The Declaration of Independence

Sometimes in history one people has to break the political ties that bound them to another and take their place as a separate and equal nation, as the laws of nature and of God allow. When that happens, basic respect for the opinions of the rest of the world requires that they explain the reasons that force them to separate.

We believe these truths are obvious. All people are created equal. Their Creator gives them certain rights that can never be taken away. Among these rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Governments exist to protect these rights, and they get their rightful authority only from the consent of the people they govern.

When a government starts to destroy these rights instead of protecting them, the people have the right to change it or abolish it and to build a new government on the principles and structure they believe will best keep them safe and happy.

Common sense says a long-standing government should not be thrown out over minor or temporary problems. History shows that people will put up with a lot, as long as the wrongs are bearable, rather than abolish the system they are used to.

But when a long series of abuses and power grabs all point toward the same goal, putting the people under total tyranny, then it is their right, and their duty, to overthrow that government and set up new protections for their future.

That is exactly what these colonies have patiently endured, and that is what now forces them to change their system of government.

The record of the current King of Great Britain is one of repeated injuries and abuses of power, all aimed directly at establishing total tyranny over these states.

The "present King" is George III, who reigned from 1760 and is the single target of the charges that follow.

To prove this, let the following facts be presented to a fair-minded world.

He has refused to approve laws that were good and necessary for the public.

He has ordered his governors not to approve urgent and important laws unless those laws were put on hold until he personally approved them, and then he simply ignored them.

He has refused to approve laws serving large communities unless those people gave up their right to representation in the legislature, a right that is priceless to them and threatening only to tyrants.

He has summoned legislatures to meet in unusual, uncomfortable places, far from where their official records were kept, only to wear them down until they gave in to his demands.

He has repeatedly shut down elected assemblies for firmly standing up against his attacks on the people's rights.

After shutting those assemblies down, he refused for a long time to allow new ones to be elected. As a result, the power to make laws, which can never truly be destroyed, fell back to the people at large, while the state was left exposed to invasion from outside and unrest within.

He has tried to keep these states from growing in population by blocking the laws that let foreigners become citizens, refusing to pass laws encouraging people to move here, and making it harder to acquire new land.

He has obstructed the justice system by refusing to approve laws that would set up courts.

He has made judges depend entirely on his personal will for how long they keep their jobs and for the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has created a flood of new government positions and sent crowds of officials over here to harass our people and drain their resources.

He has stationed permanent armies among us during peacetime without the approval of our legislatures.

He has tried to make the military independent of, and superior to, civilian government.

He has joined with others to place us under a legal authority that is foreign to our constitution and not recognized by our laws, approving their phony legislation, including:

"Others" is Parliament; the lines that follow list the specific Acts the King approved that the colonists considered illegitimate.

Forcing us to house large numbers of armed soldiers in our communities.

This refers to the Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774, which required colonists to provide lodging and supplies for British troops.

Using fake trials to shield those soldiers from punishment for any murders they committed against the people of these states.

This refers to the Administration of Justice Act of 1774, which let officials accused of crimes be tried in Britain rather than in the colonies.

Cutting off our trade with the rest of the world.

This refers to trade restrictions such as the Navigation Acts and the Boston Port Act of 1774, which closed Boston's harbor.

Imposing taxes on us without our consent.

This refers to revenue laws like the Stamp Act (1765) and the Townshend Acts (1767), the heart of the "no taxation without representation" dispute.

Depriving us, in many cases, of the right to a trial by jury.

Shipping us overseas to stand trial on made-up charges.

This too points to the Administration of Justice Act and related measures that allowed colonists to be sent to Britain for trial, far from local juries.

Abolishing the free system of English law in a neighboring province, installing an arbitrary government there, and expanding its borders so it could serve as a model and a tool for imposing the same absolute rule on these colonies.

The "neighbouring Province" is Quebec; this refers to the Quebec Act of 1774, which extended Quebec's borders and set up a government without an elected assembly.

Taking away our charters, abolishing our most important laws, and fundamentally changing the structure of our governments.

This refers chiefly to the Massachusetts Government Act of 1774, which rewrote that colony's charter and stripped powers from its elected officials.

Suspending our own legislatures and claiming the authority to make laws for us in every possible case.

The claim of power to legislate "in all cases whatsoever" echoes the Declaratory Act of 1766, by which Parliament asserted total authority over the colonies.

He has abandoned his role as our ruler by declaring that we are no longer under his protection and by waging war against us.

He has raided our waters, devastated our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

Right now he is shipping over large armies of foreign hired soldiers to finish the work of death, destruction, and tyranny he has already begun, with a cruelty and treachery hardly matched even in the most barbaric times, and completely unworthy of the leader of a civilized nation.

The "foreign Mercenaries" were German troops, mainly Hessians, whom Britain hired to fight the colonists.

He has forced our fellow citizens captured at sea to take up arms against their own country, making them either kill their friends and family or be killed by them.

This refers to British impressment of captured American sailors, who were compelled to serve aboard British warships.

He has stirred up rebellions among us and has tried to set upon the people on our frontiers the Native warriors whose way of war, as the text puts it, makes no distinction of age, sex, or condition. (This grievance reflects the hostile and prejudiced framing of its time and is preserved here verbatim in the original column.)

This charge accuses the King of inciting enslaved people to revolt and of encouraging Native American attacks on frontier settlements; its language is a product of 18th-century prejudice.

At every stage of this oppression, we have asked for relief in the most respectful way possible. Our repeated requests have been met only with repeated harm.

A ruler whose conduct fits every definition of a tyrant is unfit to govern a free people.

We have not neglected our fellow British subjects either. From time to time we have warned them about their legislature's attempts to extend an unjustified authority over us. We have reminded them of why and how we came to settle here.

We have appealed to their basic sense of justice and generosity, and we have begged them, on the strength of our shared heritage, to reject these abuses of power, which were bound to break the ties between us.

They too have ignored the call of justice and of kinship. So we must accept the necessity of separating, and treat them as we treat the rest of the world: enemies in war, friends in peace.

We, therefore, the representatives of the united States of America, meeting together in General Congress, call on God, the supreme judge of the world, to witness that our intentions are honest. In the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, we solemnly announce and declare that these united colonies are, and have every right to be, free and independent states.

They are released from all loyalty to the British Crown, and every political tie between them and the nation of Great Britain is, and ought to be, completely broken.

As free and independent states, they have full power to wage war, make peace, form alliances, set up trade, and do everything else that independent nations have the right to do.

And in support of this Declaration, trusting firmly in the protection of God, we pledge to one another our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.