独立宣言英文版

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

独立宣言

In Congress, July 4, 1776,

大陆会议（一七七六年七月四日）

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

美利坚合众国十三个州一致通过的宣言

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 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.

在有关人类事务的发展过程中，当一个民族必须解除其和另一个与之有关的民族之间的政治联系，并在世界各国之间，接受自然法则和自然界的造物主的旨意赋予的独立和平等的地位时，出于对人类舆论的尊重，必须把他们不得不独立的原因予以宣布。

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.

他在我们中间煽动内乱，并且竭力挑唆那些残酷无情、没有开化的印第安人来杀掠我们边疆的居民；而众所周知，印第安人的作战律令是不分男女老幼，一律格杀勿论的。

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.

在这些压迫的每一阶段中，我们都是用最谦卑的言辞请愿改善；但屡次请求所得到的答复是屡次遭受损害。一个君主，当他的品格已打上了暴君行为的烙印时，是不配作自由人民的统治者的。

Nor have We been wanting in attention 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 usurpation, 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.

我们不是没有注意我们英国的弟兄。我们时常提醒他们，他们的立法机关企图把无理的管辖权横加到我们的头上。

我们也曾把我们移民出这里和在这里定居的情形告诉他们。我们曾经向他们天生的正义感和雅量呼吁，我们恳求他们念在同种同宗的份上，弃绝这些掠夺行为，以免影响彼此的关系和往来。但是他们却对于这种正义和血缘的呼声一直充耳不闻。因此，我们实在不得不宣布和他们脱离，并且以对待世界上其它民族一样的态度对待他们：战即为敌；和则为友。

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 Honor.

因此，我们，在大陆会议上集会的美利坚合众国代表，以各殖民地善良人民的名义并经他们授权，向全世界最崇高的正义呼吁，说明我们的严正意向，同时郑重宣布；这些联合的殖民地是而且有权成为自由和独立的国家，它们取消一切对英国王室效忠的义务，它们和大不列颠国家之间的一切政治关系从此全部断绝，而且必须断绝；

作为自由独立的国家，它们完全有权宣战、缔和、结盟、通商和独立国家有权去做的一切行动。为了支持这篇宣言，我们坚决信赖上帝的庇佑，以我们的生命、我们的财产和我们神圣的名誉，彼此宣誓。

扩展资料

《独立宣言》由四部分组成：

第一部分为前言，阐述了宣言的目的。

第二部分高度概括了当时资产阶级最激进的政治思想，即自然权利学说和主权在民思想。

第三部分历数英国压迫北美殖民地人民的条条罪状，说明殖民地人民是在忍无可忍的情况下被迫拿起武器的，力陈独立的合法性和正义性。

在宣言的最后一部分，美利坚庄严宣告独立。《独立宣言》并非1776年7月4日签署的，7月4日是决议采用宣言的日期，之后进行了印刷。议会代表们大多于1776年8月2日签署本宣言。

独立宣言的英文简介：

The Declaration of Independence of the United States is a proclamation of the independence of the Kingdom of Great Britain by the thirteen British colonies in North America and its legitimacy.

《美国独立宣言》是北美洲十三个英属殖民地宣告自大不列颠王国独立，并宣明此举正当性之文告。

On July 4, 1776, the Declaration was approved by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which became the anniversary of American independence.

The original declaration was signed by representatives of the Continental Congress and is permanently displayed in the National Archives and Documents Office in Washington, D.C.

1776年7月4日，本宣言由第二次大陆会议于费城批准，这一天后成为美国独立纪念日。宣言之原件由大陆会议出席代表共同签署，并永久展示于美国华盛顿特区之国家档案与文件署当中。

This Declaration of Independence is one of the most important founding instruments of the United States. July 4 was the date for the adoption of the Declaration, which was then printed and signed by most parliamentary representatives on August 2, 1776.

此独立宣言为美国最重要的立国文书之一。7月4日是决议采用宣言的日期，之后进行了印刷，议会代表们大多采用1776年8月2日签署本宣言。

扩展资料

1、历史影响

独立宣言包含多名开国元勋之基本理念，其中若干日后获编入美国宪法中。1848年赛尼卡福尔斯会议的《感伤宣言》以此为本。日后越南与罗得西亚等国之独立宣言亦本诸于此。

在美国，独立宣言经常为日后之政治性演说所引用，如亚伯拉罕·林肯之堡葛底士堡演说，与马丁·路德·金博士之著名演说《我有一个梦》。独立宣言也激励了人权和公民权宣言，即法国大革命中的根本宣言之一。

2、世界评价

《独立宣言》草案中明确反对奴隶制，但在大陆会议表决时，由于乔治亚洲和南卡罗来纳州代表们的坚决反对，删去了对英王乔治三世允许在殖民地存在奴隶制和奴隶买卖的有力谴责，反映了资产阶级革命的局限性。

宣言虽然指出“人人生而平等”的原则，但在当时，宣言所标榜的自由平等权利只能是资产阶级的权利，反映了资产阶级的阶级本质，是为资本主义制度服务的。

参考资料来源：百度百科-独立宣言

The whole name of the Declaration of independence is the unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.It was passed in the Second Continental Congress in the Independence Hall in Philadelphia in July 4, 1776The background of the Declaration of Independence（背景）The war between England and its American colony started in April 1775. With the war continuing, the compromise hope gradually vanished and the completely independent had become the goal. On June 7,1776, in the first continental congress , Richard. Henry. Li declared: "These colonies are the free and independent countries, and according to their rights ,they must be free and independent countries."On June 10 ,a committee was assigned to draft the Declaration of Independence. And Thomas Jefferson was the principal.The content（内容）The Declaration of Independence was composed of three parts: The first part expounded the political philosophy; The second part showed some concrete unfair instances of England to prove that US'S freedom had been destroyed; The third part seriously announced the independence, and taked an oath to support this manifesto. The significance of the Declaration of Independence（意义）1 Opposed the feudal rank system and the absolute power of emperor.2 Jefferson summarized Locker's thought essence, and made it widely disseminated.3 Changed Americans’ general knowledge into the declaration,and provided a theory basis for the war of independence

《独立宣言》原文：在有关人类事务的发展过程中，当一个民族必须解除其和另一个民族之间的政治联系，并在世界各国之间依照自然法则和上帝的意旨，接受独立和平等的地位时，出于人类舆论的尊重，必须把他们不得不独立的原因予以宣布。我们认为下面这些真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，造物者赋予他们若干不可剥夺的权利，其中包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。为了保障这些权利，人类才在他们之间建立政府，而政府之正当权力，是经被治理者的同意而产生的。当任何形式的政府对这些目标具破坏作用时，人民便有权力改变或废除它，以建立一个新的政府；其赖以奠基的原则，其组织权力的方式，务使人民认为唯有这样才最可能获得他们的安全和幸福。为了慎重起见，成立多年的政府，是不应当由于轻微和短暂的原因而予以变更的。过去的一切经验也都说明，任何苦难，只要是尚能忍受，人类都宁愿容忍，而无意为了本身的权益便废除他们久已习惯了的政府。但是，当追逐同一目标的一连串滥用职权和强取豪夺发生，证明政府企图把人民置于专制统治之下时，那么人民就有权利，也有义务推翻这个政府，并为他们未来的安全建立新的保障－－这就是这些殖民地过去逆来顺受的情况，也是它们现在不得不改变以前政府制度的原因。当今大不列颠国王的历史，是接连不断的伤天害理和强取豪夺的历史，这些暴行的唯一目标，就是想在这些州建立专制的暴政。为了证明所言属实，现把下列事实向公正的世界宣布－－他拒绝批准对公众利益最有益、最必要的法律。他禁止他的总督们批准迫切而极为必要的法律，要不就把这些法律搁置起来暂不生效，等待他的同意；而一旦这些法律被搁置起来，他对它们就完全置之不理。他拒绝批准便利广大地区人民的其它法律，除非那些人民情愿放弃自己在立法机关中的代表权；但这种权利对他们有无法估量的价值，而且只有暴君才畏惧这种权利。他把各州立法团体召集到异乎寻常的、极为不便的、远离它们档案库的地方去开会，唯一的目的是使他们疲于奔命，不得不顺从他的意旨。他一再解散各州的议会，因为它们以无畏的坚毅态度反对他侵犯人民的权利。他在解散各州议会之后，又长期拒绝另选新议会；但立法权是无法取消的，因此此这项项权力仍由一般人民来行使。其实各州仍然处于危险的境地，既有外来侵略之患，又有发生内乱之忧。他竭力抑制我们各州增加人口；为此目的，他阻挠外国人入籍法的通过，拒绝批准其它鼓励外国人移居各州的法律，并提高分配新土地的条件。他拒绝批准建立司法权力的法律，藉以阻挠司法工作的推行。他把法官的任期、薪金数额和支付，完全置于他个人意志的支配之下。他建立新官署，派遣大批官员，骚扰我们人民，并耗尽人民必要的生活物质。他在和平时期，未经我们的立法机关同意，就在我们中间维持常备军。他力图使军队独立于民政之外，并凌驾于民政之上。他同某些人勾结起来把我们置于一种不适合我们的体制且不为我们的法律所承认的管辖之下；他还批准那些人炮制的各种伪法案来达到以下目的：在我们中间驻扎大批武装部队；用假审讯来包庇他们，使他们杀害我们各州居民而仍然逍遥法外；切断我们同世界各地的贸易；未经我们同意便向我们强行征税；在许多案件中剥夺我们享有陪审制的权益；罗织罪名押送我们到海外去受审；在一个邻省废除英国的自由法制，在那裹建立专制政府，并扩大该省的疆界，企图把该省变成既是一个样板又是一个得心应手的工具，以便进而向这里的各殖民地推行同样的极权统治；取消我们的宪章，废除我们最宝贵的法律，并且根本上改变我们各州政府的形式；中止我们自己的立法机关行使权力，宣称他们自己有权就一切事宜为我们制定法律。他宣布我们已不属他保护之列，并对我们们作战，从而放弃了在这里的政务。他在我们的海域大肆掠夺，蹂躏我们沿海地区，焚烧我们的城镇，残害我们人民的生命。他此时正在运送大批外国佣兵来完成屠杀、破坏和肆虐的勾当，这种勾当早就开始，其残酷卑劣甚至在最野蛮的时代都难以找到先例。他完全不配作为一个文明国家的元首。他在公海上俘虏我们的同胞，强迫他们拿起武器来反对自己的国家，成为残杀自己亲人和朋友的刽子手，或是死于自己的亲人和朋友的手下。他在我们中间煽动内乱，并且竭力挑唆那些残酷无情、没有开化的印第安人来杀掠我们边疆的居民；而众所周知，印第安人的作战规律是不分男女老幼，一律格杀勿论的。 在这些压迫的每一陷阶段中，我们都是用最谦卑的言辞请求改善；但屡次请求所得到的答复是屡次遭受损害。一个君主，当他的品格已打上了暴君行为的烙印时，是不配作自由人民的统治者的。我们不是没有顾念我们英国的弟兄。我们时常提醒他们，他们的立法机关企图把无理的管辖权横加到我们的头上。我们也曾把我们移民来这里和在这里定居的情形告诉他们。我们曾经向他们天生的正义善感和雅量呼吁，我们恳求他们念在同种同宗的份上，弃绝这些掠夺行为，以免影响彼此的关系和往来。但是他们对于这种正义和血缘的呼声，也同样充耳不闻。因此，我们实在不得不宣布和他们脱离，并且以以对待世界上其它民族一样的态度对待他们：和我们作战，就是敌人；和我们和好，就是朋友。因此，我们，在大陆会议下集会的美利坚合众国代表，以各殖民地善良人民的名义，非经他们授权，向全世界最崇高的正义呼吁，说明我们的严正意向，同时郑重宣布；这些联合一致的殖民地从此是自由和独立的国家，并且按其权利也必须是自由和独立的国家，它们取消一切对英国王室效忠的义务，它们和大不列颠国家之间的一切政治关系从此全部断绝，而且必须断绝；作为自由独立的国家，它们完全有权宣战、缔和、结盟、通商和采取独立国家有权采取的一切行动。为了支持这篇宣言，我们坚决信赖上帝的庇佑，以我们的生命、我们的财产和我们神圣的名誉，彼此宣誓。 英文原文：THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCEIn Congress, July 4, 1776,THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICAWhen 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 the m 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 Des potism, 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 of 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 t hese 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 & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the H ead 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 attention 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 sett lement 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 t o 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 Bri tain, 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. An d 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.JOHN HANCOCK, PresidentAttested, CHARLES THOMSON, SecretaryNew Hampshire: JOSIAH BARTLETT, WILLIAM WHIPPLE, MATTHEW THORNTONMassachusetts-Bay: SAMUEL ADAMS, JOHN ADAMS, ROBERT TREAT PAINE, ELBRIDGE GERRYRhode Island: STEPHEN HOPKINS, WILLIAM ELLERYConnecticut: ROGER SHERMAN, SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, OLIVER WOLCOTTGeorgia: BUTTON GWINNETT, LYMAN HALL, GEO. WALTONMaryland: SAMUEL CHASE, WILLIAM PACA, THOMAS STONE, CHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTONVirginia: GEORGE WYTHE, RICHARD HENRY LEE, THOMAS JEFFERSON, BENJAMIN HARRISON, THOMAS NELSON, JR., FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, CARTER BRAXTON.New York: WILLIAM FLOYD, PHILIP LIVINGSTON, FRANCIS LEWIS, LEWIS MORRISPennsylvania: ROBERT MORRIS, BENJAMIN RUSH, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JOHN MORTON, GEORGE CLYMER, JAMES SMITH, GEORGE TAYLOR, JAMES WILSON, GEORGE ROSSDelaware: CAESAR RODNEY, GEORGE READ, THOMAS M'KEANNorth Carolina: WILLIAM HOOPER, JOSEPH HEWES, JOHN PENNSouth Carolina: EDWARD RUTLEDGE, THOMAS HEYWARD, JR., THOMAS LYNCH, JR., ARTHUR MIDDLETONNew Jersey: RICHARD STOCKTON, JOHN WITHERSPOON, FRANCIS HOPKINS, JOHN HART, ABRAHAM CLARKPennsylvania: Robert Morris， Benjamin Rush， Benjamin Franklin， John Morton， George Clymer， James Smith， George Taylor， James Wilson， George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney， George Read， 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.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE July 4, 1776 In Congress, July 4, 1776, 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 the m 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 Des potism, 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 of 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 t hese 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 & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the H ead 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 attention 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 sett lement 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 t o 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 Bri tain, 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. An d 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. JOHN HANCOCK, President Attested, CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary New Hampshire: JOSIAH BARTLETT, WILLIAM WHIPPLE, MATTHEW THORNTON Massachusetts-Bay: SAMUEL ADAMS, JOHN ADAMS, ROBERT TREAT PAINE, ELBRIDGE GERRY Rhode Island: STEPHEN HOPKINS, WILLIAM ELLERY Connecticut: ROGER SHERMAN, SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, OLIVER WOLCOTT Georgia: BUTTON GWINNETT, LYMAN HALL, GEO. WALTON 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. New York: WILLIAM FLOYD, PHILIP LIVINGSTON, FRANCIS LEWIS, LEWIS MORRIS Pennsylvania: ROBERT MORRIS, BENJAMIN RUSH, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, JOHN MORTON, GEORGE CLYMER, JAMES SMITH, GEORGE TAYLOR, JAMES WILSON, GEORGE ROSS Delaware: CAESAR RODNEY, GEORGE READ, THOMAS M'KEAN North Carolina: WILLIAM HOOPER, JOSEPH HEWES, JOHN PENN South Carolina: EDWARD RUTLEDGE, THOMAS HEYWARD, JR., THOMAS LYNCH, JR., ARTHUR MIDDLETON New Jersey: RICHARD STOCKTON, JOHN WITHERSPOON, FRANCIS HOPKINS, JOHN HART, ABRAHAM CLARK