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 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 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 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 shewn, 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 [George III] 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 for 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 substance.
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.
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 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 amongst 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.
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 the 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.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
在人類事務發展的過程中，當壹個民族必須解除同另壹個民族的聯系，並按照自然法則和上帝的旨意，以獨立平等的身份立於世界列國之林時，出於對人類輿論的尊重，必須把驅使他們獨立的原因予以宣布。
我們認為下述真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，造物主賦予他們若幹不可讓與的權利，其中包括生存權、自由權和追求幸福的權利。為了保障這些權利，人們才在他們中間建立政府，而政府的正當權利，則是經被統治者同意授予的。任何形式的政府壹旦對這些目標的實現起破壞作用時，人民便有權予以更換或廢除，以建立壹個新的政府。新政府所依據的原則和組織其權利的方式，務使人民認為唯有這樣才最有可能使他們獲得安全和幸福。若真要審慎的來說，成立多年的政府是不應當由於無關緊要的和壹時的原因而予以更換的。過去的壹切經驗都說明，任何苦難，只要尚能忍受，人類還是情願忍受，也不想為申冤而廢除他們久已習慣了的政府形式。
然而，當始終追求同壹目標的壹系列濫用職權和強取豪奪的行為表明政府企圖把人民至於專制暴政之下時，人民就有權也有義務去推翻這樣的政府，並為其未來的安全提供新的保障。這就是這些殖民地過去忍受苦難的經過，也是他們現在不得不改變政府制度的原因。當今大不列顛王國的歷史，就是屢屢傷害和掠奪這些殖民地的歷史，其直接目標就是要在各州之上建立壹個獨裁暴政。為了證明上述句句屬實，現將事實公諸於世，讓公正的世人作出評判。
他拒絕批準對公眾利益最有益、最必需的法律。
他禁止他的殖民總督批準刻不容緩、極端重要的法律，要不就先行擱置這些法律直至征得他的同意，而這些法律被擱置以後，他又完全置之不理。
他拒絕批準便利大地區人民的其他的法律，除非這些地區的人民情願放棄自己在自己在立法機構中的代表權；而代表權對人民是無比珍貴的，只有暴君才畏懼它。
他把各州的立法委員召集到壹個異乎尋常、極不舒適而有遠離他們的檔案庫的地方去開會，其目的無非是使他們疲憊不堪，被迫就範。
他壹再解散各州的眾議院，因為後者堅決反對他侵犯人民的權利。
他在解散眾議院之後，又長期拒絕另選他人，於是這項不可剝奪的立法權便歸由
普通人民來行使，致使在這其間各州仍處於外敵入侵和內部騷亂的種種危險之中。
他力圖阻止各州增加人口，為此目的，他阻撓外國人入籍法的通過，拒絕批準其
他鼓勵移民的法律，並提高分配新土地的條件。
他拒絕批準建立司法權利的法律，以阻撓司法的執行。
他迫使法官為了保住任期、薪金的數額和支付而置於他個人意誌的支配之下。
他濫設新官署，委派大批官員到這裏騷擾我們的人民，吞噬他們的財物。
他在和平時期，未經我們立法機構同意，就在我們中間維持其常備軍。
他施加影響，使軍隊獨立於文官政權之外，並淩駕於文官政權之上。
他同他人勾結，把我們置於壹種既不符合我們的法規也未經我們法律承認的管轄之下，而且還批準他們炮制的各種偽法案，以便任其在我們中間駐紮大批武裝部隊；不論這些人對我們各州居民犯下何等嚴重的謀殺罪，他可用加審判來庇護他們，讓他們逍遙法外；他可以切斷我們同世界各地的貿易；未經我們同意便向我們強行征稅；在許多案件中剝奪我們享有陪審制的權益；以莫須有的罪名把我們押送海外受審；他在壹個鄰省廢除了英國法律的自由制度，在那裏建立專制政府，擴大其疆域，使其立即成為壹個樣板和合適的工具，以便向這裏各殖民地推行同樣的專制統治；他取消我們的許多特許狀，廢除我們最珍貴的法律並從根本上改變我們各州政府的形式；他終止我們立法機構行使權力，宣稱他們自己擁有在任何情況下為我們制定法律的權力。
他們放棄設在這裏的政府，宣稱我們已不屬他們保護之列，並向我們發動戰爭。他在我們的海域裏大肆掠奪，蹂躪我們的沿海地區，燒毀我們的城鎮，殘害我們人民的生命。
他此時正在運送大批外國雇傭兵，來從事其制造死亡、荒涼和暴政的勾當，其殘忍與卑劣從壹開始就連最野蠻的時代也難以相比，他已完全不配當壹個文明國家的元首。
他強迫我們在公海被他們俘虜的同胞拿起武器反對自己的國家，使他們成為殘殺自己親友的劊子手，或使他們死於自己親友的手下。他在我們中間煽動內亂，並竭力挑唆殘酷無情的印地安蠻子來對付我們邊疆的居民，而眾所周知，印地安人作戰的準則是不分男女老幼、是非曲直，格殺勿論。在遭受這些壓迫的每壹階段，我們都曾以最謙卑的言辭籲請予以糾正。而我們壹次又壹次的情願，卻只是被報以壹次又壹次的傷害。
壹個君主，其品格被他的每壹個只有暴君才幹的出的行為所暴露時，就不配君臨自由的人民。 我們並不是沒有想到我們英國的弟兄。他們的立法機關想把無理的管轄權擴展到我們這裏來，我們時常把這個企圖通知他們。我們也曾把我們移民來這裏和在這 裏定居的情況告訴他們。我們曾懇求他們天生的正義感和雅量，念在同種同宗的分上，棄絕這些掠奪行為，因為這些掠奪行為難免會使我們之間的關系和來往中 斷。可他們對這種正義和同宗的呼聲也同樣充耳不聞。因此，我們不得不宣布脫 離他們，以對待世界上其他民族的態度對待他們：同我交戰者，就是敵人；同我 和好者，即為朋友。
因此我們這些在大陸會議上集會的美利堅合眾國的代表們，以各殖民地善良人民的名義，並經他們授權，向世界最高裁判者申訴，說明我們的嚴重意向，同時鄭重宣布：
我們這些聯合起來的殖民地現在是，而且按公理也應該是，獨立自由的國家；我們對英國王室效忠的全部義務，我們與大不列顛王國之間大不列顛壹切政治聯 系全部斷絕，而且必須斷絕。
作為壹個獨立自由的國家，我們完全有權宣戰、締和、結盟、通商和采取獨立國家有權采取的壹切行動。
我們堅定地信賴神明上帝的保佑，同時以我們的生命、財產和神聖的名譽彼此宣誓來支持這壹宣言。
美國獨立宣言―林語堂譯
咱們國事亂到這般田地，叫咱們不得不跟（英國）皇上分家，自起爐竈，除了老天爺以外，誰也不要管誰，所以這會子總應向大家交個賬，說個明白，叫人家懂得這是怎麽壹回事，別疑心了咱們是在做什麽坑崩拐騙蒙的好勾當。
"咱們不會歪纏，就是這麽幾名話。壹則，妳我大家比起人家都是壹只鼻子兩只眼睛，不認輸誰，說不定比人家還強的多著呢；二則，誰也別想貶卻咱們的身分資格；三則，壹個人要怎麽活就可以怎麽活，要怎麽玩就可以怎麽玩，要到哪兒去就可以到哪兒去，只要不礙著旁人就得了。什麽鳥政府不放咱們這樣，便是XXX。"還有，老百姓要什麽政府就可自己做主，不幹人家的鳥事。什麽政府不給咱們這樣就得滾他的蛋，再扶壹個出來頂替。固然，象那些南美洲的傻子渾人，或者象什麽***產黨，天天革命，也不成個樣子。或者衙門裏老爺壹做岔了事便革壹回命，也是不成的。有時候，老爺們吞款舞弊，作惡為非，咱們閉著眼兒裝不見，比起傻子渾人***產黨天天革命還好，妳只要不是什麽無來由的，還能說聲不是嗎？但是國事混亂到這個分兒，壹個人什麽身分兒都沒有了，任人當奴才看，到這會子，大家就得合攏來革那些狗官僚的命兒，另叫壹般人來，給監視著，不讓他們大模大樣幹他們偷雞的勾當。咱們十三州老百姓就是這麽壹句話，罪受夠了，再混也混不下去。
當今皇上喬治登基以來，政事就是壹團糟，誰不服氣來同他辦交涉，就是壹把拳頭叫妳吃，這還有什麽天理麽？咱們同他算壹下賬給妳瞧。
咱們壹體通過的條陳，他總批駁下來，咱們人人反對的條例，他倒給欽此了。
咱們有什麽呈文，非他親眼瞧過不成，呈文壹上去，他卻向口袋裏壹放，裝著忘了，妳同他提起，只給妳壹個不睬。
人家到宮裏去呈請他立個新法，他就是這麽壹套：要末，把議會封起來，讓他稱孤道寡，孤行己意，不然，便是壹個不行，兩個不行。
他叫議會到那兒嶺外天邊三家村上去開會，樂得沒人肯去，讓他去壹意橫行霸道。
議員去找他，說什麽好歹，他就是壹溜不見，送他們回家。
議院封了，要叫開又不肯開，政事沒人管，成個無法無天的天下。
他哄人家不要來咱們十三州。誰要來，也不讓有報紙看，人家壹看也不肯來了，就是來了，也不給田地，不得不回去，有的索性就不來。
他跟法官通同作弊，就不肯出錢多用幾個官吏，人家有案子，三年兩載還不見個動靜，不發下來，只好認倒黴空手回去。
法官有什麽不順從他的意旨，就得滾蛋，官俸又不發，叫他們先來孝敬老天爺，不然也別想拿壹個大。
高興起了，就添了什麽司什麽員，安排壹些不見經傳的人小，錢向咱們老百姓腰包裏拿，不管妳情願不情願。
壹個好好的太平天下，養了壹大班丘八，驚擾百姓，咱們怎麽抗議也沒用。
他放著這些丘八作惡為非，橫行霸道，不掛腰刀的人只好聽他們排比。
他放貪官汙吏到處作孽，壹朝權在手，無惡不作，幹起以下的事來：
叫壹些毫無用處人人討厭的丘八駐紮民家裏。
丘八殺人，便做個圈套，放他們逍遙法外。
管人家的事。
征苛捐雜稅，也不問壹問咱們繳的稅項有個繳稅的道理沒有。
把人捉將官裏去，人家要叫百姓陪審，不讓陪審。
把人無端趕出國外，事案是此地發的，叫人家到天邊海外去受審。
放幾個壞蛋充我們鄰國的官員，慢慢的擴展，希望有壹天把咱們也吞下去，同他們壹般腐敗。把憲法當做把戲，人人說好沒人說壞的法律，他偏取消，讓他壹人去瞎幹。
他把議院關了門，就象他壹個人獨幹比別人幹得好。現在壹不做二不休，索性跟咱們開戰，咱們還認什麽皇上，做什麽臣子？
他把城也燒了，人也殺了，比狗還不如，在海上還要興師問罪。
他雇些荷蘭雜種來打咱們，教他們只要打得過咱們，可以隨意搶掠，什麽萬國公法都不顧了。
咱們自己人在海上給他捉去，不管願意不願意，就迫著拿起槍把殺咱們同胞。
他唆使印第安生番，給他們槍火，教他們打死咱們的男女老少。
"每回他這樣幹，咱們就不服同他反抗，每回咱們不服同他反抗，他還是照舊這樣幹下去。壹個人老是這樣蠻橫不講理，還有什麽身分，就是不配來管咱們有身分失，應當滾蛋。"
"咱們向英國人講理，總是不得要領。差不多天天咱們忠告他們，他們那邊那些官僚違法越權，侵犯咱們。咱們老同他們講，咱們是誰，咱們在做什麽事，咱們為什麽過海而來。咱們同他們講公道，告訴他們，如果長此下去，咱們有壹天要自己做自己打算，他們才知道利害。但是越和他們講理，越無理可講。可以見得他們不跟咱們壹夥兒，就是同咱們為難，咱們就得同他們拚個高低，打完了再做道理。
因此，咱們決定，咱們代表十三州府的百姓在議會上議決：咱們合眾國就是以前的十三州府，從此以後是自由國，照理就早該如此；咱們不認皇上，同他壹刀兩斷，再也不聽英國人的吩咐；咱們既然自由，自由國能幹什麽咱們就能幹什麽，尤重要的是宣戰、議和、營商等等。
咱們拿聖經罰咒，大家壹心壹力，有首有尾，不顧利害，不論成敗，不計吉兇，就是財破人亡，到斷頭臺上，還是這樣做去。
說的挺好的不是嗎 要是只在他自己本國實行也是不錯的