In Congress, July 4, 1776

The Unan­i­mous Dec­la­ra­tion of the Thir­teen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes nec­es­sary for one peo­ple to dis­solve the polit­i­cal bonds 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 unalien­able 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 to 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.