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 inalienable 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 affect 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.

"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 of 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 sub

stance.

"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.

66

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 excited domestic insurrection among 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.

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.

"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 injuries.

"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 connection 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 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.'

167. The Signing of the Declaration. On the evening of July 4, 1776, this momentous paper that made us a Nation was solemnly agreed to by the representatives of twelve States. Later, when the document was signed by the delegates, John Hancock, president of the Congress, wrote his name first, in a large, bold hand, saying, as he did so, "There! John Bull can read my name without spectacles." "We must indeed all hang together," said the wise and witty Franklin; and then grimly added, with a smile," or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

Great was the rejoicing of the colonists, far and near, as the news was carried to them by swift-riding messengers. Statues and other emblems of royalty were torn down,1 banquets were held, bonfires were lighted, bells were rung, there were public processions, and thanksgiving services were held in the churches. Said Samuel Adams, to whom the result was in large part due, "The people seem to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from Heaven."

168. The contestants. It certainly required much bravery on the part of the Americans to cast loose from the motherland, and to fight

so powerful a country. At

first the chances seemed to be much against them.

Great Britain was rich, and every one was eager to lend her money. Congress had no money of its own, and no authority either to levy taxes or to borrow. But the volunteers must be clothed, fed, and paid,

TION

The full size of this bill is 2% by 8% inches

1 In New York City, the lead statue of King George III was melted into bullets by the Revolutionists.

so there were printed large quantities of so-called "paper money." There was, however, so poor a prospect of these bills ever being redeemed in gold or silver that storekeepers often refused to accept them for goods, and they became almost worthless.1 1

Great Britain's navy was then, as it now is, the largest in the world. Our navy consisted of but a few small vessels. The British army was well trained, and had everything necessary for comfort and efficiency. The colonial volunteers were at first unskilled and undisciplined, and nearly always were wretchedly supplied and fed; except the officers few had uniforms; and the terms of enlistment were short. But, on the other hand, most of them were rugged pioneer farmers, used to hardships and dangers, and trained marksmen. They had led simple, earnest, and devout lives, with abundant exercise out of doors, and in their hearts was a deep faith in the ideas which they upheld. Gradually the officers learned the business of war, and on many a hotly contested field were valiantly supported by their men, who had in them the material for making the best of soldiers.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

I. Locate Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill on a map of the vicinity of Boston.

2. Read Emerson's Concord Hymn. Explain:

"Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world."

3. Read Holmes's Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill Battle.

4. Show why George Washington was best fitted to be commander-inchief of the American armies.

5. What was the attitude of the colonists toward independence at the beginning of the war?

6. What important strategic move was made by Washington at Boston? As we go on with the history of the Revolutionary War, note other similar movements of Washington. Contrast the winning of a victory by strategy without battle, with winning one by battle.

1 The bills were called "continentals," because issued by the Continental Congress. "Not worth a continental" is a phrase still often heard. In 1781 it took a thousand paper dollars to buy one silver dollar. It was many years after the Revolution before the country recovered from the evil effects of these floods of paper money.