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Show . t t ' THE DRAGEHTQN, TRIBUNE, DRAGERTON, UTAH PAGE TWELVE In QONGRESS; Jvly. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. By Congress This news story of the sign- self-evide- ing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 is written as though the event were occurring today . Its purpose is to docugive this ment the currency it ought to have these days. The Declaration Independence, for all that it Was written 174 years ago , remains predicated on the living issue of human freedom. Consider os you read, that all this well imight be happening right now. all-import- ant JULY 4, PHILADELPHIA, These American colonies today became the United States of America as 56 members of the Second Continental Con- signed a Declaration of dependence without a dissenting vote. Thd vote came after a long day of bitter debate during which many members of the Congress publicly said they were not ready for an open break with England. The congress, which had been meeting behind closed doors for some time, had been actively working on the declaration since last June 10. Prior to that date, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, had Introduced John Dickinson, leader of the conservative middle colonies, opposed the measure, urging moderation, conciliation, and postponement On last June 10, however, the measure was back before the body and a committee .was appointed ti draw up the preamble to the reso- -' lution. Members of that committee were delegates Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger .Sherman, Robert R. Livingston. Franklin, who at the time was In bed with an attack of gout was unable to assist In the writing of the declaration. Adams, Sherman, and Livingston were also unable to assist In the writing since they had numerous ether congressional aftheir time. fairs occupying The task- - thus fell upon the shoulders of young Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. He submitted his draft to .Congress six days ago. : The motion placed before the 'Congress by Mr. Lee reAd: 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. . As news . of the signing seeped through this city, a state of unbelievable surprise was the first reaction.' It was quickly overcome, however, by an undertone of determination and the realization that e war might soon be a ;a : people, v 1 - , full-scal- . . ; , He has. refused for along time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected;" whefeby the Legislative powers, in- capable of Annihilation, have returned Jto the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all. the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States for that purpose obstructing the Laws of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration 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 harass our people, and eat out their sub' ' : stance. He has kept among us, In times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our Legislature. He has affected to render the Military Independent of, and sjperior to, the Civil power. . the' signers, while Edward Ruthledge, Charleston, S. C., was the youngest. Ruthledge is reported to have ;sald to Franklin as the two men shook hand, Sir, this parchment must outlive time Itself I 27, of 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 themj 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 crown. of , J- - , , ;s. -- QUARTERING large bodies of armed troops among usi 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 T by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas, to be tried for pretended offenses: pOR nt: HAS. REFUSED his assent to Laws, a resolution urging the absolvence of all allegiance to the British reality. Franklin was the oldest frtflit Thfladelphia) , . 1776 A -- Ha has combined with, others to subject us to jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of .pretended. Legislation: ; essary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected (hem with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God entitles 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 That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Qjator with certain inalienable; Rights; that among these artfiffe, 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 foundations on sudh 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 hot 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 longx 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. Proclaimed Is , IN THE COURSE' of human events, It becomes nee- -- vyHEN, Tuesday, July 4, 1950 $f(kfC$. oftfa frfetit ' (Oninimousry'A'dbptad in cbpgress, July 4, . i . For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neigh, boring 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 out own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with the 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 complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow-Citizetaken 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 endeavored 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. ns, JN 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 a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our Britain brethren. We have warned them from time to tilde 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 jeonjured tbem by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which 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. . THEREFORE, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge ol 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 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. i |