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 Natures God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declarethe causes which impel them to the separationWe hold these truths to be self!evident, that all men are created equal, that they areendowed by their Creator with certain unalienable "ights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of #appiness$%hat to secure these rights, Governmentsare instituted among &en, deriving their 'ust powers from the consent of the governed, $%hat whenever any (orm of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the "ight of the )eople to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organi*ing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to e+ect their ,afety and #appiness )rudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes- and accordingly all e.perience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to su+er, while evils are su+erable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed /ut when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same 0b'ect evinces a design to reduce them under absolute 1espotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw o+ such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security$,uch has been the patient su+erance of these Colonies- and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former ,ystems of Government %he history of the present 2ing of Great /ritain is a history of repeated in'uries and usurpations, all having in direct ob'ect the establishment of an absolute %yranny over these ,tates %o prove this, let (acts be submitted to a candid worldHe 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 rmness 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 tothe !eople at large for their e"ercise; the #tate remaining in the mean time e"posed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these #tates; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for $aturali%ation of &oreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.He has obstructed the Administration of 'ustice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing 'udiciary powers.He has made 'udges dependent on his (ill alone, for the tenure of their o)ces, andthe amount and payment of their salaries.He has erected a multitude of $ew *)ces, and sent hither swarms of *)cers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.He has +ept among us, in times of peace, #tanding Armies without the ,onsent of our legislatures.He has a-ected to render the .ilitary independent of and superior to the ,ivil power.He has combined with others to sub/ect us to a /urisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unac+nowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation0&or 1uartering large bodies of armed troops among us0&or protecting them, by a moc+ 2rial, from punishment for any .urders which they should commit on the 3nhabitants of these #tates0&or cutting o- our 2rade with all parts of the world0&or imposing 2a"es on us without our ,onsent0&or depriving us in many cases, of the benets of 2rial by 'ury0&or transporting us beyond #eas to be tried for pretended o-ences&or abolishing the free #ystem of 4nglish Laws in a neighbouring !rovince, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its 5oundaries so as to render it at once an e"ample and t instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these ,olonies0&or ta+ing away our ,harters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the &orms of our Governments0&or suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with powerto legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his !rotection and waging (ar against us.He has plundered our seas, ravaged our ,oasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed thelives of our people.He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign .ercenaries to compleat the wor+s of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of ,ruelty 6 perdy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civili%ed nation.He has constrained our fellow ,iti%ens ta+en ,aptive on the high #eas to bear Arms against their ,ountry, to become the e"ecutioners of their friends and 5rethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.He has e"cited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless 3ndian #avages, whose +nown rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, se"es and conditions.3n every stage of these 0ppressions We have )etitioned for "edress in the most humble terms4 0ur repeated )etitions have been answered only by repeated in'ury 5 )rince whose character is thus marked by every act which may de6ne a %yrant, is un6t to be the ruler of a free peopleNor have We been wanting in attentions to our /rittish brethren We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to e.tend an unwarrantable 'urisdiction over us We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigrationand settlement here We have appealed to their native 'ustice and magnanimity, and we have con'ured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence %hey too have been deaf to the voice of 'ustice and of consanguinity We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our ,eparation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, 7nemies in War, in )eace (riendsWe, therefore, the "epresentatives of the united ,tates of 5merica, in General Congress, 5ssembled, appealing to the ,upreme 8udge of the world for the rectitudeof our intentions, do, in the Name, and by 5uthority of the good )eople of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, %hat these 9nited Colonies are, and of "ightought to be (ree and 3ndependent ,tates- that they are 5bsolved from all 5llegianceto the /ritish Crown, and that all political connection between them and the ,tate ofGreat /ritain, is and ought to be totally dissolved- and that as (ree and 3ndependent,tates, they have full )ower to levy War, conclude )eace, contract 5lliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other 5cts and %hings which 3ndependent ,tates may of right do 5nd for the support of this 1eclaration, with a 6rm reliance on the protection of divine )rovidence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our (ortunes and our sacred #onor2he 78 signatures on the 9eclaration appear in the positions indicated0Column :Georgia:/utton GwinnettLyman #allGeorge WaltonColumn ;North Carolina:William #ooper8oseph #ewes8ohn )ennSouth Carolina:7dward "utledge%homas #eyward, 8r%homas Lynch, 8r5rthur &iddletonColumn