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 among us, and has endeavored 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 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 power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and 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."*

Thus was it that our fathers, guided by the "God that judgeth in the earth,"

*For the original draft of the Declaration and the amendments made by Congress, see Appendix I., at the end of the present chapter.

act.

CH. XIV.] and mindful of the sacred trust committed to them to hand down liberty to their children, dared to speak and to "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof," is the significant text of Scripture inscribed on the bell in the steeple of the time-honored State-house, Philadelphia. That bell rang out a joyous peal on the 4th day of July, 1776; it has continued to do the same, year after year; and, by God's blessing, it will continue to do the same, unto the latest ages. "The day is past," writes John Adams, the most able and eloquent advocate in favor of the Declaration; "the 2d day of July will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forth and forevermore. You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet, through all this gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means; and that our posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even although we should rue it,—which I trust in God we shall not." The annual jubilee is indeed held, not on the

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2d, but on the 4th day of July, when the Declaration of Independence set forth the grounds of our fathers' course, and put on record the solemn pledge which they then and there gave, that as we are of right, so we will be, even to death, A FREE AND INDEPENDENT PEOPLE.*

It was plainly evident, as is remarked by the philosophic M. Guizot, that “the day had arrived when power had forfeited its claim to loyal obedience; and when the people were called upon to protect themselves by force, no longer finding in the established order of things either safety or shelter. Such a moment is a fearful one, big with unknown events; one, which no human sagacity can predict, and no human government can control; but which, notwithstanding, does sometimes come, bearing an impress stamped by the hand of God. If the struggle, which begins at such a moment, were one absolutely forbidden; if, at the mysterious point in which it arises, this great social duty did not press even upon the heads of those who deny its existence, the human race, long ago, wholly fallen under the yoke, would have lost all dignity as well as all happiness."

Whatever might have been thought by many, at the time, of the propriety of this step, there can be no doubt, we think, that the Declaration of Independence was, in every point of view, not only necessary, but wise and welltimed. Every consideration of sound

*See Appendix II., at the end of the present chapter.

† Mr. Curtis pronounces that the Declaration of

policy as well as justice, demanded that the war should no longer be a contest between subjects and their acknowledged sovereign, and it was of the first consequence, that the position assumed by our fathers, on this memorable occasion, should have all the moral force arising from the fact that they now

Independence "must for ever remain an imperishable monument of Jefferson's power of expression, and his ability to touch the passions, as well as to address the reason, of mankind." See a long and interesting note, in regard to the authorship of the Declaration, in Curtis's " History of the Constitution,” vol. i., pp. 81-88.

stood before the world as a free and independent people, resolved to peril their lives and their all in defence of the liberties which were their birthright and their inalienable possession. However dark the prospect was before them then; and, in view of all the circumstances, however uncertain the issue might have appeared; we, their children, cannot doubt that the Declaration of Independence was rightly and necessarily made, and we can-as every honest lover of his country does-bless GOD that it was made when, and as, it

was.

ORIGINAL DRAFT.

A declaration by the representatives of the United States of America, in general 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 inherent and unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and

AS AMENDED BY CONGRESS.

A declaration by the representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled.

Not altered.

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

CH. XIV.]

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 shown 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, begun at a distinguished period and 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 expunge their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations, among which appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, but all have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood:

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.

411

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 shown 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:--

Not altered.

Not altered.

Not altered.

Not altered.