dismissed by the King and Parliament, the delegates meeting in the Second Continental Congress began to devote all their energies to preparing for independence. The last straw for the Colonists was the passage of the American Prohibitory Act on 22 December 1775. On Monday, 10 June 1776, a resolution was passed: ...that a committee be appointed to prepare a declaration to the effect of the said first resolution, which is in these words: "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 connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be totally dissolved." A committee, comprised of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston, was chosen to draft a declaration. The document was written initially by Jefferson, who then submitted drafts to Franklin and Adams for changes. Jefferson's original was composed between 11 and 28 June. The changes that Franklin and Adams proposed were noted, and the document was read before the whole body of delegates on 02 July, following the adoption of a resolution known as the Lee Resolution. (Note: The Lee Resolution called for three things: 1. a declaration of the colonies' independence; 2. a plan for forming foreign alliances; and 3. the formation of a confederation of the colonies.) The delegates discussed the Declaration throughout the most of the 3rd and finally adopted it on the 4th. The document that was approved and passed by the delegates in Congress is transcribed below. Note: The punctuation and spelling that are presented in this transcript are that which appears in the Journals Of The Continental Congress 1774-1789. In that published work, the notation is added: The text used is that of the engrossed original in the Department of State. |
| 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 harass 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 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 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 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 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 Honour. The foregoing declaration was, by order of Congress, engrossed, and signed by the following members: John Hancock Josiah Bartlett Wm Whipple Saml Adams John Adams Robt Treat Paine Elbridge Gerry Steph. Hopkins William Ellery Roger Sherman Samel Huntingdon Wm Williams Oliver Wolcott Matthew Thornton Wm Floyd Phil Livingston Frans Lewis Lewis Morris Richd Stockton Jno Witherspoon Fras Hopkinson John Hart Abra Clark Robt Morris Benjamin Rush Benja Franklin John Morton Geo Clymer Jas Smith Geo. Taylor James Wilson Geo. Ross Caesar Rodney Geo Read Thos M:Kean Samuel Chase Wm Paca Thos Stone Charles Carrol of Carrollton George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Th. Jefferson Benja Harrison Thos Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton Wm Hooper Joseph Hewes John Penn Edward Rutledge Thos Heyward, Junr Thomas Lynch, Junr Arthur Middleton Button Gwinnett Lyman Hall Geo Walton |
| From Journals Of The Continental Congress 1774-1789, Volume V, 1906, Government Printing Office, Pages 510-515. |
| The following is a transcript of the first draft of the Declaration, authored primarily by, and in the handwriting of, John Adams. |
| A Declaration by the Representatives of United States of America, in general Congress assembled.
When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for a People to advance from that Subordination, in which they have hitherto remained and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the equal and independent 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 impell them to the Change. We hold these truths to be self evident; that all Men are created equal and independent; that from that equal Creation they derive Rights inherent and unalienable; among which are the Preservation of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness; that to secure these Ends, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the governed; that whenever, any form of Government, shall become 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, begun at a distinguish’d Period, and pursuing invariably, the same object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Power, 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 expunge their former Systems of Government. The History of his present Majesty, is a History of unremitting Injuries and Usurpations, among which no one Fact stands Single or Solitary to contradict the uniform Tenor of the rest, all of which have in direct object, the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be Submitted to a candid World, for the Truth of which We pledge a Faith, as yet unsullied by falsehood. 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 neglected utterly 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 dissolved Representative Houses, repeatedly, and continually, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People. He has refused, for a long Space of 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 endeavored to prevent the Population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migration hither; and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has suffered the Administration of Justice totally to cease in some of these Colonies, refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made our Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their offices, and the amount of their Salaries. He has erected a Multitude of new offices by a Self-assumed Power, 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 and Ships of War. He has affected to render the military, independent of, and Superiour 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 pretended Acts of Legislation; for quartering large Bodies of armed Troops among us; for protecting them by a Mock Tryal from Punishment for any Murders 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 of the Benefits of Trial by Jury; for transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses; for taking away our Charters, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Government; for suspending our own Legislatures and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, withdrawing his Governors, and declaring us out of his Allegiance and Protection. 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 unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation. He has endeavored 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 of existence. He has incited treasonable Insurrections of our Fellow Citizens, with the allurements of Forfeiture and Confiscation of our Property. He has waged cruel War against human Nature itself, violating its most sacred Rights of Life and Liberty in the Persons of a distant People who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into Slavery in another Hemisphere, or to incur miserable Death in their Transportation thither. This piratical Warfare, the opprobium of infidel Powers, is the Warfare of the Christian King of Great Britain. He has prostituted his Negative for Suppressing every legislative Attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable Commerce determined to keep open a Markett where Men should be bought and sold. and that this assemblage of Horrors might want no Fact of distinguished Die. He is now exciting those very People to rise in Arms among us, and to purchase that Liberty of which he had deprived them, by murdering the People upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off, former Crimes committed against the Liberties of one People, with Crimes which he urges them to commit against the Lives of another. In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble Terms; our repeated Petitions have been answered 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 People who mean to be free. future ages will scarce believe, that the Hardiness of one Man, adventured, within the Short Compass of twelve years only, on so many Acts of Tyranny, without a Mask, over a People, fostered and fixed in the Principles of Liberty. Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of attempts by their Legislature to extend a Jurisdiction over these our States. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here, no one of which could warrant so strange a Pretension. That these were effected at the expense of our own Blood and Treasure, unassisted by the Wealth or the Strength of Great Britain; that in constituting indeed, our Several Forms of Government, we had adopted one common King, thereby laying a Foundation for Perpetual League and Amity with them; but that Submission to their Parliament, was no Part of our Constitution, nor ever in Idea, if History may be credited; and we appealed to their Native Justice and Magnanimity, as well as to the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these usurpations, which were likely to interrupt our Correspondence and Connection. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity, and when occasions have been given them by the regular Course of their Laws of removing from their Councils, the Disturbers of our Harmony, they have by their free Election, re-established them in Power. At this very Time too, they are permitting their Chief Magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common Blood, but Scotch and foreign Mercenaries, to invade and deluge us in Blood. These Facts have given the last Stab to agonizing affection, and manly Spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling Brethren. We must endeavour to forget our former Love for them, and to hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We might have been a free and a great People together; but a Communication of Grandeur and of Freedom it seems is below their Dignity. Be it so, since they will have it: The Road to Happiness and to glory is open to us too; we will climb it, apart from them, and acquiesce in the Necessity which denounces our eternal Separation. We therefore the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these States, reject and renounce all Allegiance and Subjection to the Kings of Great Britain, and all others, who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve and break off all political Connection which may have heretofore subsisted between us and the People or Parliament of Great Britain, and finally we do assert and declare these Colonies to be free and independent States, and that as free and independent States they shall hereafter have 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, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honour. |
| From Journals Of The Continental Congress 1774-1789, Volume V, 1906, Government Printing Office, Pages 491-502. |
| The following is a transcript of the draft of the Declaration, authored primarily by, and in the handwriting of, Thomas Jefferson. It was this second draft that was submitted to the main body of delegates meeting in the Second Continental Congress for discussion. Note: Words, or groups of words, which the committee initially wrote, but then decided to change, are enclosed by braces, as: { }. Words, or groups of words, which the Congress chose to strike out during the general discussion, were enclosed by brackets, as: [ ]. |
| A Declaration by the Representatives of United States of America, in General Congress assembled.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for {a} one people to {advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, & to} dissolve the political bands which have connected them with {other} another and to assume among the powers of the earth the {equal & independent} separate and equal station to which the laws of nature & 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 change} the separation. We hold these truths to be {sacred & undeniable} self-evident; that all men are created equal {& independent;} that {from that equal creation they derive in} they are endowed by their creator with {equal rights some of which are} certain [inherent &] inalienable rights; that among {which} these are {the preservation of} life, {&} liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these {ends} rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government {shall} becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it's foundation on such principles, and organising it's powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness. prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light & 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, [begun at a distinguished period, &} pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to {subject} reduce them {to arbitrary power,} under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government & to provide new guards for their future security. such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; & such is now the necessity which constrains them to [expunge] alter their former systems of government. the history of {his} the present {Majesty} King of Great Britain, is a history of [unremitting] repeated injuries and usurpations, [among which {no one fact stands single or solitary} appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, {all of which} [have] but] 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, [for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.] 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 & pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected {utterly} 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, & formidable to tyrants only: he has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, & 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 [& continually] for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people: {when dissolved} he has refused for a long {Space of Time} 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, & convulsions within: he has endeavored 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; & raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands: he has [suffered] obstructed the administration of justice [totally to cease in some of these {colonies} states,] by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers: he has made [our] judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount & payment of their salaries: he has erected a multitude of new offices [by a self-assumed power,] & sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our people & eat out their substance: he has kept among us in times of peace {although our Conduct} standing armies [& ships of war] without {our} the consent of our Legislatures: he has affected to render the military, independent of & superior to the civil power: he has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended {acts of} of 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 neighboring province, establishing therei an arbitrary government and enlarging it's boundaries so as to render it at once an example & fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these {colonies} [states] colonies; for taking away our charters, abolishing our most {important} 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, [withdrawing his governors & declaring us out of his allegiance & protection:] by declaring us out of his protection & waging war against us. he has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns & destroyed the lives of our people: he is at this time transporting large armies of Scotch and other 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 excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored 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, & conditions [of existence:] [he has incited treasonable insurrections of our fellow-citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture & confiscation of our property: He has constrained others, {falling into his hands} taken captive on the high seas to bear arms gainst their country, {& to destroy & be destroyed by the brethren whom they love,} to become the executioners of their friends & brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands: he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people, who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobium of infidel powers, is the Warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, {and} he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce {determining to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold:} and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off, former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.] 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 injuries. 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 [who mean to be free. future ages will scarce believe that the hardiness {audacity} of one man, adventured within the short compass of twelve years only, {on so many acts of tyranny without a mask} to {lay} build a foundation, ao broad & undisguised, for tyranny over a people fostered & fixed in the principles of {liberty} freedom.] Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. we have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend {a} an unwarrantable jurisdiction over [these our states] us. we have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration & settlement here, [no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expence of our own blood & treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league & amity with them: but that submission to their parliament, was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited: and] we appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, [as well as to] & we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which [were likely to] would inevitably interrupt our connection & correspondence {& connection}. they too have been deaf to the voice of justice & of consanguinity, [& when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have by their free election re-established them in power. at this very time too, they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch & foreign mercenaries, to invade & {deluge us in Blood} destroy us. these facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce for ever these unfeeling brethren. we must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and to hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. we might have been a free and a great people together; but a communication of grandeur & of freedom it seems is below their dignity. be it so since they will have it: the road to {glory &} happiness & to glory is open to us too; we will {climb must} tread it {in a separately state} apart from them, and] we must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which {pro} denounces our {everlasting Adieu! [eternal]} 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 & by the authority of the good people of these [States] colonies, [reject and renounce all allegiance & subjection to the kings of Great Britain & all others who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve {& break off} all political connection which may {have} heretofore have subsisted between us & the people or parliament of Great Britain; and finally we do assert and declare these colonies to be free & independent states, and that as free and independent states, they {shall hereafter} have full power to levy war conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, & to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration] we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honour. |
| From Journals Of The Continental Congress 1774-1789, Volume V, 1906, Government Printing Office, Pages 491-502. |
