Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

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Continental Congress met in Philadelphia the next month,

they raised an army, set up committees to handle domestic

and foreign issues, and drafted the

Declaration of the Causes

and Necessity of Taking Up Arms

. England viewed these mea-

sures as acts of war. In his proclamation, King George

denounced the rebels as traitors and reminded all “obedient

and loyal subjects” of their duty to resist this rebellion and “to

disclose and make known all traitorous conspiracies.” Parlia-

ment added a Restraining Act, December 22, 1775, which

prohibited “all manner of trade and commerce” with the

American colonies. It further stated that American ships found

trading at any port would be captured, and their cargoes

would be distributed among British crew members. However,

instead of suppressing the rebellion, the act only strengthened

the colonies’ resolve to free themselves from British rule, lead-

ing ultimately to the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

The document below followed the British Restraining Act for

New England enacted by the British Parliament on March 30,

1775. That act was a retaliation against the colonial boycott of

British goods that the First Continental Congress initiated in

1774 as a protest against British taxes and repression. This law

restricted the trade of the New England colonies to England,

Ireland, and the British West Indies and prohibited New Eng-

land fishermen from fishing in North Atlantic waters.

________________________

_______________________

Whereas many of our subjects in divers parts of our

Colonies and Plantations in North America, misled by dan-

gerous and ill designing men, and forgetting the allegiance

which they owe to the power that has protected and sup-

ported them; after various disorderly acts committed in

disturbance of the publick peace, to the obstruction of law-

ful commerce, and to the oppression of our loyal subjects

carrying on the same; have at length proceeded to open

and avowed rebellion, by arraying themselves in a hostile

manner, to withstand the execution of the law, and

traitorously preparing, ordering and levying war against us:

And whereas, there is reason to apprehend that such rebel-

lion hath been much promoted and encouraged by the

traitorous correspondence, counsels and comfort of divers

wicked and desperate persons within this Realm: To the

end therefore, that none of our subjects may neglect or

violate their duty through ignorance thereof, or through

any doubt of the protection which the law will afford to

their loyalty and zeal, we have thought fit, by and with the

advice of our Privy Council, to issue our Royal Proclama-

tion, hereby declaring, that not only all our Officers, civil

and military, are obliged to exert their utmost endeavours

to suppress such rebellion, and to bring the traitors to jus-

tice, but that all our subjects of this Realm, and the domin-

ions thereunto belonging, are bound by law to be aiding

and assisting in the suppression of such rebellion, and to

disclose and make known all traitorous conspiracies and

attempts against us, our crown and dignity; and we do

accordingly strictly charge and command all our Officers,

as well civil as military, and all others our obedient and

loyal subjects, to use their utmost endeavours to withstand

and suppress such rebellion, and to disclose and make

known all treasons and traitorous conspiracies which they

shall know to be against us, our crown and dignity; and for

that purpose, that they transmit to one of our principal

Secretaries of State, or other proper officer, due and full

information of all persons who shall be found carrying on

correspondence with, or in any manner or degree aiding or

abetting the persons now in open arms and rebellion

against our Government, within any of our Colonies and

Plantations in North America, in order to bring to condign

punishment the authors, perpetrators, and abetters of such

traitorous designs.

Given at our Court at St. James’s the twenty-third day

of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five,

in the fifteenth year of our reign.

GOD save the KING.

See also

DECLARATION OF THE CAUSES AND NECESSITY OF

TAKING UP ARMS

Source:

America’s Homepage. Available on-line. URL: http://ahp.gatech.

edu/proclamation_bp_1775. html. Accessed November 2003.

Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

Pamphlet written by Thomas Paine and published in Philadel-

phia in January 1776. It strongly urged Americans to claim

independence from Britain. Paine argued that reconciliation

was impossible and described some of the disadvantages suf-

fered by the American colonies through their connection with

Britain. He asserted that the colonies tended to get entangled

in foreign wars because they acquired Britain’s enemies and

had also recently become the target of Britain’s hostilities. He

argued that it was impossible for Britain to govern effectively

from such a distance and that the colonies were capable of

governing themselves. He described a possible plan of repre-

sentative government and urged formation of a constitutional

convention.

Common Sense,

with 120,000 copies circulated

in its first three months, was highly influential in advancing the

idea of American independence.

In a number of his comments reproduced here, he is quite

prescient concerning such ideas as checks and balances and

population diversity. The pamphlet opens with a section on

the necessity of government: “a mode rendered necessary by

the inability of moral virtue to govern the world; here too is the

design and end of government, viz. Freedom and security.” He

goes on to criticize the English constitution which, unlike the

282 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

American version, consists of unwritten precepts drawn from

historic documents such as the Magna Carta (1215) and the

Declaration of Rights (1689). The next section excerpted here

contains some of Paine’s specific responses to opponents of

independence.

________________________

_______________________

On the Origin and Design of Government in

General, with Concise Remarks on the

English Constitution

I draw my idea of the form of government from a princi-

ple in nature which no art can overturn, viz. that the more

simple any thing is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and

the easier repaired when disordered; and with this maxim

in view I offer a few remarks on the so much boasted con-

stitution of England. That it was noble for the dark and

slavish times in which it was erected, is granted. When the

world was overrun with tyranny the least remove there-

from was a glorious rescue. But that it is imperfect, subject

to convulsions, and incapable of producing what it seems

to promise, is easily demonstrated.

Absolute governments, (tho’ the disgrace of human

nature) have this advantage with them, they are simple: if

the people suffer, they know the head from which their

suffering springs; know likewise the remedy; and are not

bewildered by a variety of causes and cures. But the con-

stitution of England is so exceedingly complex, that the

nation may suffer for years together without being able to

discover in which part the fault lies; some will say in one

and some in another, and every political physician will

advise a different medicine.

I know it is difficult to get over local or long standing

prejudices, yet if we will suffer ourselves to examine the

component parts of the English constitution, we shall find

them to be the base remains of two ancient tyrannies, com-

pounded with some new Republican materials.

* * *

[Monarchy and peers or lords], by being hereditary, are

independent of the People; wherefore in a constitutional

sense they contribute nothing towards the freedom of the

State. To say that the constitution of England is an union

of three powers [The third power is the House of Com-

mons.], reciprocally checking each other, is farcical; either

the words have no meaning, or they are flat contradictions.

* * *

That the crown is this overbearing part in the English con-

stitution needs not be mentioned, and that it derives its

whole consequence merely from being the giver of places

and pensions is self-evident; wherefore, though we have

been wise enough to shut and lock a door against absolute

Monarchy, we at the same time have been foolish enough

to put the Crown in possession of the key.

The prejudice of Englishmen, in favour of their own

government, by King, Lords and Commons, arises as much

or more from national pride than reason. Individuals are

undoubtedly safer in England than in some other coun-

tries: but the will of the King is as much the law of the land

in Britain as in France, with this difference, that instead of

proceeding directly from his mouth, it is handed to the

people under the formidable shape of an act of parliament.

* * *

Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs

Volumes have been written on the subject of the struggle

between England and America. Men of all ranks have

embarked in the controversy, from different motives, and

with various designs; but all have been ineffectual, and the

period of debate is closed. Arms as the last resource decide

the contest; the appeal was the choice of the King, and the

Continent has accepted the challenge.

* * *

The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. ‘Tis not

the affair of a City, a County, a Province, or a Kingdom; but

of a Continent—of at least one eighth part of the habitable

Globe. ‘Tis not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; pos-

terity are virtually involved in the contest, and will be more

or less affected even to the end of time, by the proceedings

now. Now is the seed-time of Continental union, faith and

honour. The least fracture now will be like a name

engraved with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a

young oak; the wound would enlarge with the tree, and

posterity read it in full grown characters.

By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new

aera for politics is struck—a new method of thinking hath

arisen. All plans, proposals, &c. prior to the nineteenth of

April, i.e. to the commencement of hostilities, are like the

almanacks of the last year; which tho’ proper then, are

superseded and useless now. Whatever was advanced by

the advocates on either side of the question then, termi-

nated in one and the same point, viz. a union with Great-

Britain; the only difference between the parties was the

method of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other

friendship; but it hath so far happened that the first hath

failed, and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

As much hath been said of the advantages of reconcil-

iation, which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed away

and left us as we were, it is but right that we should exam-

ine the contrary side of the argument, and enquire into

some of the many material injuries which these Colonies

sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected with

and dependant on Great-Britain. To examine that connec-

tion and dependance, on the principles of nature and com-

The American Revolution 283

mon sense, to see what we have to trust to, if separated,

and what we are to expect, if dependant.

I have heard it asserted by some, that as America has

flourished under her former connection with Great-

Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her

future happiness, and will always have the same effect.

Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument.

. . . America would have flourished as much, and probably

much more, had no European power taken any notice of

her. The commerce by which she hath enriched herself are

the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while

eating is the custom of Europe.

But she has protected us say some . . . [but] she would

have defended Turkey from the same motive, viz. for the

sake of trade and dominion.

* * *

But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more

shame upon her conduct.

* * *

Europe, and not England, is the parent country of Amer-

ica. This new World hath been the asylum for the perse-

cuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every part of

Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender

embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of the mon-

ster; and it is so far true of England, that the same tyranny

which drove the first emigrants from home, pursues their

descendants still. . . . We claim brotherhood with every

European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the

sentiment. . . . It is pleasant to observe by what regular gra-

dations we surmount the force of local prejudices, as we

enlarge our acquaintance with the World. . . .

* * *

. . . Our plan is commerce, and that, well attended to, will

secure us the peace and friendship of all Europe; because

it is the interest of all Europe to have America a free port.

Her trade will always be a protection, and her barrenness

of gold and silver secure her from invaders.

I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation to

show a single advantage that this continent can reap by

being connected with Great Britain. I repeat the chal-

lenge; not a single advantage is derived. Our corn will fetch

its price in any market in Europe, and our imported goods

must be paid for, buy them where we will.

But the injuries and disadvantages which we sustain

by that connection, are without number; and our duty to

mankind at large, as well as to ourselves, instruct us to

renounce the alliance: because, any submission to, or

dependance on, Great Britain, tends directly to involve

this Continent in European wars and quarrels, and set us

at variance with nations who would otherwise seek our

friendship, and against whom we have neither anger nor

complaint. As Europe is our market for trade, we ought to

form no partial connection with any part of it. It is the true

interest of America to steer clear of European contentions,

which she never can do, while, by her dependance on

Britain, she is made the make-weight in the scale of British

politics.

* * *

Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary

offence, yet I am inclined to believe, that all those who

espouse the doctrine of reconciliation, may be included

within the following descriptions.

Interested men, who are not to be trusted, weak men

who cannot see, prejudiced men who will not see, and a

certain set of moderate men who think better of the Euro-

pean world than it deserves; and this last class, by an ill-

judged deliberation, will be the cause of more calamities to

this Continent than all the other three.

It is the good fortune of many to live distant from the

scene of present sorrow; the evil is not sufficiently brought

to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with

which all American property is possessed. But let our

imaginations transport us a few moments to Boston; that

seat of wretchedness will teach us wisdom, and instruct us

for ever to renounce a power in whom we can have no

trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate city who but a

few months ago were in ease and affluence, have now no

other alternative than to stay and starve, or turn out to beg.

Endangered by the fire of their friends if they continue

within the city, and plundered by the soldiery if they leave

it, in their present situation they are prisoners without the

hope of redemption, and in a general attack for their relief

they would be exposed to the fury of both armies.

* * *

Europe is too thickly planted with Kingdoms to be long at

peace, and whenever a war breaks out between England

and any foreign power, the trade of America goes to ruin,

because of her connection with Britain. . . Every thing that

is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of

the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, ‘Tis time to

part. . . .

Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual.

Our prayers have been rejected with disdain; and hath

tended to convince us that nothing flatters vanity or con-

firms obstinacy in Kings more than repeated petitioning—

and nothing hath contributed more than that very measure

to make the Kings of Europe absolute. Witness Denmark

and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but blows will do,

for God’s sake let us come to a final separation, and not

leave the next generation to be cutting throats under the

violated unmeaning names of parent and child.

284 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

To say they will never attempt it again is idle and

visionary; we thought so at the repeal of the stamp act, yet

a year or two undeceived us; as well may we suppose that

nations which have been once defeated will never renew

the quarrel . . .

Small islands not capable of protecting themselves are

the proper objects for government to take under their

care; but there is something absurd, in supposing a Conti-

nent to be perpetually governed by an island. . . .

* * *

I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or resentment

to espouse the doctrine of separation and independence; I

am clearly, positively, and conscientiously persuaded that it

is the true interest of this Continent to be so; that every

thing short of that is mere patchwork, that it can afford no

lasting felicity,—that it is leaving the sword to our children,

and shrinking back at a time when a little more, a little fur-

ther, would have rendered this Continent the glory of the

earth.

As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination

towards a compromise, we may be assured that no terms

can be obtained worthy the acceptance of the Continent,

or any ways equal to the expence of blood and treasure we

have been already put to.

* * *

. . . No man was a warmer wisher for a reconciliation than

myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775, but the

moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected

the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of England for

ever; and disdain the wretch, that with the pretended title

of Father of his people can unfeelingly hear of their

slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his

soul.

* * *

But the most powerful of all arguments is, that nothing but

independence, i.e. a Continental from of government, can

keep the peace of the Continent and preserve it inviolate

from civil wars. I dread the event of a reconciliation with

Britain now, as it is more than probable that it will be fol-

lowed by a revolt some where or other, the consequences

of which may be far more fatal than all the malice of

Britain.

Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity;

(thousands more will probably suffer the same fate.) Those

men have other feelings than us who have nothing suf-

fered. All they now possess is liberty; what they before

enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and having nothing

more to lose they disdain submission. Besides, the general

temper of the Colonies, towards a British government will

be like that of a youth who is nearly out of his time; they

will care very little about her: And a government which

cannot preserve the peace is no government at all, and in

that case we pay our money for nothing; and pray what is

it that Britain can do, whose power will be wholly on paper,

should a civil tumult break out the very day after reconcil-

iation? I have heard some men say, many of whom I

believe spoke without thinking, that they dreaded an inde-

pendance, fearing that it would produce civil wars . . . I

make the sufferer’s case my own, and I protest, that were I

driven from house and home, my property destroyed, and

my circumstances ruined, that as a man, sensible of

injuries, I could never relish the doctrine of reconciliation,

or consider myself bound thereby.

* * *

If there is any true cause of fear respecting independance,

it is because no plan is yet laid down. Men do not see their

way out. Wherefore, as an opening into that business I

offer the following hints; at the same time modestly af-

firming, that I have no other opinion of them myself, than

that they may be the means of giving rise to something

better. . . .

Let the assemblies be annual, with a president only.

The representation more equal, their business wholly

domestic, and subject to the authority of a Continental

Congress.

Let each Colony be divided into . . . convenient dis-

tricts, each district to send a proper number of Delegates

to Congress. . . . Each congress to sit and to choose a Pres-

ident by the following method. When the Delegates are

met, let a Colony be taken from the whole thirteen

Colonies by lot, after which let the Congress choose (by

ballot) a president from out of the Delegates of that

Province. In the next Congress, let a Colony be taken by

lot from twelve only, omitting that Colony from which the

president was taken in the former Congress, and so pro-

ceeding on till the whole thirteen shall have had their

proper rotation. And in order that nothing may pass into a

law but what is satisfactorily just, not less than three- fifths

of the Congress to be called a majority. He that will pro-

mote discord, under a government so equally formed as

this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt.

* * *

But as there is a peculiar delicacy from whom, or in what

manner, this business must first arise, and as it seems most

agreeable and consistent that it should come from some

intermediate body between the governed and the gover-

nors, that is, between the Congress and the People, let a

Continental Conference be held in the following manner,

and for the following purpose, A Committee of twenty-six

members of congress [selected in various ways “in behalf

of the whole province” to] be united the two grand princi-

The American Revolution 285

ples of business, knowledge and power. The Members of

Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had ex-

perience in national concerns, will be able and useful

counsellors, and the whole, being empowered by the peo-

ple, will have a truly legal authority.

The conferring members being met, let their business

be to frame a Continental Charter, or Charter of the

United Colonies; (answering to what is called the Magna

Charta of England) fixing the number and manner of

choosing Members of Congress, Members of Assembly,

with their date of sitting; and drawing the line of business

and jurisdiction between them: Always remembering, that

our strength is Continental, not Provincial. Securing free-

dom and property to all men, and above all things, the free

exercise of religion, according to the dictates of con-

science; with such other matter as it is necessary for a char-

ter to contain. Immediately after which, the said

conference to dissolve, and the bodies which shall be cho-

sen conformable to the said charter, to be the Legislators

and Governors of this Continent for the time being:

Whose peace and happiness, may God preserve. Amen.

* * *

A government of our own is our natural right: and when a

man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human

affairs, he will become convinced, that it is infinitely wiser

and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool delib-

erate manner, while we have it in our power, than to trust

such an interesting event to time and chance. . . .

* * *

Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can ye

restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to prostitu-

tion its former innocence? Neither can ye reconcile Britain

and America. The last cord now is broken, the people of

England are presenting addresses against us. There are

injuries which nature cannot forgive; she would cease to be

nature if she did. As well can the lover forgive the ravisher

of his mistress, as the Continent forgive the murders of

Britain. The Almighty hath implanted in us these unextin-

guishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are

the Guardians of his Image in our hearts. They distinguish

us from the herd of common animals. The social compact

would dissolve, and justice be extirpated from the earth, or

have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches

of affection. The robber and the murderer would often

escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers

sustain, provoke us into justice.

O! ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose not only

the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the

old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been

hunted round the Globe. Asia and Africa hath long

expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and En-

gland hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the

fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.

Source:

Selections from the Writings of Thomas Paine, New York: Boni

and Liveright, 1922, pp. 1–40.

Abigail and John Adams,

“Remember the Ladies,” 1776

These are excerpts from correspondence between Mass-

achusetts delegate to the Continental Congress and future U.S.

vice president and president John Adams and his wife, Abigail.

The first letter was written shortly after the British evacuated

Boston on March 17, 1776, and excerpts not reproduced here

describe the condition in which the fleeing troops left the city.

Abigail also expressed fear of smallpox. Left in charge of the

family’s farm, she wrote of planting crops. In addition to the

passages below, asking her husband to “remember the ladies,”

she also questioned whether “the passion for Liberty cannot be

Eaquelly Strong in the Breasts of those who have been accus-

tomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs.” In his reply,

John made light of Abigail’s “remember the Ladies” request,

and she answered in kind.

________________________

_______________________

[Abigail Adams to John Adams, March 31, April 5, 1776:]

. . . I long to hear that you have declared an indepen-

dancy—and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I

suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you

would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and

favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such

unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remem-

ber all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar

care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are deter-

mined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves

bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Repre-

sentation. That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth

so thoroughly established as to admit of no dispute, but

such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh

title of Master for the more tender and endearing one of

Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the

vicious and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity

with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages abhor those cus-

toms which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard

us then as Beings placed by providence under your pro-

tection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use

of that power only for our happiness.

[John to Abigail, April 14, 1776:] As to Declarations of

Independency, be patient. . . . As to your extraordinary

286 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh. We have been told that

our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government every

where. That Children and Apprentices were disobedi-

ent—that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent—

that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew

insolent to their Masters. But your Letter was the first Inti-

mation that another Tribe more numerous and powerfull

than all the rest were grown discontented.—This is rather

too coarse a Compliment but you are so saucy, I wont blot

it out.

Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our

Masculine systems. Altho they are in full Force, you know

they are little more than Theory. We dare not exert our

Power in its full Latitude. We are obliged to go fair, and

softly, and in Practice you know We are the subjects. We

have only the Name of Masters, and rather than give up

this, which would compleatly subject Us to the Despotism

of the Peticoat, I hope General Washington, and all our

brave Heroes would fight. . . . After stirring up Tories,

Landjobbers, Trimmers, Bigots, Canadians, Indians,

Negroes, Hanoverians, Hessians, Russians, Irish Roman

Catholicks, Scotch Renegadoes, at last they have stimu-

lated the [women] to demand new Priviledges and

threaten to rebell.

[Abigail to John, May 7, 1776:] I can not say that I think

you very generous to the Ladies, for whilst you are pro-

claiming peace and good will to Men, Emancipating all

Nations, you insist upon retaining an absolute power over

Wives. But you must remember that Arbitrary power is

like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be

broken—and notwithstanding all your wise Laws and Max-

ims we have it in our power not only to free our selves but

to subdue our Masters, and without violence throw both

your natural and legal authority at our feet—

“Charm by accepting, by submitting sway

Yet have our Humour most when we obey.”

Source:

[electronic edition]. Adams Family Papers: An Electronic

Archive. Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Historical Society,

2002. http.www.masshist.org/digital_adams/

Declaration of Independence, 1776

Whatever Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress

meant by the specific words in the Declaration of Indepen-

dence, this document has inspired men and women of all col-

ors, national origins, and economic conditions to believe that

they “are created equal and endowed . . . with [the] unalien-

able rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” It pre-

sents the vision of America that still beckons people from all

over the world and has influenced incipient democracies

abroad.

The document penned by Thomas Jefferson and made

public on July 4, 1776, responded to resolutions proposed on

June 7, 1776, by Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee. Jeffer-

son was a member of the committee appointed to draft the

declaration. The other members were Benjamin Franklin, John

Adams, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Final adop-

tion of Lee’s resolutions by the Congress took place on July 2

by a vote of 12 to 0, with New York abstaining.

The declaration opened with the theoretical explanation

for America’s separation from Great Britain, justifying the split

with an appeal to the doctrine of natural rights. Arguing that

governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the

governed,” Jefferson went on to assert the right to revolt

against an unjust government. The abuses of King George III

against the colonists were then listed in order to legitimize the

renunciation of all ties with Great Britain.

Though edited by members of the Second Continental

Congress (notably Benjamin Franklin and John Adams), Jeffer-

son’s ideas remained basically intact. Revisions were com-

pleted on July 4 and sent immediately to a printer in

Philadelphia, who published it under that date. The official

signing of the document by all the delegates to the Congress

took place on August 2, 1776; most of the 56 names on the

document were signed before August 6, but at least six signa-

tures were attached later.

________________________

_______________________

Declaration of Independence

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 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 separa-

tion.

We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men

are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator

with inherent and 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 gov-

erned; 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, lay-

ing 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

The American Revolution 287

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

distinguished period and 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 expunge their former systems of government. The

history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of

unremitting injuries and usurpations, among which

appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of

the rest, but all 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 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 imme-

diate 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 accommoda-

tion of large districts of people, unless those people would

relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a

right in-estimable 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

and continually, for opposing with manly firmness his inva-

sions 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 pow-

ers, 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 naturaliza-

tion of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage

their migrations hither; and raising the conditions of new

appropriations of lands.

He has suffered the administration of justice totally to

cease in some of these states, 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 and pay-

ment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices by a self-

assumed power, 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 and ships of war, without the consent of our legis-

latures.

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 juris-

diction foreign to our constitutions 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 inhabi-

tants 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 pre-

tended offenses;

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a

neighboring province, establishing therein in 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 states;

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 to be 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 pro-

tection.

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 confisca-

tion of property.

He has constrained others, taken captives on the high

seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the exe-

cutioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall them-

selves by their hands.

288 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself,

violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the per-

sons of a distant people, who never offended him, capti-

vating and carrying them into slavery in another

hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their trans-

portation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of

infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great

Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN

should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative

for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or

restrain this execrable commerce; 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 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 redness in the most humble terms; our repeated peti-

tions 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 people who

mean to be free. Future ages will scarce believe that the

hardiness of one man adventured, within the short com-

pass of twelve years only, to lay a foundation, so broad and

undisguised, for tyranny over a people fostered and fixed

in principles of 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 jurisdiction over

these our states. We have reminded them of the circum-

stances of our emigration and settlement here, no one of

which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these

were affected at the expence of our own blood and trea-

sure, 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 cred-

ited: and we appealed to their native justice and magna-

nimity, as well as to the ties of our common kindred, to

disavow these usurpations, which were likely to interrupt

our condition and correspondence. 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-estab-

lished them in power. At this very time, too, they are per-

mitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers

of our common blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries

to invade and destroy us. These facts have given the last

stab to agonizing affection; and manly spirit bids us to

renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must

therefore 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 great and free

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 here-

after claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve

all political connection which may heretofore have sub-

sisted 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 have full power to levy war, con-

clude 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 honor.