The full text of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)

The Declaration of Independence is a document drafted by Thomas Jefferson on 4 July 1776 and signed by representatives of 13 other colonies. It is the document of the thirteen British colonies in North America to declare the independence of the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The Declaration of Independence consists of four parts: the first part is the foreword, which explains the purpose of the declaration; the second part expounds the idea of ​​political system, namely the theory of natural rights and the idea of ​​sovereignty in the people; the third part lists all the crimes of Britain oppressing the people of North America, which shows that the people of the colonial world were forced to take up weapons when they were unable to bear it, striving for the legitimacy and justice of independence; the fourth part, that is, in the last part of the declaration, America solemnly declares independence.

In the development of human affairs, when a nation must undo its political ties with another nation, and accept independence and equality among countries in the world in accordance with the laws of nature and the will of the Creator of nature, the reasons for their independence must be declared for the respect of human public opinion.

We believe that these truths are self-evident: all are created equal, and the Creator gives them several inalienable rights, including the right to life, the right to freedom and the right to pursue happiness.

In order to protect these rights, human beings establish governments among them, and the legitimate power of governments is acknowledged with the consent of the governed.

When any form of government has a destructive effect on these goals, the people have the power to change or abolish it to establish a new government; the principles on which it lays the foundation, the way in which it organizes its powers, so that the people think that only in this way can they best obtain their safety and happiness. To be cautious, a government that has been established for many years should not be changed for minor and short-term reasons. All past experiences also show that as long as any suffering is tolerated, human beings would rather tolerate it without intending to abolish the government they have been accustomed to for their own rights. But when a series of abuses and robberies of pursuing the same goal occur, proving that the government attempts to put the people under autocratic rule, then the people have the right and obligation to overthrow this government and establish new guarantees for their future security.

This is the situation where these colonies were submissive in the past and why they had to change the system of government. The history of the reign of the British king is a history of continuous harm to the truth and robbery. The only goal of these atrocities is to establish an autocratic tyranny in these states. To prove that what is said is true, the following facts are announced to the just world-

He refused to approve the most beneficial and necessary laws for the public interest.

He forbids his governors from approving urgent and extremely necessary laws, or put them aside and fail to take effect, awaiting his consent; and once these laws are put on hold, he completely ignores them.

He refused to approve other laws that facilitate the majority of peoples, unless those people would rather give up their right to represent in the legislature; but this right has an immeasurable value to them, and only tyrants fear it.

He summoned the legislative groups of the states to meet in an unusual, extremely inconvenient place away from their archives, with the sole purpose of keeping them exhausted and obeying his will.

He repeatedly disbanded the parliaments of the states because they opposed his violation of the rights of the people with fearless perseverance.

After disbanding the state legislature, he refused to elect another new parliament for a long time; but the legislative power cannot be abolished, so this power is still exercised by ordinary people. In fact, the states are still in a dangerous situation, both of which are the dangers of external aggression and the worries of civil strife.

He tried his best to suppress the increase in our states' population; for this purpose, he obstructed the passage of the Foreigner Naturalization Act, refused to approve other laws that encourage foreigners to move to the states, and increased the conditions for allocating new land.

He refused to approve the law that established judicial power in order to obstruct the implementation of judicial work.

He put the judge's term, salary amount and payment completely under the control of his personal will.

He established a new official office, sent a large number of officials to harass our people, and exhausted the necessary living materials for the people.

He maintained a standing army among us in peacetime without the consent of our legislature.

He tried to make the army independent of civil affairs and above civil affairs.

He colluded with some to put us under a jurisdiction that was not suitable for us and was not recognized by our laws; he also approved various false bills concocted by those to achieve the following purposes:

A large number of armed forces were stationed among us;

to shelter them with fake interrogations, so that they can kill the residents of our states without being impunity;

Cut off our trade with the world;

We are forcibly taxed without our consent;

We are deprived of our rights to jury in many cases;

We were escorted overseas for trial;

In a neighboring province abolished the British liberal rule, established an authoritarian government there, and expanded the boundaries of the province, in an attempt to turn the province into both a model and a handy tool, in order to further promote the same totalitarian rule to the colonies here;

to cancel our charter, to abolish our most valuable laws, and to fundamentally change the form of our state governments;

Stop the exercise of our own legislatures and declare that they themselves have the right to make laws for us on all matters.

He declared that we were no longer in his protection and fought against us, thus giving up government affairs here.

He plundered our seas, ravaged our coastal areas, burned our towns, and slaughtered the lives of our people.

He was transporting a large number of foreign mercenaries to complete the old activities of massacre, destruction and rampantness, which had already begun, and its cruelty and despicableness could not be found in its most barbaric era. He is completely unworthy of being the head of a civilized country.

He captured our fellow countrymen on the high seas, forced them to take up weapons to oppose their country, become executioners who killed their loved ones and friends, or died at the hands of their own relatives and friends.

He incited civil strife among us and tried his best to instigate the cruel, ruthless, uncivilized Indians to kill the residents of our borders; and as we all know, the Indians' combat laws were killed regardless of gender, age and age.

In each stage of these oppression, we petition the most humble words to improve; but the replies received from repeated requests are repeated damages. A monarch, when his character has been branded as a tyrant's behavior, is not worthy of being the ruler of the free people.

We are not without our British brothers. We often remind them that their legislatures attempt to impose unreasonable jurisdiction on our heads. We have also told them about our immigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their natural sense of justice and grace, and we begged them to abandon these plundering acts in the same way as the same clan, so as not to affect their relationship and relations. But they have always turned a deaf ear to this call for justice and blood. Therefore, we really have to declare our separation from them and treat them with the same attitude as other nations in the world: war is the enemy; harmony is the friend.

Therefore, we, the representatives of the United States of America who gathered at the Continental Conference, appealed to the world's highest justice in the name of the good people of the colonies and authorized by them, to express our solemn intentions, and declared solemnly that these united colonies are and have the right to be free and independent nations, which abolish all obligations of allegiance to the British royal family, and that all political relations between them and the British states must be cut off from then on, and must be cut off; as free and independent nations, they have the right to declare war, peace, alliance, trade and all actions that independent nations have the right to do. In support of this declaration, we firmly trust in God’s blessing and swear to each other in our lives, our property and our divine reputation.