to be, as it was, the offspring of injuries unatoned for, and rights wantonly violated, it was to bear the marks of calm heroic devotion, and to show us ardent in the pursuit and preservation of our rights, but cool and deliberate in our plans, slow in undertaking that which was attended with uncertainty and danger, but, once convinced of its necessity, undeviating in our course, and fixed on the object of pursuit.

It presented indeed to the consideration of the world, an object of greater magnitude than had for ages engaged its attention. It was no question of insulted flags, or violated boundaries; no matter to be traced through the labyrinths of diplomacy, or to be settled by the rules of court etiquette. It was not the manifesto of an ambitious sovereign, who proclaims to the world in loud and haughty language, a long catalogue of imaginary grievances, to form a pretext for the violation of plighted But it was the manly

faith and the last resort to arms. declaration of indignant suffering; the result of injury protracted beyond endurance; the just appeal to the only remedy that was left, after every milder method had been tried in vain.

To frame such a document, was the effort of no ordinary mind. That of Mr. Jefferson proved fully equal to the task. His labours received the immediate approbation and sanction of the committee; and their opinion has been confirmed by the unvarying testimony of succeeding ages, and of every nation where it has been known.

On the twenty-eighth of June the Declaration of Independence was presented to congress, and read; on the first, second and third of July, it was taken into very full consideration; and on the fourth, it was agreed to after several alterations and considerable omissions had been made in the draught, as it was first framed by the committee.

The declaration in its original form, compared with that which was subsequently given to the world, is a document of such interest, and seems indeed so peculiarly proper to be inserted in a memoir of its illustrious author, that we subjoin it; marking in italics the words which were erased by congress, and introducing between brackets, the additions and substitutions that were made, before it received the final sanction of that assembly.

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

[certain] inherent and unalienable rights; that amongst 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 a 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 to their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to [alter] expunge their former systems of govern

ment.

The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of [repeated] unremitting injuries and usurpations, among which appears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest; but all have [all having,] in direct object, the establishment of an abso

lute 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.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly and continually, 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 danger 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 suffered [obstructed] the administration of justice totally to cease in some of these states, [by] re-. fusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made our 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, by a self assumed power, 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, and ships of war, 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 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: