The Declaration of Independence of The United States of America
In Congress,
July 4, 1776
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 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.
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
