The Declaration of Independence, 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.
Learning from Dogs 
For sure, the King of Great Britain was an abominable tyrant at the time but, has America lived up to the promise of this declaration? No it has not… Somewhere between the Boston Tea Party and the California Goldrush, the principles of this wonderful document were repudiated by the love of money and belief in a meritocracy; where everyone one has the freedom to go to the wall if they cannot support themselves.
In essence, a meritocracy is in conflict with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and, I feel sure, it is not what the founding fathers of the USA had in mind when they formulated the United States Declaration of Independence (USDI). Some will say that the UDHR was and is part of a global conspiracy to achieve worldwide socialism but, have you ever wondered why libertarians attack the UDHR for being a piece of Socialist propaganda?… The difference is that the latter includes an important word – justice. In essence, the USDI asserts rights only, whereas the UDHR incorporates responsibilities as well.
What’s wrong with a meritocracy? (1 March 2012)
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I’m inclined to think that the world hasn’t lived up to many declarations of freedom and justice; it’s not an American thing. One only has to reflect on the promises laid down in writing by King John and his Barons at Runnymede way back in 1215 to see where England has lost its way. I’m speaking, of course, of the Magna Carta which, incidentally, was so influential in the crafting of the American Constitution.
As Patrice refers to frequently, the forces of corruption are global.
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I know it may seem that I am just attacking the USA but to think such a thing would be a travesty. If the UK had a Constitution, I would ridicule it. As it is, all I can do is get angry about the blatant hypocrisy of our Conservative Prime Minister trying to blame the corruption of our Financial Services sector on the last Labour Government.
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Corruption is rife all over the world.. as we see our own independence decline in many areas of our way of living..
Politics is among them.. in ways we are only just beginning to see.. As we are with the Banks.. The Trust is gone..
Just dropping in Paul to wish you and Jean a Happy 4th whatever the celebration enjoy your evening.. ~Sue
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Thank you, Sue. Jean and I were invited to a small but lovely ceremony at Payson Green Park where the American flag was raised and shortly thereafter the Declaration of Independence was read out in full.
Despite our Britishness we were both very taken by the event and made to feel welcome. However, we couldn’t help noticing how many who came over the speak with us lamented the fact that so many “repeated injuries and usurpations” were alive and kicking today.
Tonight we are staying in to do our best to comfort 11 dogs, 6 cats and 4 chickens as the evening is lit up by fireworks (hopefully not including the forest!).
Perhaps the most memorable aspect of the morning was that at 7.45 am a gentle rain started! 🙂 Only a quarter inch or so but the first rain for weeks and weeks.
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Glad you both had a good time., I hope that your wonderful Animals were not too upset by the Fireworks.
And Paul If you wanted any rain…. You should just have asked. I could have sent you buckets full over from the most Wettest June on Record here in the UK… You’d have been very welcome to some, so long as you sent us some of your Sunshine in return 🙂
Have a great rest of the week both of you..
Sue
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Thankfully, the fireworks were pretty muted, so a restful night was had by all! And I see the rain in England continues to arrive! Over this side of the pond we had, perhaps, a 1/4 inch, maybe a tad more. Today is bright, sunny and dry.
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That the trust is gone is actually a good thing. We cannot trust a system where a few lead hundreds of millions, if not billions. Even if they come from the People, and especially if they come from the People. Because the less power where they come from, the greedier they are, and thus, the more eager to be bought.
Two thousand years ago, any grouping of a few thousands Germans got enraged when someone would proclaim himself a king. Now people venerate those who think they can do all the thinking in place of billions.
Hence we are facing the reality of a vastly incomplete revolution: Athens, at her apex, had direct democracy (OK, no women, no slaves…). We don’t.
We have democratic institutions to help, true (such as a humanized, republicanized, and constitutionalized army). And these democratic institutions, missing in Athens, does, indeed, help. But it’s not enough. The incapacity to stop the devastation of the biosphere, or the devastation caused by the rampaging financial sector, are proof enough that Pluto is taking over.
How bad is it? Very bad. We are experiencing a Greater Depression. Only appearances are doing better than in the 1930s, but some of the most important statistics are worse. http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/greater-depression/.
The Greater Depression in Europe is so severe that the birth rate is severely collapsing.
“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.” Well, as it turned out, the frontier was soon extended to the ocean, and the “merciless Indian Savages” are now probably destroying the sea…
This snippet of the declaration of independence is deeply disturbing, because it exhibits colossal insensitivity to Peoples who were just trying to survive to the destruction of their own world, while outrageously turning the tables on them, by claiming that they were undistinguished destroyers (while presumably the authors of the declaration were the distinguished destroyers). After all, it is cities such as Boston which paid money for scalps. A pattern was set in stone: accuse them of what you do, and call them savages.
By the way, the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was just a rebellion, not a Revolution. The Revolution, that is the new Constitution of the republic, was established in 1789, within months of its French equivalent (for a constitutional monarchy headed by that great revolutionary, Louis XVI). The French one gave the right of vote to all (men), and outlawed slavery.
It is only from the astounding agitation, encouragement, and giant financial and military support of Louis XVI that the American rebellion succeeded. Otherwise, the USA would have been the southern extension of Canada… That would have had advantages: France and Britain would have stayed masters of the planet (together, as it was, they defeated China and Russia in the 19C). There would have been no Auschwitz (as the enormous resources of UK + Canadized USA +France + Louisiana would have crushed fascism outright.
The British Parliament narrowly approved the expulsion of France out of Canada, although at the time many in the UK claimed it would lead to the USA. Indeed France returned the favor with the creation of the USA. So now what? Urgent to recap the foundations of civilization…
Hint; it’s not just founded on the profit motive: look at the Higgs particle. More on:
http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/… Soon.
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Dear Patrice, Thanks again for yet another history lesson [I mean it :-)]. In particular, thanks for drawing attention to the hypocrisy of the US DoI (that I had not spotted). I have always thought of it as a tremendous achievement (both Independence and the Declaration of it) but now I know why politicians find it so easy to re-write history and do it repeatedly and shamelessly as PM David Cameron (DC) is now doing in the UK… It must be an innate part of their sense of vocation…
In the opening lines of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mocking Bird the narrator (Scout) recounts a debate about how her brother Jem came to get is arm broken (i.e. where did the sequence of events begin). I know Per disputes it but, it seems very clear to me that the seeds of the financial meltdown of 2008 were planted in the deregulation of the late 1980s and, in particular, the newly-revealed corruption of the City of London could never have happened without the Big Bang of 1986 which the Conservatives orchestrated. Thus trying to blame it all on the Labour Government of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown is just ridiculous (but DC is getting away with it)…
You could of course argue that the cause of both the meltdown and the corruption was Adam eating of the fruit of the Forbidden Tree but that would just be silly… Or would it? …Belief in the imperfection of man is just about all that keeps me from being a revolutionary Communist!
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Dear Martin: I just had a friend and commenter going back to Adam (in French). But accusing the Dark Side, and then saying: such is nature, is, well, inhuman. The Dark Side is necessary (I have argued elsewhere, and many times). However it’s not because gravity is necessary that we have to succumb to it.
I agree with all you wrote. But I have to run right now, so I will not wax lyrical as much as I would like. Can’t wait to get rid of DC, though… He and Merkler, sorry, Merkel… OK, he is worse than her, like when giving lessons to her about how to save the Euro…
PA
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