What is the content of the American Declaration of Independence?

United States Declaration of Independence

The United States Declaration of Independence

(Library of Congress American Memory Collection)

1776 On July 4th, thirteen state legislatures of the United States of America unanimously adopted the declaration.

In the course of the development of human affairs, when a nation must be separated from another nation and stand in the world nation's forest in an independent and equal capacity according to the laws of nature and the will of God, out of respect for human public opinion, the reasons driving its independence must be announced.

We hold the following truth to be self-evident: all men are created equal, and the creator endowed them with certain inalienable rights, including the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In order to protect these rights, human beings established a government in it, and the legitimate power of the government was granted by the rulers. Once any form of government undermines the realization of these goals, the people have the right to replace or abolish it in order to establish a new government. The principles on which the new government is based and the way it organizes power must make people think that only in this way can they be most likely to achieve security and happiness. If we really want to be cautious, the government that has been established for many years should not be replaced for irrelevant and temporary reasons. All past experience shows that human beings are willing to endure any suffering as long as it is tolerable, and they are not willing to abolish the form of government to which they have long been accustomed in order to rehabilitate grievances. However, when a series of abuse of power and extortion that always pursue the same goal show that the government is trying to put the people under tyranny, the people have the right and obligation to overthrow such a government and provide new guarantees for its future security. This is how these colonies suffered in the past, and why they must change the government system now. The history of the king of Great Britain today is a history of repeatedly hurting and plundering these colonies, and its direct goal is to establish dictatorship and tyranny over the States. In order to prove the truth of the above sentence, the facts are now made public and judged by a just world.

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

He forbade his colonial governor to approve urgent and extremely important laws, or shelved them before obtaining his consent, and after they were shelved, he completely ignored them.

He refused to approve other laws that are convenient for people in vast areas, unless the people in these areas are willing to give up their representation in the legislature, which is extremely precious to the people and only tyrants are afraid.

He called the state legislative committees to an unusual and uncomfortable place far from their files, with the aim of exhausting them and forcing them to submit.

He repeatedly dissolved the state houses of representatives because the latter firmly opposed his violation of people's rights.

After he dissolved the House of Representatives, he refused to choose another person for a long time, so this inalienable legislative power was exercised by ordinary people, which caused the States to be still in danger of foreign invasion and internal riots during this period.

He tried to stop the states from increasing their population. To this end, he blocked the adoption of the naturalization law for foreigners, refused to approve other laws to encourage immigration, and improved the conditions for allocating new land.

He refused to approve the law establishing judicial power to obstruct the implementation of justice.

He forced the judge to be under his own will in order to keep his tenure, the amount of salary and payment.

He indiscriminately set up a new government office and sent a large number of officials here to harass our people and embezzle their property.

In peacetime, he kept his standing army among us without the consent of our legislature.

He exerted influence to make the army independent of the civilian regime.

He colluded with others, put us under the jurisdiction that did not conform to our laws and regulations and was not recognized by our laws, and also approved all kinds of fake bills they concocted so that they could station a large number of armed forces among us; No matter how serious these people commit murder against the residents of our States, he can shelter them with fake trials and let them chase the law; He can cut off our trade with the rest of the world; Tax us without our consent; In many cases, we are deprived of the rights and interests of the jury system; Escort us overseas for trial on trumped-up charges; He abolished the free system of English law in a neighboring province, established an authoritarian government there, expanded its borders, and immediately became a model and a suitable tool to promote the same authoritarian rule to the colonies here; He abolished many of our charters and our most precious laws, which fundamentally changed the form of our state government; He suspended our legislature from exercising its power, claiming that they had the right to make laws for us under any circumstances.

They abandoned the government here, declared that we were no longer protected by them, and launched a war against us.

He plundered our waters, ravaged our coastal areas, burned down our towns and ruined the lives of our people.

At this time, he was transporting a large number of foreign mercenaries to engage in his activities of creating death, desolation and tyranny. His cruelty and meanness can't even be compared with the most barbaric times from the beginning, and he is totally unworthy to be the head of a civilized country.

He forced our compatriots captured by them on the high seas to take up arms against their own country, making them executioners to kill their relatives and friends, or letting them die at their hands.

He incited civil strife among us and tried his best to provoke the ruthless Indian Man Zi to deal with the residents of our frontier. As we all know, the fighting principle of Indians is to kill regardless of gender, age and right and wrong.

At every stage of these oppression, we call for correction in the most humble language. And we petitioned again and again, only to be hurt again and again.

When a monarch's character is exposed by every behavior that only a tyrant can draw, he is not worthy of being a free nation.

It's not that we didn't think of our English brothers. Their legislature wants to extend unreasonable jurisdiction to us, and we often inform them of this attempt. We also told them that we immigrated and settled here. For the sake of the same family, we implore them to have a natural sense of justice and generosity; Abandon these predatory behaviors, because these predatory behaviors will inevitably interrupt our relationship and communication. But they also turned a deaf ear to this call for justice and blood. Therefore, we should get rid of them and treat them like other nationalities in the world: it is the enemy who fights with us; Those who make up with me are all friends.

Therefore; We, the representatives of the United States of in the name of people, gathered at the Continental Congress to appeal to the highest referee in the world with the goodwill of the colonies and their authorization, and solemnly declare that our unified colony is now, and should be, an independent and free country based on justice;

We have cancelled all our obligations of loyalty to the British royal family, and all our political ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain have been cut off and must be cut off. As an independent and free country, we have every right to declare war, conclude peace, form alliances, conduct trade and take all actions that an independent country has the right to take. We firmly believe in the blessing of the gods, and swear to each other with our lives, property and sacred reputation to support this declaration.