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 harrass 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 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 Brittish 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.
Have a Blessed 4th, Shaw and PR Readers!
ReplyDelete250 year old document. and we ponder -
ReplyDelete" it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them" .
Hmm, pondering...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shaw, for posting this—especially the list of signers.
ReplyDeleteOver the last few months, we've heard a growing view of what it means to be a "Heritage American," promoted by many, including Vice President JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, The Heritage Foundation, and others.
As Vance has explained it, "people whose ancestors fought in the Civil War"—and some would extend that to the Revolutionary War—"have a hell of a lot more claim over America" than those who believe in a creedal America.
That idea filters down into blogs, presidential posts, and outlets like Fox News, where people on the left are sometimes portrayed as wanting other countries to attack us with nuclear weapons, as hating America, and as being not just un-American, but not really American at all.
Your list of signers includes Robert Treat Paine. Through adoption, second marriages, and all the twists and turns of family history, I know only one blood grandparent in my family tree: my father's father, Donald Treat Miller. He was a direct descendant of Robert Treat Paine, whose family line stretches back to Richard Treat, who arrived from Pitminster, England, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637.
Even my African American wife can trace her family back to some of the original settlers of what would become the United States.
So let me sum this up.
Both sides of our mixed-race son's family can be traced to our nation's founding. Through Robert Treat Paine, our family line reaches back to a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In addition, members of our family have served in every American war since the Revolutionary War.
By the standard JD Vance so casually invokes, we are "Heritage Americans."
We love America. We want her to succeed. We want our families to live safe, happy, productive, and long lives. We are progressives because we want America to continue the unfinished work of forming a more perfect Union. And we are creedal believing people.
In spite of what some may believe—whether they are vice presidents, television personalities, or misguided bloggers—
We are Americans.
Happy Fourth, y'all.
Let's hope the answer to Benjamin Franklin's famous challenge about keeping our republic is this:
We're working on it—together.
Impressive lineage, Dave.
ReplyDeleteMy American heritage goes back to the day I was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I am fully American with parents who chose to come here from Sicily and become fully American as well.
I'm sure Dave M. agrees with me when I say that I am as much an American as he is, albeit, not with the same illustrious background as he and his wife share, but with the same love and hope for the country I was born in and claim as my heritage.
My love of America comes from a commitment to the nation's core principles, and I believe that anyone who pledges allegiance to these ideals can become a true heritage American, regardless of where they were born nor how far back in US history their heritage can be traced.
We "creedal Americans" hold values such as equal opportunity, individual liberty, and representative government.
BTW, when Vice President Vance claims true Americans are "heritage Americans," he leaves out Trump and his wife.
I completely agree Shaw. In fact I only cite my family for the folks that say I'm unAmerican, hate America and want to see our country nuked. All to no one uttering a word of disagreement with those sentiments.
DeleteI'm sure you can imagine where one might see that type of comment and the people who call themselves educated who choose to, by their silence, assent to those views.
On your BTW... let's not forget, Vance also leaves out his anchor baby wife, Usha and kids.
Creeds (like religions) can be renounced. Heritage, not so much. It can be ignored, but it's basis is much more "material" and "foundational". Both are important. Both are strongest when they travel together.
ReplyDelete“Heritage, not so much.” Tell that to Benedict Arnold, Robert E. Lee, Aaron Burr, and Martin James Monti.
DeleteHappy Independence Day to all
ReplyDeleteJoe... and when immigrants come here and naturalize, they agree to the creed, to become Americans and that is the first step to their future families adopting the heritage of America.
ReplyDeleteGrateful immigrants, as we've seen in the past, will indeed love, serve and defend America, adopting not just the creed, but eventually the customs and mores of our country.
We've seen it for centuries, even as "ethnic" groups and associations like Italian American and German American clubs abound, even here in Las Vegas.
Vance is full of crap. His true "heritage" is the damn Confederacy, when he spread the racist lie about black Haitian immigrants. "They're eating the dogs in Springfield".
ReplyDelete