s to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with
[inherent and] inalienable 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 and abolish it, and to institute new
government, laying its foundations 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 shown, 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, [begun at a distinguished period, and]
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 sufferings of
these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains
them to [expunge] their former systems of government. The history
of the present king of Great Britain, is a history of
[unremitting] injuries and usurpations, [among which appears no
solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, but all
have] in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny
over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a
candid world, [for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet
unsullied by falsehood.]

{223}3. "He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.

4. "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.

5. "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.