Let Freedom Ring! The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

Our early leaders, though war ached their hearts, stood fast against tyranny in favor of freedom. Do our leaders now have the same sober valor?

originally posted here: Let Freedom Ring! The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
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.


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The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
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

Column 4
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

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
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

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/rolling.html

Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan

Everybody's Got a Beef, and Too Much Henny Penny

Gas prices aren't that high. Are you a taxi driver? No? Barely making ends meet? No?

Then quit yapping about how bad the gas pump is. I get it. Higher than ever. But the gas isn't anything like the hot air people have coming on that life is now hard. What are you paying more a month? $100?

Sure, burning through $100 a month is not unimportant, and adds up at year's end, but Henny Penny's sky didn't fall as fast as yours.

The News
Rush Limbaugh just signed on for eight more years. What does this mean? All those smug people who hate George W Bush might have John McCain as their next president, or Barack Obama is bound to be a one-term president. Either way, Limbaugh's getting the money because he has lots of listeners. How many? $400 million worth.

Chicago White Sox are kicking tail. Cubbies too. Both are 2.5 games into first place. Ol' Hawk was getting some laundry done when the counter maven groused about the success of the Cubs. I told her that any true White Sox fan wants to see a mid-town World Series. When the Sox won it all, they never beat the Cubs. Sure, the Cubs weren't there, but the victory was less sweet. See, get them both in the Series, and real bragging rights will result.

Great Weather, Much Sadness: Myanmar, China

Tomorrow looks perfect. A high of 70 degrees. Not as many gang twats killing each other last week. Sadly, though, there is much greater tragedy.

Myanmar (or Burma for you oldsters) has had its putz leaders making political efforts to deny aid so its generals could look good. Don't tell me Bush screwed up New Orleans. Even moron Mayor Ray Nagin is better than the Myanmar jerks. Finally, though, aid is starting to move. (US begins aid flights to Myanmar cyclone victims)

China had its massive earthquake, killing 10,000 so far. After they practically ruined the Olympics with their arrogant oppression of Tibet, sympathies might return. (Earthquake measuring 7.8 Richter scale hits SW China)

This all outshines sunny days.

The News
Cubs are 18-19 and in third place.
White Sox are 20-17 and also in third place.

---

Pick Obama's VP
Who should be Barack Obama's Vice President Running Mate?

Pick McCain's VP
Who should be John McCain's Vice President Running Mate?

Plus the often updated and objective Media Analysis of the Hillary campaign.

Chicago's Gangs Ruining Chicago: Flush Them Down the Toilet

I spent a lot of time on the L, and walking far from the Loop. That's where the roaches live. Incestuous slime, the Black Gangster Disciples, the Vice Lords, the Latin Kings. Then the Crips, the Jamaicans, and other fecal matter.

Scum.

The thug mentality has reached into the crotches of many young men's minds. A combination of insecurity, poverty-mindset and broken families have confused them what it means to be a man.

The News
Dad of slain teen: Chicago violence 'out of control'
Fifteen people killed in Chicago over last two weeks. What more do you need to know?

If you are a Chicagoan, turn these pansies in. They are infecting schools, churches, and the streets.

Selling Out Special: Wrigley (Mars), Miley Cyrus, Barack Obama

Is it warmer on Mars today? I checked weather.com, and could not find it listed. Some cool cash was laid down by Mars for Wrigley, though. Not Mars the planet, but Mars the candy bar people.

Chicago is for sale, and people are buying. How long before the Chicago River sells the naming rights and becomes the Primerica Filth Stream?

My days are hot and cold. If you live in Chicago, my lament is also your reality. Some like it hot. Others like it as cool as a cucumber, which, on a warm day turns into hot relish. Freezing alert tonight. 82 degrees last week.

The salary girls just don't know what to wear. They could take a fashion tip from Miley Cyrus and go topless. She's that sort now, but I don't think anyone is surprised.

Such too has been the sales of papers. Up and down, but I think people are tired of tawdry politics. Chicago's a Democrat town. You are not allowed to live here unless you are a registered Democratic, and not allow to stay unless you voted at least twice for Daley in the last election. We know our smut, and elect it willingly. Rod Blaghovich, Tony Rezko, Lisa Madigan, George Ryan (one of the few Republicans to make it through), Richard Mell -- we embrace them all, just like we love the Chicago Cubs. Winners interest us less than popularity.

The Barack Obama frenzy wrought upon us by the Sun-Times has all but been incestuous. They are hoping to bed with him when he hits the White House, or 'if', but it seems John McCain is seeing a benefit from all the Democratic infighting. He could win just by being the last man standing.

It's raining, and I need another cup of coffee.

The News
Mars Acquires Wrigley’s for $23 Billion
New York Times
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN
Mars, the makers of M&M’s, announced a deal Monday morning to acquire the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, the chewing gum concern, for about $23 billion.

Pouring Rain, The End of a Reign, and Who Will Reign?

Pouring rain now as I set ready for bed. Up early, you know. Papers never sell themselves, my old boss Pete McDaniel would always say. Coffee timer is set to go tomorrow at 4:30.

That's not always true. Selling a newspaper is easy. Getting someone to pay for it is the hard part. Was stiffed more than once, across the demographic range. Black, white, rich, poor. Whatever bias you've got, stick it back where you picked it from. Your people, your kind walked off with a paper without paying too.

When Wally died two weeks ago, I sold a few more. Was tipped a bit better too. Maybe they remembered that this news shtick is a full-bodied thing, that there's a team of people hawking the paper. Not just the guy on a milk crate. There's the writer, the editors, the headline guy, the engineer, audio, video, the talent, the columnist. Wally was a radio guy, but directly connected to the print world. If he said anything interesting, I sold more papers. Simple as that.

The News
Moses Will See The Promised Land - Film legend Charlton Heston dead at 84. That's big news, and you don't need me telling. The world is a smaller place.

Politically, there's news that Condi Rice might be VP material. It is interesting, given that the Democrats themselves are unwilling to support a woman for president It is all old boy to them, even if the old boy is young. He' eating feed from the same trough as the old mouths.

Good-bye Wally Phillips, Radio Star and Good Guy

Wally Phillips kept this old newspaper hawk warm on the coldest days. There's not much more to say except I'll miss you.

Wally Phillips, pioneer of talk radio, dies at 82
See more news

Wally Phillips - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chicago Tribune's thoughts :

Wally Phillips, whose wit and charm dominated the art of the on-air radio personality in Chicago for two decades, has died after battling Alzheimer's disease for the last five years, WGN Radio announced Thursday. He was 82.

Phillips was the morning program host on WGN Radio from January 1965 until July 1986, and was number one in the morning slot from 1968 until his departure for an afternoon radio slot in 1986. He retired from WGN in 1998 after 42 years with the station, but came out of retirement the following year to host a weekly two-hour program on WAIT-AM, a station based in Crystal Lake....

Good-bye, old pal.

R. Hawk, a faithful listener since childhood

Cold, Wet Dedication of Paper Hawking

It is 5:30 - I saw out the window - 40 degrees, pouring rain, completely dark, some guy chugging away jogging. Dedication.

I'm sitting in a big comfy chair, cozy sweatshirt, steaming coffee, warm laptop. Not so dedicated.

Yet, like the runner, I need to be on my shift, hawking papers, making my daily bread. I'll get there by 6:30 today.

Want to tip me today? How about a Starbucks card?

The News
Jack Nicholson's in drag campaigning for Hillary Clinton. Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has predictably chosen to support Barack Obama, though somewhat weakly, "If you could take Barack Obama's image, add Hillary Rodham Clinton's money and John Edwards' voice, that would be my candidate," Simmons said in January 2007.

No word on what Obama will do if he wins the nomination about his weekend job as senator.

Sad news: one of the guys who helped begin the Jesus Movement of the the 1970s, Larry Norman, has died. He was a guy who grew up in a regular church, but sang songs about Jesus that were meant for those who never entered a church. He was a rebel not against Christianity but for it. His songs became anthems of the disenfranchised, lost and lonely. We even know a few of his tunes at the Hawk home. He understood newspaper salesmen.

Longer Days & Kathleen Savio Was Murdered

The days are getting longer, and not just metaphorically. It is nice to see daylight on my way back, but the sun has dwindled by the time I hike up to the Hawk home.

My corner has been blessed recently by a squirrel which is not really a city dweller. It is alone, hungry, shivering. It comes by, looking for something to eat - can't find anything in the concrete - and stares at me at like a lonely puppy. It reminds me of the kids who move here, looking to be sophisticated, but end up looking for the same things they had trouble finding in small town USA.

The News
The word is, officially, that Kathleen Savio was murdered. Her name is famous because of the monkey on the left. Well, no, not a monkey. He's the man who proves Charles Darwin was wrong.

No one knows for sure who killed who, but we know Drew Peterson's had two of his wives murdered. At least, we're pretty sure. And a third one isn't saying very nice things about how he treated her.

Whether Peterson is a murderer or not is something beyond what I know, but the way he has taunted the police and media, I am glad he is not a cop now.

NIU Students Shot

Rush hour has begun, it seems, earlier today. The flush of people grabbing newspapers at 4:00 was amazing, and continues. Valentine's Day plans, I suppose. Likewise for me. I will be home by 6:00 p.m. if the L goes on time.

Breaking news
The News
Multiple Victims In N. Illinois Univ. Shooting
In short, a student stormed into a room, shot some students and was apprehended. My prayers go out the students.

Super Tuesday: Skipping Out on All the Bums

No one at the Hawk home will be voting tomorrow for Super Tuesday. Me? I think they are bums. The whole lot of them. Bums. When November comes, I'll send my love to the Chicago Bears, and, if the right bum is still running, to him.

When the ones who say they care for the poor are raking in millions to suck up to the American public, I have got to say no. I know Chicago's a Daley Democrat city, and there's a good chance my dead Uncle Roberto is casting a few votes tomorrow, but I'm going with someone will kick Osama bin Laden in the behind.

The News
Huckabee's still running. The weather is strange. And I'm going to bed.

Snow, Eli Manning, Tipping, Tinley Park Murders

More snow at my door step. A guy can't catch a break, but I can sure catch the snow. The morning rush is starting to trickle. Luckily, the Super Bowl is causing a couple of Chicago Sun-Time sales.

Tips from Chicago Sun-Times readers come in nickels and dimes. They are the "Just keep the change" kind. Chicago Tribune readers tip in large chunks. The guy might walk by a hundred times without tipping, then whamo! He gives me a 50-spot. It even out, and in each case, I'm thankful. It is nice to know they know this is a hard life.

Time to poor another cup. Almond this morning.


The News

Nationally, the big news is the Super Bowl victory the New York Giants had over the presumed winner, the New England Patriots. Tom Brady was no match over Eli Manning. Even in Chicago, they are cheering. We understand underdogs.

Locally though, we know that five women were murdered by some two-bit thug in a Lane Bryant store in Tinley Park. There are more details, but so far, that is about all that is known. To the chump with the gun: You will not survive. Our boys in blue will take you down. It is better that you turn yourself in and let justice begin.


Politically, Ron Paul is scraping up money on the Republican side, supported heavily by the prowar crowd. Still, people are voting for image. No news there.