Straight to the point here. Two hundred and twenty-nine years ago today, thirteen colonies decided enough was enough and threw off the chains of tyranny and oppression and signed the Declaration of Independence. Happy Independence day, America.
Incidentally, as a Libertarian, I love this document.
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776The 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 [George III] 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 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 and 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 the 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.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew ThorntonMassachusetts
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge GerryRhode Island
Stephen Hopkins, William ElleryConnecticut
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver WolcottNew York
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis MorrisNew Jersey
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham ClarkPennsylvania
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George RossDelaware
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKeanMaryland
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of CarrolltonVirginia
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter BraxtonNorth Carolina
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John PennSouth Carolina
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
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About Aaron
As an American I love this document… Unfortunately, today there are too many people enjoying the freedoms and benefits this country offers who do not love this document and what it means. There are too many people who blame America for the worlds problems and would do harm rather than defend her. They love the freedoms, but are not willing to do what it takes to defend them. Count the number of flags you see waving on your neighbors homes and wonder why there aren’t more…
Happy Independence Day to all who love this country and appreciate the freedoms the Declaration of Independence gave us…
As an American I love this document… Unfortunately, today there are too many people enjoying the freedoms and benefits this country offers who do not love this document and what it means. There are too many people who blame America for the worlds problems and would do harm rather than defend her. They love the freedoms, but are not willing to do what it takes to defend them. Count the number of flags you see waving on your neighbors homes and wonder why there aren’t more…Happy Independence Day to all who love this country and appreciate the freedoms the Declaration of Independence gave us…
what i love is the line “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”… pursuit being the emphasis – too many people think that being an american means that you are somehow guaranteed happiness or that it should be given to you – the declaration never said that – only that you have the right to pursue it freely!
Yeah… and mine is
The limitations of government is established by the people, not by themselves. Oterwise, we can revolt.
Start a revolution?
what i love is the line “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”… pursuit being the emphasis – too many people think that being an american means that you are somehow guaranteed happiness or that it should be given to you – the declaration never said that – only that you have the right to pursue it freely!
Yeah… and mine is
The limitations of government is established by the people, not by themselves. Oterwise, we can revolt.Start a revolution?
Aaron,
Steve an I have been telling you guys that for years. We need more people who will stand up and defend the rights of the people from our Gov..
Aaron,Steve an I have been telling you guys that for years. We need more people who will stand up and defend the rights of the people from our Gov..
Oh I’m with you, Larry. You gonna be the General Lee we need? :D
Oh I’m with you, Larry. You gonna be the General Lee we need? :D
Now how are you going to have a revolution without me involved?
It is funny that this discussion always comes up on Independence Day. From my perspective it is always the “Well to do” individual who is always tooting the horn for patriotism. And when I say “Well to do” I mean the person who really doesn’t have to work because their bank accounts keep money in it, they drive the big SUV’s & cars that make a financial statement, and live in homes that are extremely tucked away so they don’t have to be exposed to the problems of city life.
And when someone like me excerises my right to speak my mind I am either told to basically shut-up or completely removed from the situation just for standing up for myself and maybe even someone else who is afraid to speak up.
I am an American but sure as hell don’t get the warm fuzzies on Independence Day. To be it is holiday to spend time going from cookout to cookout eating, drinking, laughing and dancing with those whom you haven’t seen in a while because like you they are busting their asses to keep the very small piece of the pie that AMERICA has said numerous times was theirs.
Shut up, Sean. :)
Now how are you going to have a revolution without me involved? It is funny that this discussion always comes up on Independence Day. From my perspective it is always the “Well to do” individual who is always tooting the horn for patriotism. And when I say “Well to do” I mean the person who really doesn’t have to work because their bank accounts keep money in it, they drive the big SUV’s & cars that make a financial statement, and live in homes that are extremely tucked away so they don’t have to be exposed to the problems of city life.And when someone like me excerises my right to speak my mind I am either told to basically shut-up or completely removed from the situation just for standing up for myself and maybe even someone else who is afraid to speak up.I am an American but sure as hell don’t get the warm fuzzies on Independence Day. To be it is holiday to spend time going from cookout to cookout eating, drinking, laughing and dancing with those whom you haven’t seen in a while because like you they are busting their asses to keep the very small piece of the pie that AMERICA has said numerous times was theirs.
Sean, I agree with Aaron…
The problem with American’s and it seems YOU today is just what you said in your last paragraph… Most of our countries holidays, such as Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and most other Federal holidays are treated as just another day off… A three day weekend… Cookouts, picnics, the beach and drinking too much beer… How many flags did you see on homes in your neighborhood over the weekend? Did you have a flag on your home? I don’t know about you, but my wife and I both work and have paid our dues… I respect our country and what it stands for… I don’t need a handout from the government like so many people feel is their right… Give me, Give me, Give me… How do you feel about the latest Supreme Court decision regarding our right to private property? You think it’s OK to take property from someone who has worked hard and give it to someone else? After-all isn’t that what the Liberals are all about… You want to speak up on your beliefs go ahead, but as they say “Actions speak louder than words”
For the record, I was playing with Sean. I agree with you. I agree with most everyone who has commented so far as there is truth in all of it. I think we might all be speaking the same language in different dialects.
Me too, but with a note of seriousness… To many people complain about this country and only look for handouts… Unfortunately we give too many handouts to people who do not have the rights to them…
Shut up, Sean. :)
Sean, I agree with Aaron…The problem with American’s and it seems YOU today is just what you said in your last paragraph… Most of our countries holidays, such as Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day and most other Federal holidays are treated as just another day off… A three day weekend… Cookouts, picnics, the beach and drinking too much beer… How many flags did you see on homes in your neighborhood over the weekend? Did you have a flag on your home? I don’t know about you, but my wife and I both work and have paid our dues… I respect our country and what it stands for… I don’t need a handout from the government like so many people feel is their right… Give me, Give me, Give me… How do you feel about the latest Supreme Court decision regarding our right to private property? You think it’s OK to take property from someone who has worked hard and give it to someone else? After-all isn’t that what the Liberals are all about… You want to speak up on your beliefs go ahead, but as they say “Actions speak louder than words”
For the record, I was playing with Sean. I agree with you. I agree with most everyone who has commented so far as there is truth in all of it. I think we might all be speaking the same language in different dialects.
Me too, but with a note of seriousness… To many people complain about this country and only look for handouts… Unfortunately we give too many handouts to people who do not have the rights to them…
Why not treat these holidays as another day off??? These are times to celebrate and reflect. It doesn’t matter how many flags line my neighborhood, because I already know what it means to live in this great nation.
Think about it, even if you stood outside and burned an American flag on Independance day or Memorial day, the fact that you are allowed to do such a thing is what this country is all about…Freedom. Anyone with any respect would never think of doing something like that. But it’s an interesting thought given the fact that there is legislation in congress to ban the practice.
A.J., I agree with your Voltairian point: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”
Why not treat these holidays as another day off??? These are times to celebrate and reflect. It doesn’t matter how many flags line my neighborhood, because I already know what it means to live in this great nation. Think about it, even if you stood outside and burned an American flag on Independance day or Memorial day, the fact that you are allowed to do such a thing is what this country is all about…Freedom. Anyone with any respect would never think of doing something like that. But it’s an interesting thought given the fact that there is legislation in congress to ban the practice.
A.J., I agree with your Voltairian point: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”
So what are you saying MIKE? I am looking for a handout? You must have been drinking way too much scotch!!! Talk about paying dues…With all due respect who are you to tell me about paying dues. I have payed them since the day I was born and will continue to pay them until the day I die.
And what’s even worst is my sons and daughters will pay MY dues as they grow up IN AMERICA. I have been called N*gger to my face, talked to as if I don’t know anything, and in some cases even treated as though my opinion doesn’t count even after being asked what I thought.
Who gives a shit about flags hanging from houses? I know I don’t. My ancestors paid there dues a long time ago by taking the physical and verbal abuse from some of your uncles, aunts, cousins, and great-great whoevers but I bet your children don’t have to pay dues today.
I have listened to your crap about being american and patriotism and to me you sound just like one of those people I was referring to. What dues have you paid? What being a republican? You sit there with your ONE SIDED opinion and expect everybody else to jump on your bandwagon.
Seems to me like everybody that is on your bandwagon is DRUNK and I am sure they will be offended by my words but like AJ wrote I have that freedom to sat just what I feel.
Just because you hang a flag outside of your house doesn’t qualify you as patriotic because I know a lot of assholes who do have them hanging outside of theirs.
U DON’T KNOW ME PLAYA!!!
So what are you saying MIKE? I am looking for a handout? You must have been drinking way too much scotch!!! Talk about paying dues…With all due respect who are you to tell me about paying dues. I have payed them since the day I was born and will continue to pay them until the day I die.And what’s even worst is my sons and daughters will pay MY dues as they grow up IN AMERICA. I have been called N*gger to my face, talked to as if I don’t know anything, and in some cases even treated as though my opinion doesn’t count even after being asked what I thought.Who gives a shit about flags hanging from houses? I know I don’t. My ancestors paid there dues a long time ago by taking the physical and verbal abuse from some of your uncles, aunts, cousins, and great-great whoevers but I bet your children don’t have to pay dues today.I have listened to your crap about being american and patriotism and to me you sound just like one of those people I was referring to. What dues have you paid? What being a republican? You sit there with your ONE SIDED opinion and expect everybody else to jump on your bandwagon. Seems to me like everybody that is on your bandwagon is DRUNK and I am sure they will be offended by my words but like AJ wrote I have that freedom to sat just what I feel.Just because you hang a flag outside of your house doesn’t qualify you as patriotic because I know a lot of assholes who do have them hanging outside of theirs.U DON’T KNOW ME PLAYA!!!