Historical Reflections: The Declaration of Independence (1776)

[Anonymous 6]

Welcome back gentlemen, today I was feeling patriotic and decided why not upload the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. I know Independence day is a month away but let’s get a head start. This Declaration separated us from the crown in Europe. Here is the latest edition of HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS
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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.

This document was signed by the following people:

Georgia

Button Gwinnett

Lyman Hall

George Walton

North Carolina

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

John Penn

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

Massachusetts

John Hanc~~~

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

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

New York

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

John Hart

Abraham Clark

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

Massachusetts

Samuel Adams

John Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire

Matthew Thornton

[Anonymous 42]

^^^Gets the B.C.F.C. seal of approval!

F~~~ THY TYRANT!

[Big BossParticipant 4496]

We have a LOT more to bitch about these days IMHO.

[Anonymous 6]

You ain’t lying. If liberals hate it soon much, they can rebel……WOULDN’T WORK THO, but worth a shot

[Can’t Stump TrumpParticipant]

LOL, they think their taxes were excessive.

Women are better at multitasking? Fucking up several things at once is not multitasking.

[Anonymous 6]

Can’t Stump Trump wrote:

LOL, they think their taxes were excessive.

I would pay good money for a time machine to bring the founders, Lincoln, and Reagan to present day America to see our tax code

[FrankOneParticipant 1417]

Unfortunately, the media always frame the tax debate as being about ‘fairness’. Whether the government of a ‘free’ people should consume 40% of economic output, and the negative long-term impact this has on economic growth, are not discussed. Instead the Sheeple are fed bulls~~~ about the ‘rich’ and corporations not paying their ‘fair share’. It isn’t discussed how the rich and corporations create jobs and growth through investment. I am not envious of the rich, and I don’t want government to steal more of their money.

Our tax code is exactly what I would expect from Big Government. When government allocates massive amounts of resources, special interests will seek to alter the code to the advantage of their interests, hence its complexity. If we don’t like lobbyists deciding our future, we could reduce spending and allow free INDIVIDUALS to decide how to spend their money.

Certainly liberals hate small government, but so do most ‘conservatives’. Most conservatives want a massive military-industrial complex, foreign aid, the US to play a ‘world policeman’ role, and they want to preserve all the Great Society welfare programs. They want to control whether people can buy recreational drugs. And they can’t even abolish Obummercare. Remember, the RINOs didn’t vote to abolish AHCA; they voted to replace it with another terrific, amazing Big Government health care scheme. That smelled like another turd with Republican icing on it, replacing the AHCA turd.

In many ways, we would be better served by a weaker central government, such as we once had under the Articles of Confederation, at least then you have State governments competing for citizens. $5 a pack cigarette tax and high property taxes? I’ll just move to next State over.

Sorry I got a little off-topic!

Students should be taught about economic freedom and where the US ranks in various world indices of same. I would also LOVE to see a civics test as requirement for voting. Not multiple choice, either! Sample question, what was the purpose/thesis of the Declaration of Independence, when was it signed, etc. Answer too few questions right and no vote, haha. And questions could be taken out of a pool of 1000 with everyone getting different ones.

[StealthParticipant 5330]

The U.S. Going Their Own Way…

"Once you’ve taken care of the basics, there’s very little in this world for which your life is worth deferring." -David Hansson. "It’s not when women are mean or nasty that anything is out of the ordinary. It’s when they are NICE to you that you have to be on high alert..." -Jackinov.

[Anonymous 7]

With out a doubt the greatest breakup letter of all time.
It is epic and profound. It changed the world.

To our brethren in the Common Wealth, we still love you we just went our own way.

Believe it or not I celibrate Brexit day (though quietly). Once again the peoples of the West threw off the yolkyoke of tyranny from a foreign entity.
I couldn’t be happier or prouder in my cousins in the U.K.

But yeah, we are still better. 🙂 just sayin’ LOL!

[AstroParticipant 2045]

Stealth wrote:

The U.S. Going Their Own Way…

We are trying to but there is an escalating dispute between the Patriots and social media verses the MSM, most celebrities, progressives and socialists. We are watching politically motivated violence not seen since at least the late 60’s/early 70’s. I think the election of Donald Trump was the American Brexit but going one’s own way takes teething pains/red-pill rage be it with a nation or we as individuals. No one is going quietly into the night and we could well be seeing a minor revolution unfolding. Had Hillary won and had she done some of the things she mentioned, we would probably be facing something much worse. Our economy is still reeling from NAFTA and she wanted to bring in TPP as well. Had a “President Hillary Clinton” made real her thoughts on a forced gun buy-back by executive order, I think that would have been the spark on a powder keg. States would have succeeded and Texas was already talking about it. We might well have been looking at a major revolution if not the 2nd US Civil War. No one in their right mind wants to see blood on the streets of the USA but what is the price of Liberty?

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