no pledges sacred. Let us suppose, which Heaven avert! that we are conquered, or are obliged to come to terms. What assurance have we of the British moderation in victory, or good faith in treaty ? Is it their having inlisted, and let loose against us the ferocious Indians of the forest, and the merciless soldiers of Germany? Is it that faith, which has been so many times pledged, and so many times broken, during the present contest? Is it the British faith, which is considered more false than punic? Have we not rather reason to expect, that when we have delivered ourselves naked and unarmed into their hands, they will wreak their vengeance upon us, will bind us with heavier chains, in order to deprive us not only of the power, but even of the hope of again casting off the yoke? But let us suppose that there will happen in the present case, what has never happened in any other, that the British government will forget past offences and comply with the conditions of peace; can we believe that after so long a contest, after so many wounds, so many deaths, and so much bloodshed, our reconciliation could be durable, and that every day in the midst of so much hatred and rancour, would not afford some fresh subject of animosity? The two nations are already separated in interest and affections; the one is conscious of its former strength, the other has become acquainted with its recently exerted force; the one intends to rule in an arbitrary manner, the other will not obey even if allowed its privileges. In such a state of things, what peace, what harmony can be expected? The Americans may become faithful friends of the English, but subjects, never. And let us suppose even that union could be restored without rancour, it could not without danger. The wealth and power of Great Britain should inspire prudent men with fears for the future. Having reached such a height of grandeur that she has little or nothing to dread from foreign powers, in the security of peace, the hearts of her people will become enervated, manners will be corrupted, her youth will become vicious, and the nation degenerating in body and in mind, England will become the prey of foreign enemies or ambitious citizens. Should we remain united with her, we should partake of her corruptions and misfortunes, so much more to be dreaded as they would be irreparable; separated from her, and remaining as we now are, we should have to fear neither the securitiy of peace nor the dangers of war. And by a declaration of our freedom, the perils would not be increased, but the minds of men would be better prepared, and victory more sure. Let us then take a firm step, and escape from this labyrinth: we have assumed the sovereign power, and dare not own it; we disobey a king and acknowledge ourselves his subjects; wage war against a nation, upon whom we always profess to be willing to be dependent. In this uncertain state of things the inclinatious of men are wavering; ardent resolves are impeded; new difficulties are continually arising; our generals neither respected, nor obeyed; our soldiers neither confident, nor zealous; weak at home, and despised abroad, foreign princes can neither esteem nor succour so timid and wavering a people. But independence once proclaimed, and our object avowed, more manly and decided measures will be adopted; the greatness of the end in view will inspire the minds of the people with an energy proportionably great the civil magistrates will be filled with new zeal, generals with new ardour, the soldiers with new courage, and all our citizens with more constancy and alertness, intent on this sublime and generous undertaking. But in consequence of it, will England contend against us with more energy and rage than she has already? Certainly not; she terms resistance to oppression, rebellion, as well as independence. And where are those formidable troops, that are to subdue the Americans? The English could not, and shall the Germans do it? Are they more brave, or better disciplined than the English? No! Besides, if the enemy's numbers have increased, ours have not diminished; and we have acquired in the severe battles of the present year, the practice of arms, and the experience of war. Who doubts then that a declaration of independence will procure us allies? All nations are desirous of procuring, by commerce, the production of our exuberant soil; they will visit our ports hitherto closed by the monopoly of insatiable England. They are no less eager to contemplate the reduction of her hated power; they all loathe her barbarous dominion; their succours will evince to our brave countrymen the gratitude they bear them for having been the first to shake the foundation of this Colossus. Foreign princes wait only for the extinction of all hazard of reconciliation to throw off their present reserve. If this measure is useful, it is no less becoming our dignity. America has arrived at a degree of power which assigns her a place among independent nations; we are not less entitled to it than the English themselves. If they have wealth, so have we; if they are brave, so are we; if they are numerous, our population, through the incredible fruitfulness of our chaste wives, will soon equal theirs; if they have men of renown as well in peace as in war, we likewise have such; political revolutions usually produce great, brave, and generous spirits. From what we have already achieved in these painful beginnings, it is easy to presume what we shall hereafter accomplish, for experience is the source of sage counsels, and liberty is the mother of great men. Have you not seen the enemy driven from Lexington, by thirty thousand citizens armed and assembled in one day? Already their most celebrated generals have yielded in Boston to the skill of ours; already their seamen, repulsed from our coasts, wander over the ocean, where they are the sport of the tempest, and the prey of famine. Let us hail the favourable omen, and fight, not for the sake of knowing on what terms we are to be the slaves of England, but to secure to ourselves a free existence, to found a just and independent government. Animated by liberty, the Greeks repulsed the innumerable army of Persians; sustained by the love of independence, the Swiss and the Dutch humbled the power of Austria by memorable defeats, and conquered a rank among nations. But the sun of America also shines upon the heads of the brave; the point of our weapons is no less formidable than theirs; here also the same union prevails, the same contempt of dangers and of death in asserting the cause of our country. "Why then do we longer delay; why still deliberate? Let this most happy day give birth to the American Republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and conquer, but to re-establish the reign of peace and of the laws. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us! she demands of us a living example of freedom, that may contrast, by the felicity of the citizens, with the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted, repose. She intreats us to cultivate a propitious soil, where that generous plant, which first sprung up and grew in England, but is now withered by the poisonous blasts of Scottish tyranny, may revive and flourish, sheltering under its salubrious and interminable shade all the unfortunate of the human race. This is the end presaged by so many omens, by our first victories, by the present ardour and union, by the flight of Howe, and the pestilence which broke out amongst Dunmore's people, by the very winds which baffled the enemy's fleets and transports, and that terrible tempest which ingulfed seven hundred vessels upon the coast of Newfoundland. If we are not this day wanting in our duty to the country, the names of the American legislators will be exalted, in the eyes of posterity, to a level with those of Theseus, Lycurgus, of Romulus, of Numa, of the three Williams of Nassau, and of all those whose memory has been, and will be, forever dear to virtuous men and good citizens." July 6, Congress published their Declaration of Independence, which separated America from Great Britain. This great event took place two hundred and eighty-four years after the discovery of America by Columbus; one hundred and sixty-six from the first effectual settlement in Virginia; and one hundred and fifty-six from the first settlement of Plymouth, in Massachusetts, which were the earliest English settlements in America. We record this celebrated document as a prominent article in our history. A DECLARATION BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED. "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 unalien able 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 meas ures. 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 migration 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 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 |