When in the course of human events...

[/dev/null]

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 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 benefit 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 & 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 Honor.

 

[Jim in Anchorage]

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.

Incredible courage. We truly stand on the shoulders of giants.

It humbled me reading that, and made me think of how sometimes I take for granted this incredible country I live in, created by men whose strength of character and power of will I can only aspire to.

[HopsGuy]

for opposing with manly firmness his invasions

 

Without a doubt, the most awkward part of the document.

 

[Doc]

It's sad to see how far we've veered off-course.

[Hossage]

I didnt sign the constitution. I dont think I should be bound by it.

 

Our founding fathers were not good people. They couldn't seriously have thought that Rome wouldn't fall all over again. They took as much power as they could at the time, and every successive politician since has.

 

The next great experiment should be government that isnt coercive. Voluntary, contractual government services.

 

Government is just people doing things. That should not be praised.

[joey greco]

I didnt sign the constitution. I dont think I should be bound by it.

 

Our founding fathers were not good people. They couldn't seriously have thought that Rome wouldn't fall all over again. They took as much power as they could at the time, and every successive politician since has.

 

The next great experiment should be government that isnt coercive. Voluntary, contractual government services.

 

Government is just people doing things. That should not be praised.

 

This is wrong in so many ways. First of all, the document above is the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. The idea that you are not bound by the legal agreements of your ancestors (in one way or another, all the states had ratifying conventions and all subsequent states agreed to be bound by the Constitution as a condition of entry to the Union) is a fascistic argument.

 

Of course, the founders didn't take all the power they could have. Washington could have become a military dictator, and most expected him to. George III himself said that if he didn't, that Washington would be the greatest man in the world. Washington didn't. They didn't anticipate or desire the degree of democracy that developed, but they did allow a greater degree of freedom than they had to, or that existed anywhere else in the history of mankind to that point.

 

Finally, we are supposed to have a contractual government such as you state to desire. That is the government that the founders designed. The fact that we don't owes much to the progressives, who don't believe that written contracts don't mean anything. That's the basis of the idea of the "living" constitution. If people can change the meaning of written documents to anything they wish to, rather than what is written, contractual government no longer exists. What we have now is arbitrary government, according to what judges wish to be, government by fiat. Thank your friends on the left for that.

[billsfan89]

Incredible courage. We truly stand on the shoulders of giants.

It humbled me reading that, and made me think of how sometimes I take for granted this incredible country I live in, created by men whose strength of character and power of will I can only aspire to.

 

I do hate when people say "Oh the founding fathers were just a bunch of slave owning Hippocrates" or "The founding fathers were just a bunch of guys that didn't want to pay their taxes". The ignorance of those statements always baffle me. By signing that document the founding fathers put their fortunes and wealth on the line because if America had lost they would have lost everything they had.

 

The founding fathers put everything they had on the line to found this great nation when they didn't have to. Sure there was slavery and other mistakes were made but nothing is perfect or ideal.

 

Also the WWII generation (Not just in America) my grandfather was a part of made big sacrifices to our current society that continue to help this great nation.

[Mark Vader]

I do hate when people say "Oh the founding fathers were just a bunch of slave owning Hippocrates" or "The founding fathers were just a bunch of guys that didn't want to pay their taxes". The ignorance of those statements always baffle me. By signing that document the founding fathers put their fortunes and wealth on the line because if America had lost they would have lost everything they had.

 

The founding fathers put everything they had on the line to found this great nation when they didn't have to. Sure there was slavery and other mistakes were made but nothing is perfect or ideal.

 

Also the WWII generation (Not just in America) my grandfather was a part of made big sacrifices to our current society that continue to help this great nation.

It is true that the founding fathers did have their flaws, and we should acknowledge that. At the same time, I defy anyone to show me any person who has/had no flaws.

 

The way I see it, the founding fathers did have their faults. Yet that does not take away the vision they had for the country they wanted to live in, and I thank God that I am a benefactor of their vision.

[BillsRUs]

I didnt sign the constitution. I dont think I should be bound by it.

 

 

This ain't your rent agreement brah.

[WWVaBeach]

I didnt sign the constitution. I dont think I should be bound by it.

 

Our founding fathers were not good people. They couldn't seriously have thought that Rome wouldn't fall all over again. They took as much power as they could at the time, and every successive politician since has.

 

The next great experiment should be government that isnt coercive. Voluntary, contractual government services.

 

Government is just people doing things. That should not be praised.

 

Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. I hear Iran is nice this time of year. See ya!

[linksfiend]

Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out. I hear Iran is nice this time of year. See ya!

 

I'm usually all for a difference of opinion. But yeah, when you disagree so fundamentally with this place that you disparage the Constitution then head elsewhere - Haiti, Cuba, wherever. Just go.

[Hossage]

Government is a gun to your head. I want a government that rules with the consent of the people. I do not want to leave my native land just to go to another human farm with a government supported by violence.

[BillsRUs]

Government is a gun to your head. I want a government that rules with the consent of the people. I do not want to leave my native land just to go to another human farm with a government supported by violence.

 

 

Maybe you should ask

what he thinks.

[Hossage]

Maybe you should ask

what he thinks.

 

Great story.

[Cornerville]

Government is a gun to your head. I want a government that rules with the consent of the people. I do not want to leave my native land just to go to another human farm with a government supported by violence.

 

 

I heard Antarctica is nice this time of year.

[Hossage]

Go on, piglets, defend big brother. But consider how many of the accusations against the King our current government is guilty of.

[Cornerville]

Go on, piglets, defend big brother. But consider how many of the accusations against the King our current government is guilty of.

 

 

Like I said, I think Antarctica would fit you well. Send me a postcard when you get there.

[Mark Vader]

Government is a gun to your head. I want a government that rules with the consent of the people. I do not want to leave my native land just to go to another human farm with a government supported by violence.

Which country has a government like that?

[SageAgainstTheMachine]

This is wrong in so many ways. First of all, the document above is the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. The idea that you are not bound by the legal agreements of your ancestors (in one way or another, all the states had ratifying conventions and all subsequent states agreed to be bound by the Constitution as a condition of entry to the Union) is a fascistic argument.

 

Of course, the founders didn't take all the power they could have. Washington could have become a military dictator, and most expected him to. George III himself said that if he didn't, that Washington would be the greatest man in the world. Washington didn't. They didn't anticipate or desire the degree of democracy that developed, but they did allow a greater degree of freedom than they had to, or that existed anywhere else in the history of mankind to that point.

 

Finally, we are supposed to have a contractual government such as you state to desire. That is the government that the founders designed. The fact that we don't owes much to the progressives, who don't believe that written contracts don't mean anything. That's the basis of the idea of the "living" constitution. If people can change the meaning of written documents to anything they wish to, rather than what is written, contractual government no longer exists. What we have now is arbitrary government, according to what judges wish to be, government by fiat. Thank your friends on the left for that.

 

Modern political leaders could learn a hell of a lot from George Washington. To lead, you don't need a fancy education (he didn't have one), or an impressive political pedigree. You need two things...to be a leader, and to be a good person. Unfortunately, we've been very short on men and women like that in political office recently.

[BuffaloBill]

To think that the men who signed this document risked everything, including their lives, is arguably the most selfless group action in the history of mankind.