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CJB
07-04-2011, 09:43 AM
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 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 mean time 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 harrass 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 compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & 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 Brittish 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 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.
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
John Hancock
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton

crazymailman
07-04-2011, 09:59 AM
Thank you for posting this. We should all read and understand what this document means.

johnh
07-04-2011, 10:12 AM
Thank you for the post CJB! Let this be the official KahrTalk "Happy Fourth of July" thread! Nothing says it better than the Declaration. I hope all members will take some time to remember the reason for the holiday, and enjoy the day in the way they most see fit. I am off to barbecue and later set of some fireworks with the kiddos! :D

yqtszhj
07-04-2011, 12:08 PM
Just makes one proud of the stand that our forefathers took at their own great risk to gain us the freedoms that we have and enjoy today. Thanks be to God for all of them.

wyntrout
07-04-2011, 12:28 PM
Thanks very much!

OH! Y'all have a safe and happy 4th of July... and remember those who helped and are helping keep us free. http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/travesmilies/flaggen1/smilie_flagge13.gif

I added my own little bit on the Lessons Learned in Combat:

http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?p=81208#post81208

Wynn:)

melissa5
07-04-2011, 01:54 PM
Hope ya'll have a safe and sunny 4th! It's raining here. :( If it stops in the next few hours, I will be grilling salmon and hamburgers.

Willieboy
07-04-2011, 01:59 PM
Happy 4th to you guys and gals. Be sure to get your flags flying.

OldLincoln
07-04-2011, 02:25 PM
I have to add my words about Lone_Wolfe in the Glock Forum. Hers is a thread of 7626 posts and tells a story of pain, grief, struggle for survival and of the love and support of many folks I call patriots.

The very basic nut shell is Lone_Wolfe (LW) was ambushed and shot point blank by a BG with an AK47 as she exited the Humvee. One of our heroes disobeyed the shouted orders flying around as the others found cover. He tried to get to LW and was immediately cut down and died on the spot. The BG that shot him was cut down by the others clearing the way for the medic to get to LW.

She has spent the last 2.5 years hanging on to life even when not sure she wanted to. Her battles are both physical and mental carrying the grief of somebody giving up their life to save hers. Physically she is a mess inside her chest where the bullet tore everything up. She has gone through surgeries, physical therapy, physiological therapy, reactions to meds, and much more.

Her support has been phenomenal with other pulling so hard for her you can feel the hurt they carry for her in their posts, but also so very full of encouragement. I don't doubt that she made it this far living for her friends when she didn't want to.

She has just returned to the states a couple days ago and her healing has a long way to go, but she is a fighter and will make it. Never be as she was, but will be a survivor and forever a hero in my eyes and many, many others as well.

Her thread is found here (starting at the last post) (http://glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1090352&goto=newpost).

O'Dell
07-04-2011, 03:12 PM
You will note that the first signer was the Georgian for which my County was named.

I will admit that the 'Fourth' has not been my favorite holiday for some time. I tend to get a bit testy at this time of year [even more than usual] because I don't think many Americans value freedom anymore. Everyone seems to be more interested in security now. Who was it that said "If you value security more than freedom, you are likely to lose both"?

Sorry to be a wet blanket.

wyntrout
07-04-2011, 05:19 PM
Freedom to many these days means "free" stuff. "They" don't want slavery, but want someone else to work and then let the gubment take stuff from the useful producers... the people that work for a living, and give it to the useless professional "welfare" crowd who keep voting for more stuff... promises from the politicians... our "ruling" class of "betters" who use those promises to buy votes.
Freedom means you can do pretty much what you want, as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone else's freedom, but it also means you're free to work for the stuff you need and want... or you're free to starve... it's your responsibility. Unfortunately, with our professional class of lawmakers, they like to do just that and lots of law-making... after all, they are clearly superior to the everyday man, given their exalted status, and should be making all of the decisions concerning us. So, they try to regulate everything we do for every reason imaginable. Far left or far right, they would all limit us or make us do things that we don't want to do.
From the Inquisition to the Communist States of Stalin and Mao, and many others, millions have been killed or imprisoned by both sides, intolerant of any signs of straying from the "paths" as set by the enlightened leaders, rulers, or whatever label the self-proclaimed elite choose to call themselves.

A holiday... a day off... Bar-B-Q, picnics, and fireworks... that's what it's about.:rolleyes:

What was that about a wet blanket?? :banplease:

Wynn:D

CJB
07-04-2011, 06:00 PM
.....I don't think many Americans value freedom anymore. Everyone seems to be more interested in security now. Who was it that said "If you value security more than freedom, you are likely to lose both"?

No wet blanket. The Declaration alludes to some of what you're experiencing.


"......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......"

O'Dell
07-05-2011, 02:54 PM
Freedom means you can do pretty much what you want, as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone else's freedom



That almost sounds like the principal of Libertarianism, Wynn.

johnh
07-06-2011, 07:42 AM
"I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. Even as a kid, I was annoyed by people who wanted to tell everyone how to live." -- Clint Eastwood :D

O'Dell
07-06-2011, 10:25 PM
"I like the libertarian view, which is to leave everyone alone. Even as a kid, I was annoyed by people who wanted to tell everyone how to live." -- Clint Eastwood :D

So do I. I've been a Libertarian since I parted ways with the Republicans in the mid-nineties. We do differ on some issues though, isolationism comes to mind.

wyntrout
07-07-2011, 10:33 AM
Ditto on your views there, O'Dell. I think the golden rule "Do unto to others as you would have them do unto you" is a good rule to live by... and then there's the corollary attributed to Cole Younger... "Do unto others before they do unto you." :D

That just about covers it for a personal philosophy. There are a lot of things and people I don't like, but if they aren't bothering me or the general public, I'm not going to bother them. I do believe in law and order, but with safeguards to our freedom. Our society does need some kind of order and some rules, but we don't need a bunch of would-be aristocrats making up rules and laws about every conceivable thing... just because they are "law-makers" and think they know better than we. (Notice that I didn't say better than US (do).

Wynn:D