|
BIBLE
PAGE
Hone Page
News
you can use
Presidential
hopefuls
Our
Goal
Links
Commentary
Gen.
Patton's Speech
Gen.
Smedley Butler: War is a Racket
Income Tax is Not Legal
Washington's Farewell Address
Eisenhower's farewell
address
Independent
jury's secret power
The Liberty
Amendment
The
Grace Report
The Major Media is
the Enemy
Analysing a Jewish Rabbi's speech
Some of Americas
major enemies
The Protocols of
the Learned Elders of Zion
An
Essay on the Protocols
|
|
The
Constitution, Bill of Rights
Prepared by Gerald Murphy (Cleveland Free-Net - aa300). Distributed by
the Cybercasting Services Division of the National Public Telecomputing
Network (NPTN). Permission is hereby granted to download, reprint,
and/or otherwise redistribute this file, provided appropriate point of
origin credit is given to the preparer(s) and the National Public
Telecomputing Network.
The Bill of Rights, the
United States Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence.
BILL OF RIGHTS
The Conventions of a number
of the States having, at the time of adopting the Constitution,
expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its
powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be
added, and as extending the ground of public confidence in the
Government will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution;
Resolved, by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress
assembled, two-thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following
articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as
amendments to the Constitution of the United States; all or any of which
articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said Legislatures, to be
valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution,
namely:
Amendment I
Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment II
A well regulated militia,
being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people
to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Amendment III
No soldier shall, in time of
peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor
in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.
Amendment IV
The right of the people to be
secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against
unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no
warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or
affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and
the persons or things to be seized.
Amendment V
No person shall be held to
answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a
presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in
the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in
time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the
same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be
compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be
deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor
shall private property be taken for public use, without just
compensation.
Amendment VI
In all criminal prosecutions,
the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an
impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have
been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by
law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be
confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process
for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of
counsel for his defense.
Amendment VII
In suits at common law, where
the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial
by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be
otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according
to the rules of the common law.
Amendment VIII
Excessive bail shall not be
required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments
inflicted.
Amendment IX
The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X
The powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.
Prepared by Gerald Murphy
(Cleveland Free-Net - aa300). Distributed by the Cybercasting Services
Division of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). Permission
is hereby granted to download, reprint, and/or otherwise redistribute
this file, provided appropriate point of origin credit is given to the
preparer(s) and the National Public Telecomputing Network.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE
UNITED STATES
We the people of the United
States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United
States of America.
Article I
Section 1. All legislative
powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United
States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
Section 2. The House of
Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by
the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall
have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous
branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a
Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five
years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who
shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he
shall be chosen.
Representatives and direct
taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be
included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which
shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons,
including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding
Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual
Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of
the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of
ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of
Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each
state shall have at least one Representative; and until such enumeration
shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse
three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one,
Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight,
Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South
Carolina five, and Georgia three.
When vacancies happen in the
Representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall
issue writs of election to fill such vacancies.
The House of Representatives
shall choose their speaker and other officers; and shall have the sole
power of impeachment.
Section 3. The Senate of the
United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen
by the legislature thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have
one vote.
Immediately after they shall
be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided
as equally as may be into three classes.
The seats of the Senators of
the first class shall be vacated at the expiration of the second year,
of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and the third
class at the expiration of the sixth year, so that one third may be
chosen every second year; and if vacancies happen by resignation, or
otherwise, during the recess of the legislature of any state, the
executive thereof may make temporary appointments until the next meeting
of the legislature, which shall then fill such vacancies.
No person shall be a Senator
who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine
years a citizen of the United States and who shall not, when elected, be
an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.
The Vice President of the
United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote,
unless they be equally divided.
The Senate shall choose their
other officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the
Vice President, or when he shall exercise the office of President of the
United States.
The Senate shall have the
sole power to try all impeachments. When sitting for that purpose, they
shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the United States
is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no person shall be
convicted without the concurrence of two thirds of the members present.
Judgment in cases of
impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and
disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit
under the United States: but the party convicted shall nevertheless be
liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment,
according to law.
Section 4. The times, places
and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives, shall
be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof; but the Congress
may at any time by law make or alter such regulations, except as to the
places of choosing Senators.
The Congress shall assemble
at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first
Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.
Section 5. Each House shall
be the judge of the elections, returns and qualifications of its own
members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do
business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be
authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, in such manner,
and under such penalties as each House may provide.
Each House may determine the
rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior,
and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.
Each House shall keep a
journal of its proceedings, and from time to time publish the same,
excepting such parts as may in their judgment require secrecy; and the
yeas and nays of the members of either House on any question shall, at
the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal.
Neither House, during the
session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn
for more than three days, nor to any other place than that in which the
two Houses shall be sitting.
Section 6. The Senators and
Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be
ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.
They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace,
be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of
their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same;
and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be
questioned in any other place.
No Senator or Representative
shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any
civil office under the authority of the United States, which shall have
been created, or the emoluments whereof shall have been increased during
such time: and no person holding any office under the United States,
shall be a member of either House during his continuance in office.
Section 7. All bills for
raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the
Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.
Every bill which shall have
passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it
become a law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he
approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his
objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall
enter the objections at large on their journal, and proceed to
reconsider it. If after such reconsideration two thirds of that House
shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the
objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be
reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall
become a law. But in all such cases the votes of both Houses shall be
determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and
against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each House
respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the President within
ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him,
the same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless
the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return, in which case it
shall not be a law.
Every order, resolution, or
vote to which the concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives
may be necessary (except on a question of adjournment) shall be
presented to the President of the United States; and before the same
shall take effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by
him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of
Representatives, according to the rules and limitations prescribed in
the case of a bill.
Section 8. The Congress shall
have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay
the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the
United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform
throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit
of the United States;
To regulate commerce with
foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian
tribes;
To establish a uniform rule
of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies
throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the
value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and
measures;
To provide for the punishment
of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish post offices and
post roads;
To promote the progress of
science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and
inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and
discoveries;
To constitute tribunals
inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish piracies
and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of
nations;
To declare war, grant letters
of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and
water;
To raise and support armies,
but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term
than two years;
To provide and maintain a
navy;
To make rules for the
government and regulation of the land and naval forces;
To provide for calling forth
the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and
repel invasions;
To provide for organizing,
arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of
them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving
to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the
authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed
by Congress;
To exercise exclusive
legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding
ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the
acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United
States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the
consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for
the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful
buildings;—And
To make all laws which shall
be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing
powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the
government of the United States, or in any department or officer
thereof.
Section 9. The migration or
importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall
think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to
the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be
imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person.
The privilege of the writ of
habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion
or invasion the public safety may require it.
No bill of attainder or ex
post facto Law shall be passed.
No capitation, or other
direct, tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or
enumeration herein before directed to be taken.
No tax or duty shall be laid
on articles exported from any state.
No preference shall be given
by any regulation of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over
those of another: nor shall vessels bound to, or from, one state, be
obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in another.
No money shall be drawn from
the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law; and a
regular statement and account of receipts and expenditures of all public
money shall be published from time to time.
No title of nobility shall be
granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit
or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept
of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from
any king, prince, or foreign state.
Section 10. No state shall
enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation; grant letters of
marque and reprisal; coin money; emit bills of credit; make anything but
gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of
attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of
contracts, or grant any title of nobility.
No state shall, without the
consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or
exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it’s
inspection laws: and the net produce of all duties and imposts, laid by
any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of
the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision
and control of the Congress.
No state shall, without the
consent of Congress, lay any duty of tonnage, keep troops, or ships of
war in time of peace, enter into any agreement or compact with another
state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually
invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay.
Article II
Section 1. The executive
power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He
shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with
the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows:
Each state shall appoint, in
such manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of electors,
equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives to which the
State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative,
or person holding an office of trust or profit under the United States,
shall be appointed an elector.
The electors shall meet in
their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one
at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.
And they shall make a list of all the persons voted for, and of the
number of votes for each; which list they shall sign and certify, and
transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States,
directed to the President of the Senate. The President of the Senate
shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open
all the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted. The person
having the greatest number of votes shall be the President, if such
number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed; and if
there be more than one who have such majority, and have an equal number
of votes, then the House of Representatives shall immediately choose by
ballot one of them for President; and if no person have a majority, then
from the five highest on the list the said House shall in like manner
choose the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be
taken by States, the representation from each state having one vote; A
quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two
thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be
necessary to a choice. In every case, after the choice of the President,
the person having the greatest number of votes of the electors shall be
the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have
equal votes, the Senate shall choose from them by ballot the Vice
President.
The Congress may determine
the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give
their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States.
No person except a natural
born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the
adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of
President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall
not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen
Years a resident within the United States.
In case of the removal of the
President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to
discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall
devolve on the Vice President, and the Congress may by law provide for
the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the
President and Vice President, declaring what officer shall then act as
President, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability
be removed, or a President shall be elected.
The President shall, at
stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall
neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall
have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other
emolument from the United States, or any of them.
Before he enter on the
execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or
affirmation:—"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully
execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the
best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the
United States."
Section 2. The President
shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,
and of the militia of the several states, when called into the actual
service of the United States; he may require the opinion, in writing, of
the principal officer in each of the executive departments, upon any
subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall
have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the
United States, except in cases of impeachment.
He shall have power, by and
with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided
two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint
ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Supreme
Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose appointments
are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by
law: but the Congress may by law vest the appointment of such inferior
officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of
law, or in the heads of departments.
The President shall have
power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the recess of the
Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their
next session.
Section 3. He shall from time
to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and
recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge
necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene
both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between
them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to
such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and
other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully
executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.
Section 4. The President,
Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be
removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason,
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
Article III
Section 1. The judicial power
of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such
inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and
establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall
hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times,
receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be
diminished during their continuance in office.
Section 2. The judicial power
shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this
Constitution, the laws of the United States, and treaties made, or which
shall be made, under their authority;—to all cases affecting
ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;—to all cases of
admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;—to controversies to which the
United States shall be a party;—to controversies between two or more
states;—between a state and citizens of another state;— between citizens
of different states;—between citizens of the same state claiming lands
under grants of different states, and between a state, or the citizens
thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
In all cases affecting
ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a
state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original
jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court
shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such
exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.
The trial of all crimes,
except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury; and such trial shall
be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed;
but when not committed within any state, the trial shall be at such
place or places as the Congress may by law have directed.
Section 3. Treason against
the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or in
adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall
be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the
same overt act, or on confession in open court.
The Congress shall have power
to declare the punishment of treason, but no attainder of treason shall
work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the
person attainted.
Article IV
Section 1. Full faith and
credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and
judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by
general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records, and
proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof.
Section 2. The citizens of
each state shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of
citizens in the several states.
A person charged in any state
with treason, felony, or other crime, who shall flee from justice, and
be found in another state, shall on demand of the executive authority of
the state from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the
state having jurisdiction of the crime.
No person held to service or
labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another,
shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged
from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the
party to whom such service or labor may be due.
Section 3. New states may be
admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be
formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any
state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of
states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned
as well as of the Congress.
The Congress shall have power
to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the
territory or other property belonging to the United States; and nothing
in this Constitution shall be so construed as to prejudice any claims of
the United States, or of any particular state.
Section 4. The United States
shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of
government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on
application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the
legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence.
Article V
The Congress, whenever two
thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments
to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two
thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing
amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and
purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the
legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions
in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification
may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be
made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any
manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the
first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived
of its equal suffrage in the Senate.
Article VI
All debts contracted and
engagements entered into, before the adoption of this Constitution,
shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as
under the Confederation.
This Constitution, and the
laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and
all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the
United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in
every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws
of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.
The Senators and
Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state
legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the
United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or
affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall
ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under
the United States.
Article VII
The ratification of the
conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of
this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.
Done in convention by the
unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September
in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and
of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth. In
witness whereof We have hereunto subscribed our Names,
G. Washington-Presidt. and
deputy from Virginia
New Hampshire: John Langdon,
Nicholas Gilman
Massachusetts: Nathaniel
Gorham, Rufus King
Connecticut: Wm: Saml.
Johnson, Roger Sherman
New York: Alexander Hamilton
New Jersey: Wil: Livingston,
David Brearly, Wm. Paterson, Jona: Dayton
Pennsylvania: B. Franklin,
Thomas Mifflin, Robt. Morris, Geo. Clymer, Thos. FitzSimons, Jared
Ingersoll, James Wilson, Gouv Morris
Delaware: Geo: Read, Gunning
Bedford jun, John Dickinson, Richard Bassett, Jaco: Broom
Maryland: James McHenry, Dan
of St Thos. Jenifer, Danl Carroll
Virginia: John Blair—, James
Madison Jr.
North Carolina: Wm. Blount,
Richd. Dobbs Spaight, Hu Williamson
South Carolina: J. Rutledge,
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Pinckney, Pierce Butler
Georgia: William Few, Abr
Baldwin
Prepared by Gerald Murphy
(Cleveland Free-Net - aa300). Distributed by the Cybercasting Services
Division of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN). Permission
is hereby granted to download, reprint, and/or otherwise redistribute
this file, provided appropriate point of origin credit is given to the
preparer(s) and the National Public Telecomputing Network.
The Declaration of
Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
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 [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 meantime
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 andaltering 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 complete 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.
|