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~~D EC LAB A TiCWOF
\ N"D EPEN DEU C E.
CONGRESS, July i,\V? re.
WHEN in the.cour.se cf bu
rn an events \ llecomes nteess:* ry
one people -to dissolve therno
jmeni bands which have cfenr>cct
it -:a with another, and to as j
■:v,;rne among the powers of the!
earth the separate and equal sta
lion to which the laws of nature ,
and cf nature’s God entitle theta,
?•* decent resnect to the opinions
* m
vt mankind requires that they
■ fthonlJ declare the causes which :
-jtnpfei them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be
seif evident—that ail men are cre
aed equal; that they are endow*
t. and by their Creator with certain
\ .nihenable rights ; that among
these are life* liberty, and the
pursuit of hap;d less ; that to se
cure these rights governments
tnre instituted among men* deriv
ing their just powers from the
consent of the governed ; that
whenever any form of govern
snentbecomes destructive of these
nds, it is the right of the .people
to alter or abolish it, and to in
stitute new government, laying
its bn id,a im on such principles, j
and org*:- iziiig ’iu powers in such I
fom, as i > them shall seem most I
Futly to tffec r their safety and j
Nippiness. Prudence’, indeed,*!
will dictate, teat governments j
long established should not be j
changed for light aid transient!
causes; and aooordu.-giy all ex
perience hath shewn that man
iindare more disposed to suffer,!
while evils are sufferable, than to j
,tright themselves by abolishing j.
the forms to which they are ac
customed : But when a long train!
cf abuses and usurpations, pur-!
cuing invariably me same object, !
evinces a design to reduce them
under absolute despotism, it is j
their right—it is their duty— to’
throw off such government, andj
to provide new guards for their,
future security. Such has been I
the patient -sufferance of these!
colonies, and such is now the ne
cessity which constrains them to
alter their former systems of gov
ernment. The history of the!
present king of Great Britain is a '■
history of repeated injuries andj
usurpation®, ali having in direct!
object the establishment cf an ab-1
tolute tyranny ever these states, j
To prove this, let facts be sub
mitted to a candid world;
He has refused his assent- to
laws the most wholesome and ne- j
cess ary for the public good :
He has forbidden his govern- j
0r.3 to pass laws of immediate St;
pressing importance, unless sus
pended in vheir operation till his j
assent should be obtained ; and j
when so suspended, he has ut
terly neglected to attend to them :
He has refused to pass other
Jaws for the accomodation of large
districts of people, unless those
people would relinquish the right
of representation in the legisla
ture ; a rignt inestimabfe to them,
and formidable to tyrants only :
He has called together legisla
tive bodies at places unusual, uu
livable, aud cfetauUrtm the
depository of the it public records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing
them into compliance with his
measures:
He has dissolved repre&enta
• live houses repeatedly for oppo
sing, with manly firmness, his in
vasions on the rights cf the peo
ple :
. lie hasreTased, for a long time
after such dissolutions, to cause
■others to b<r elected,whereby the
, legislative powers, incapable of
annihilation, have returned to
| the people at large for their exer
j else ; the ‘remaining in the
! mean time exposed to all the dan
gers of invasion from without and
convulsions'vvhhiii :
He has endeavored to prevent
the population of these states; lor
that purpose obstructing the laws
for -naturalization of foreigners;
r efusing to pass others to encour
age their migration hither, and
raising the conditions of new ap
propriations of lands:
He has cb-.trueted the admin
istration of Justice, by refusing
his assent to laws fbr establishing
judiciary powers:
He lias made j udges dependent
on his will alone for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount &
payment of their salaries :
| -Me has erected-a multitude of
tnew offices, and sent \ hither
j swarms ul officers to harrass our
| people and eat out their sub*
[stance 4 y
j He has kept among us in times
cf peace standing armies, without
the consent of our legislatures:
He has affected to render the j
! military independent of and su
perior to the civil power : ;
1 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 I
pretended legislation :
Tor quartering large bodies of
armed troops among m :
■For protect ing them, by a
mock-trial, from punishment for
any they should
commit on the inhabitants of these
stares;
For cutting off our trade with
all parts of the world : j
For imposing taxes on us with
out our consent :
! For depriving us inmany ca- f
; ses of the benefits of trial by jury.
For transportingusbeyond the |
! seas to be tried for pretended of-!
fences :
For abolishing the free system ■
of English laws in a neighboring (
j provir.ee, establishing therein an
! arbitrary government, and en- :
larging its boundaries so as to
; render it at once an example and
fit instrument for introducing the
jsame absolute rule into these
j colonies :
For taking away our charters,
abolishing our most valuable!
laws, and altering fundamentally
the forms of our governments : I
For suspending our own legis
latures, and declaiing 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 y-ar a
gainst us;
He has plundered bus sejtsu
ravaged our coast, burnt our]
towns, and destroyed the lives of j
otir peoplt : . . /. -i
He is at this time transporting’
, ..large armies cf foreign mercena
ries to complete the v/erks ot
death, desolation and tyranny, al
ready 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 executioners
cf their fiiends and brethren, or
to fail themselvesby their hands:
He has excited domestic insur
rections amongst us, and has en
deavored to biiigori the inhab
itants of cur frontiers the mere!-
lesstndtan savages, whose known
rule of warfare is an undistin-.
guished destruction of ail -ages,
sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these op.,
pressions we have petitioned for
redress in the most humble
terms: Our repeated petitions,
have been answered only by re
pealed injury. A prince whose
character is thus marked by e
very act which may define a ty
rant, is unfit to be the ruler of a
free people.
In or have we been wanting in
attentions to our British brethren
We have warned them from time
to time pf attempts made by their
legislature to extend an uiiwsr
rantable j urbdiction over us.—-
; We have reminded them cf the
circumstances of our emigration
and settlement here. We have
appealed to their native justice ik
magnanimity ; and we have con
jured them by the ties of our
j common kindred to disavow these
! usurpations, which would inevi
! tahiy interrupt our connexions 5c
correspondence. * They too have
| been deaf to the voice of justice
and of consanguinity. We must,
therefore, acquiesce in the neces
sity which denounces cur sepa-!
ration, and hold them as we hold
the rest of mankind—enemies in
wav, in peace, friends.
I WE, therefore, the represen.
j'tatives of the United States of A
(mericain general congress assem
bled, appealing to the Supreme
Judge of the world for the recti
! tude of our intentions, do, in the
name and by authority of the
j good people of these colonies, sb
i lemnly publish and declare,—’
, That these United colonies are, |
and of right ought to be, Fkee j
1 and Independent States; they
have full power to levy war, con
clude peace, contract alliances,
establish commerce, and to do all
other acts and things which in
dependent states may of right
do. And for the support cf this
| declaration, with a firm reliance
on the protection of Divine Pro
j videnee, we mutually pledge to
each other our lives, our fortunes
and our sacred honor.
MILLED SEVILLE, JnH 20.
It lift* !on been known, that the British
Station at Appalachian liny, within the ■
Sp&imh territory, where Niblmls concen
>rated his force ai;d erected Mort, has, since
’ve evacuated it, held by runaway ne
jroes tad hfestUe fii&o huju ‘
i ts fe tko ‘jri’.lU-*)
a* occasion aad lit ***•
j not to have been ejsnet tci?,!!*®? an
jmant sa peruifiotta to the SouthJ*r States,
I holding cut to a part <fl‘ tlS6ir pfipnlitiin
j (twoptations of, iasnhordinalipu, ironid hay*
been aud’ered to ekiet after the dost of tlio
j war. in theTaurfco c‘ last winter aasrfcrdl
j ab.ves ffToni this neii lihorl ood fllrd lb tba.l
fart; others have lately gene from
|ee and the Mississippi Territory. BowT
hmgfshall vhts ‘evil, repairing imtfedwte
fm*dv, be permitted t t exist ? If the Sjp
frds onttive at tkh usUAOj'e, urtpvit,
nf respect to them (soil-tying frem it
sent iHs and greater) eonliutiij
to tof'rale it ? Tree, it v< tteSr’fee*
riorinf limits/ and os §ood tlieV /
snrnld this horde of j uJdan*, aa/H.
deliver up the s'htvoa to their 6w sirs. Bui6
fihay decline do so or are dtlktvry a*
out it, we can discover r>e reason why tae
regul *.r tr<j(*|>s, of whotai thite are more £m&
euou?h in the nation, should not ieVriir?
wl on that service with the least poosibfa
‘A few hundrw. men down the
river and g<irne up tflu b\y, wouftt
readily effeet the rttjert. Be presentations
of reiaatfstrauce* to tiio Genera! Gotero
n?ent from'the ExecUfivt o of this s'ats
Tennelsee, would prdhably draw thesir at
tentrmi to this t,~oi little r*ss9-
Ij’jfpee of onr Eastern bre:L?e, but oY utudai
iuirortaaoe to ltd. I
A-£Rjm?rrsely valuable tract of country
south of the Big Beud of tla Tenneuse®
river, part of the territory by Iho
Creeks t.<> the United States, has been t v
linjjnlshed hy our guvernineat to
okoes, who sefnp a claitn to it, auppostd tv*
have been little better thaufrivoloOß. T\>&
people of TenaeKseo are extremely ‘ilissatii
•tied, ..and cxprcfii strong al tat*
mea-sure.
A blcody alfray to *k p!?oe in
county, Virginia', on too -89th uaiirno. bpi
ween a Mr. Welf, a dclespitc in t?i*
r 1 As*mhly and Il-nulolph tjwvcf
Ihe late Col. Peter ndolpb us ti'at stvb*).
i-Wmip nj&d by a C<*l. BeiWeei*
Bißilolph and W't-'h th ere h;.d beea for
soon 1 time a deadly feud. Aocordsug to
Wells’ Bta'tfdnebt, Uttndolpb and Orees.
hill came to his Jjotise armed, to'&tUnfr Hsnau
! Me was prepared to receive them with *
; brace of ptNlols each loaded with two
Tfo•-fired first at Haadclph orly ter, feel
oil ehiiUered hie wrist and v, cur.ds.sl hiflh.
In (he breast—on ‘'GreebliilFs
Wells shot him ia the hsad. By aeci
tj?nt, or a tir%ular isiierpoeirioa of F*evi
dence, the woartdt ci neuber arc supjs“<3l
to be mortal. If the *rloß of ,he*r ad
versary be Correct, Ka.ndofpb. was antom!
w’ith four pistols jiS*d a horsewhip, ai;d
UreenhtU With a pistol and a dirk
fitenin Boot. —The subscripttoa for *qs*
half of tfee eh&rc-s es a steem - boat, th® ma
chinery of which if now making at FLuiaCeSw
pbia, was instantly fifiod- up oil Wedaesduy
morniug, as soon a the hooks were
Chur let ion Courier Udh
On Safortlay wight last, the oHieet#
our ruetomi detected several persons tit tiue
ar t of smuggling coffee, which they secure^
| but on Sunday night, the gnmggidrs h&fsut
j increased their aireogth by uumbote, ouc
bed the otccers, regained and bar® away
the coßre. However, mast df the smuggler.*
were evenUiatly eatight, and lolgd ia
on for trial.— JST. V- Gazette, Jam §.
Vcs ter clay morning at? o’clock, ahanaap
bndy was thrown upon a. eart, and, sif*G#s
ercl, earded ittroagh cur streets to the alms
honse,! i It is said the poor wreteU sucketl
ruin from a cask fyiut; on the wharf, Hod 1
died of intoxication. Il matters not-—it was
worse than savage thus to expose a Leman
Indy where society as certainly in & eivii
iz<& slate.
-
Niles states in Lis Register, that the cul
tivation of the cane has been sUeeessfuMy
i undertaken upon the Banks of the Red Riv
jer, in Louisiana, where them era vast bo
dies of public land suitable t'er its growth.
At Natoiiitoches, if yields Irom 5i503 to 30©
pounds of sugar per arpent—f-ue acre of
equal in value to tit < aerew of
cotton, aud less expense in dull!.*atieo. It
is believed'Uat cugsr will betionu* Uie grnnd!
staple of tku Bei itivep country.
, Albany
According to a Uto general order, the
uids-ile-eamp of the U. .HUies* Army, are
in future to ue taken frouiiha ettbalteinak at
the line. , ■
A very destructive firs broke out ia
dk-bury, Vermont, ou Monday roarniag, 5Ut
ultimo, which eoosumed three large ifouson
ami fiye barus. Loss estimated at
Lord Byron, it appears, from the EngKaU.
papers, has, at l*:, separated from hife
wile—and the diherent editOte ic I.oodoa
are amusing thcinselveiv and the publia fel*
stive to all the parties ucqeeracd in fho
demistiv of tka iyi‘4v . , . ’
/lL*3Tr-4 -l
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