Part 47

[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.]

The next paragraph, which related to the slave trade, was entirely erased. It was as follows:

“He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people, who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery, in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of a Christian king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where =MEN= should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execrable commerce; and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.”

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 “who mean to be free. Future ages will scarce believe that the hardiness of one man adventured within the short compass of twelve years only, to build a foundation so broad and undisguised, for tyranny over a people fostered and fixed in principles of freedom.”

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 a jurisdiction over these our states,” [to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us.] We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here, “no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expense of our own blood and treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league and amity with them: but that submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited; and” we [have] appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, “as well as to” [and we have assured them by] the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which “were likely to” [would inevitably] interrupt our connexions and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity; “and when occasions have been given them by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils, the disturbers of our harmony, they have by their free election re-established them in power. At this very time too, they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but [Scotch and] foreign mercenaries to invade and destroy us. These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection; and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavour to forget our former love for them, and to hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We might have been a free and a great people together; but a communication of grandeur and of freedom it seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. The road to happiness and to glory is open to us too: we will climb it apart from them, and acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our eternal separation.” [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 “states [colonies,] reject and renounce all allegiance and subjection to the kings of Great Britain, and all others, who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve all political connexion which may heretofore have subsisted between us and the parliament of Great Britain; and finally we do assert” [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 connexion 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 Divine Providence,] we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.

THE END.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed; spelling variants were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.

Page 185: the dates “1663” and “1773” must refer to two different people.

Page 330: “IN CONGRESS, JULY 8, “1778” was misprinted as 1788”; corrected here. Some apparently incorrect dates on other pages of the original book have not been noted or corrected.