|
|
Era 3: Standard 2
Students Should Understand: How the American Revolution involved multiple movements among the new nation's many groups to reform American society.
Anticipatory Set: With a cooperative learning model, use the document sets to consider the effect of the American Revolution on free and enslaved African Americans. Divide students into five groups of four to five students each. Assign a chairperson and a recorder for each group. Each group should then be assigned one document set and a copy of the Declaration of Independence. They should spend their time discussing the questions provided and any others that might arise. Also use Historical Thinking Standard 3.
R eview the data
E xtract the "Big Picture"
L ook for specifics
A ssociate specifics by grouping
T est pattern or relationship
E xpress finding
These steps can be followed while using the document sets provided. The steps can also be analyzed by connecting them to the ideas of the Declaration of Independence.
Discuss these "RELATE" steps with the students before handing out the document sets. Explain to them how "RELATE" can help their critical thinking skills.
Source for "RELATE": Robin Fogarty and Jim Bellanca, Catch Them Thinking: A Handbook of Classroom Strategies (Palatine, Ill: Skylight Publishing, 1986).
Thomas Paine, a radical political philosopher and activist, lived from 1737 to 1809. British by birth, Paine immigrated to the American colonies in 1774. Two years later he wrote his famous pamphlet, Common Sense, which called for an immediate separation from England. The pamphlet eventually sold between 200,000 and 300,000 copies and greatly precipitated the American Revolution. During the war, Paine both served in the continental army and continued to publish his writings--this time in Crisis. In 1787, Paine returned to Europe and became an apologist for the French Revolution, writing The Rights of Man, a response to Edmund Burke's (1729-1797) anti-revolutionary Reflections on the French Revolution (Burke did, however, support the American Revolution). Paine was tried and convicted of treason in England for his views concerning the French Revolution, but he escaped to France and was elected to the French Convention in 1792, arrested by Robespierre, and later released with the aid of James Madison (1751-1836). Paine remained in France until 1802 and published his two-part work on deism, The Age of Reason (1794-1796). He died in 1802 in "relative obscurity."
Source: George Thomas Kurian, Dictionary of Biography (New York: Laurel, 1980).
Patrick Henry, famous for his call to revolution, "Give me liberty or give me death," lived from 1736 to 1799. He began a long political career as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, representing Hanover county of that commonwealth. He gained fame as a leading figure in the opposition to the Stamp Act and other British policies in the colonies after the Great War for Empire (a.k.a., The Seven Years' War, 1756-1763) and was an early advocate of a military defense from the British. Henry served as a delegate to the First Continental Congress (1774-1776). In 1775, he began a two-year term as commander-in-chief of the Virginia revolutionary militia, and the people of Virginia elected him governor from 1776 to 1779, and again from 1784 to 1786. He also served as an Anti-Federalist delegate to the Virginia Convention for the ratification of the Constitution. At first he opposed ratification, but later--realizing the Constitution would in all likelihood be ratified--demanded the inclusion of the first ten amendments. Patrick Henry was also a major planter and a slave holder.
Source: George Thomas Kurian, Dictionary of Biography (New York: Laurel, 1980).
DOCUMENT SET 1
Petition of New Hampshire Slaves, 12 November 1779
The petition campaigns waged by Negroes in Massachusetts were a graphic response to contentions of some proslavery writers that slaves were a contented lot under slavery, accepting their fate and their divinely-ordained position in society. But Massachusetts Negroes were not alone in petitioning state legislatures--on November 12, 1779, 19 slaves from New Hampshire petitioned their own legislature, pleading for the "state of liberty of which we have been so long deprived." The petition was rejected by the legislature on June 9, 1780, a cryptic note in the daily journal indicating that "the House is not ripe for a determination in this matter." Not until June 26, 1857, was a law enacted in the state declaring that no person should be deprived of the right of citizenship because of color. But the legislature was far behind public opinion. The 1790 census recorded fewer than 200 slaves in New Hampshire, less than one-third the number counted in 1767 indicating a decline in the practice of slavery. Evidence of antislavery feeling was clearly expressed when a black runaway from George Washington's estate was sought in Portsmouth in 1796. The furor in the community against this search was so great that the hunt was called off. --Issac W. Hammond, 1889
To the Honorable, the Council and House of Representatives of said state, now sitting at Exeter in and for said state:
The petition of the subscribers, natives of Africa, now forcibly detained in slavery in said state most humbly sheweth. That the God of nature gave them life and freedom, upon the terms of the most perfect equality with other men; That freedom is an inherent right of the human species, not to be surrendered, but by consent, for the sake of social life; That private or public tyranny and slavery are alike detestable to minds conscious of the equal dignity of human nature; That in power and authority of individuals, derived solely from a principle of coercion, against the will of individuals, and to dispose of their persons and properties, consists the completest idea of private and political slavery; That all men being amenable to the Deity for the ill-improvement of the blessings of His Providence, they hold themselves in duty bound strenuously to exert every faculty of their minds to obtain that blessing of freedom, which they are justly entitled to from that donation of the beneficent Creator; That through ignorance and brutish violence of their native countrymen, and by the sinister designs of others (who ought to have taught them better), and by the avarice of both, they, while but children, and incapable of self-defence, whose infancy might have prompted protection, were seized, imprisoned, and transported from their native country, where (though ignorance and unchristianity prevailed) they were born free, to a country where (though knowledge, Christianity and freedom are their boast) they are compelled and their posterity to drag on their lives in miserable servitude: Thus, often is the parent's cheek wet for the loss of a child, torn by the cruel hand of violence from her aching bosom; Thus, often and in vain is the infant's sigh for the nurturing care of its bereaved parent, and thus do the ties of nature and blood become victims to cherish the vanity and luxury of a fellow mortal. Can this be right? Forbid it gracious Heaven.
Permit again your humble slaves to lay before this honorable assembly some of those grievances which they daily experience and feel. Though fortune hath dealt out our portion with rugged hand, yet hath she smiled in the disposal of our persons to those who claim us as their property; of them we do not complain, but from what authority they assume the power to dispose of our lives, freedom and property, we would wish to know. Is it from the sacred volume of Christianity? There we believe it is not to be found; but here hath the cruel hand of slavery made us incompetent judges, hence knowledge is hid from our minds. Is it from the volumes of the laws? Of these also slaves cannot be judges, but those we are told are founded on reason and justice; it cannot be found there. Is it from the volumes of nature? No, here we can read with others, of this knowledge, slavery cannot wholly deprive us; here we know that we ought to be free agents; here we feel the dignity of human nature; here we feel the passions and desires of men, though checked by the rod of slavery; here we feel a just equality; here we know that the God of nature made us free. Is their authority assumed from custom? If so let that custom be abolished, which is not founded in nature, reason nor religion. Should the humanity and benevolence of this honorable assembly restore us that state of liberty of which we have been so long deprived, we conceive that those who are our present masters will not be sufferers by our liberation, as we have most of us spent our whole strength and the prime of our lives in their service; and as freedom inspires a noble confidence and gives the mind of emulation to vie in the noblest efforts of enterprise, and as justice and humanity are the result of your deliberations, we fondly hope that the eye of pity and the heart of justice may commiserate our situation, and put us upon the equality of freemen, and give us an opportunity of evincing to the world our love of freedom by exerting ourselves in her cause, in opposing the efforts of tyranny and oppression over the country in which we ourselves have been so long injuriously enslaved.
Therefore, Your humble slaves most devoutly pray for the sake of injured liberty, for the sake of justice, humanity and the rights of mankind, for the honor of religion and by all that is dear, that your honors would graciously interpose in our behalf, and enact such laws and regulations, as you in your wisdom think proper, whereby we may regain our liberty and be ranked in the class of free agents, and that the name of slave may not more be heard in a land gloriously contending for the sweets of freedom. And your humble slaves as in duty bound will ever pray.
Portsmouth Nov. 12, 1779.
Signed: Nero Brewster, Pharaoh Rogers, Romeo Rindge, Seneca Hall, Cate Newmarch, Peter Warner, Cesar Gerrish, Pharaoh Shores, Zebulon Gardner, Winsor Moffatt, Quam Sherburne, Garrett Cotton, Samuel Wentworth, Kittridge Tuckerman,Will Clarkson, Peter Frost, Jack Odiorne, Prince Whipple, Cinio Hubbard.
Source: Issac W. Hammond, ed., "Slavery in New Hampshire," Magazine of American History 21 (January 1889): 63-4.
Questions
1. What do the petitioners mean by "the God of nature gave them life and freedom, upon the terms of the most perfect equality with other men"? How does this relate to the preamble of the Declaration of Independence? To whom are they appealing with such language?
2. What do they mean by freedom being an "inherent right?" Is that the same as an inalienable right?
3. Are the petitioners misusing the words of the Declaration of Independence? Why or why not?
4. What is the main point of the petition?
5. What conclusion can one draw about the impact of the Declaration of Independence?
DOCUMENT SET 2
Patrick Henry and Robert Pleasants
From Patrick Henry to Robert Pleasants, Hanover, 18 January 1773.
I take this opportunity to acknowledge the receipt of Anthony Benezet's book against the slave trade. I thank you for it. It is not a little surprising that the professors of Christianity, whose chief excellence consists in softening the human heart and in cherishing and improving its finer feelings, should encourage a practice so totally repugnant to the first impressions of right and wrong. What adds to the wonder is that this abominable practice has been introduced in the most enlightened ages. Times that seem to have pretensions to boast of high improvements in the arts and sciences, and refined morality, have brought into general use, and guarded by many laws, a species of violence and tyranny which our more rude and barbarous, but more honest ancestors detested. Is it not amazing that at a time when the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision, in a country, above all others, fond of liberty, that in such an age and in such a country we find men professing a religion the most humane, mild, gentle and generous, adopting a principle as repugnant to humanity as it is inconsistent with the Bible, and destructive to liberty? Every thinking, honest man rejects it in speculation; how few in practice from conscientious motives!
Would anyone believe I am the master of slaves of my own purchase I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living here without them. I will not, I cannot justify it. However culpable my conduct, I will so far pay my devoir to virtue as to own the excellence and rectitude of her precepts, and lament my want of conformity to them.
I believe a time will come when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Everything we do is to improve it, if it happens in our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendents, together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot and an abhorrence of slavery. If we cannot reduce this wished-for reformation to practice, let us treat the unhappy victims with lenity. It is the furthest advance we can make toward justice. It is a debt we owe to the purity of our religion, to show that it is at variance with that law which warrants slavery.
I know not when to stop. I could say many things on the subject, a serious view of which gives a gloomy perspective to future times. [Wirt, Life of Henry, I, 152-153]
Source: Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris, eds., The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution As Told By Participants (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 402.
From Robert Pleasants to Patrick Henry, Curles, 3rd mo. 28, 1777.
[I write to you on a subject of great importance for your consideration.] It is in respect to slavery, of which thou art not altogether a stranger to mine, as well as some others of our friends sentiments, and perhaps too thou may have been informed that some of us from a full conviction of the injustice, and an apprehension of duty, have been induced to embrace the present favorable juncture, when the representatives of the people have nobly declared all men equally free, to manumit divers of our Negroes; and propose, without any desire to offend or thereby to injure any person, to invest more of them with the same inestimable priviledge. . . .
Indeed few, very few, are now so insensible of the injustice of holding our fellow men in bondage as to undertake to vindicate it; nor can it be done, in my apprehension, without condemning the present measures in America; for if less injury offered to ourselves from the mother country can justify the expense of so much blood and treasure, how can we impose with propriety absolute slavery on others? It hath often appeared to me as if this very matter was one, if not the principal cause of our present troubles, and that we ought first to have cleansed our own hands before we could consistently oppose the measures of others tending to the same purpose; and I firmly believe the doing this justice to the injured Africans would be an acceptable offering to him who "rules in the Kingdoms of men," and "giveth wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding," and for a purpose too of His own glory; and happy will it be for us if we apply our talents accordingly; for such it is that are often made a blessing to themselves, to their posterity, and to mankind in general. But if on the contrary we seek our own glory and present interest by forbidden means, how can we expect peace here, or happiness hereafter? Or may we, therefore, "break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if haply it may be a lengthening of our tranquillity!"
The Declaration of Rights is indeed noble, and I can but wish and hope thy great abilities and interest may be exerted towards a full and clear explanation and confirmation thereof; for, without that, the present struggle for liberty, if successful, would be but partial, and instead of abolishing, might lay the foundation of greater imposition and tyranny to our posterity than any we have yet known; and considering the uncertainty of future events, and all human foresight, the immediate posterity of those now in power might be effected by such partiality, as well as others whose grievances might remain unredressed.
It would therefore become the interest, as well as duty, of a wise and virtuous legislature, in forming a government, to establish a general, uniform and constant liberty, as well civil as religious; for this end, I just propose to drop a hint, which hath appeared to me as likely to accomplish the great and wise end of a general freedom, without the dangers and inconveniences which some apprehend from a present total abolition of slavery, as any thing that hath occurred to me, and perhaps might be as generally approved; which is to enact that all children of slaves to be born in [the] future be absolutely free at the usual ages of 18 and 21, and that such who are convinced of the injustice of keeping slaves, and willing to give up the property which the law hath invested them with, may under certain regulations (so as not at an age to become chargable, or from other impediments obnoxious to the community) have free liberty to do it.
By such a law I apprehend the children would be educated with proper notions of freedom, and be better fitted for the enjoyment of it than many now are; the state secured from intestine enemies and convulsions (which some think would attend a total immediate discharge), its true interest promoted, in proportion to the number of free-men interested in its peace and prosperity, and, above all, to do that justice to others which we contend for and claim as the unalterable birthright of every man. [Wirt, Life of Henry, III, 49-51.]
Source: Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris, eds., The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution As Told By Participants (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 402-5.
Questions
1. Does Patrick Henry own slaves? Can one tell from his letter and arguments? Why or why not?
2. How does Christianity/the New Testament condone or reject slavery? How does Henry's use of Christianity support or negate his argument?
3. How does Pleasants see manumission as redemptive? How will slavery corrupt the future of liberty and the nation? Why must the end of slavery be absolute?
4. Is Pleasants more concerned with the ideals of liberty and Christianity or with the plight of blacks?
DOCUMENT SET 3
Tom Paine and Lemuel Haynes
From Tom Paine, Pennsylvania Journal and The Weekly Advertiser, 8 March 1775.
The chief design of this paper is not to disprove [slavery], which many have sufficiently done; but to entreat Americans to consider:
1. With what consistency or decency they complain so loudly of attempts to enslave them, while they hold so many hundred thousands in slavery; and annually enslave many thousands more, without any pretence of authority, or claim upon them?
2. How just, how suitable to our crime is the punishment with which providence threatens us? We have enslaved multitudes, and shed much innocent blood in doing it; and now we are threatened with the same. And while other evils are confessed and bewailed, why not this especially, and publicly; than which no other vice has brought so much guilt on the land?
3. Whether, then, all ought not immediately to discontinue and renounce it, with grief and abhorrence? Should not every society bear testimony against it, and account obstinate persisters in it bad men, enemies to their country, and exclude them from fellowship; as they often do for much lesser faults?
4. The great question may be--what should be done with those who are enslaved already? To turn the old and infirm free would be injustice and cruelty; they who enjoyed the labors of their better days should keep and treat them humanely. As to the rest, let prudent men, with the assistance of legislatures, determine what is practicable for masters, and best for them. Perhaps some could give them lands upon reasonable rent; some, employing them in their labor still, might give them some reasonable allowances for it; so as all may have some property, and fruits of their labors at their own disposal, and be encouraged to industry; the family may live together, and enjoy the natural satisfaction of exercising relative affections and duties, with civil protection and other advantages, like fellow men. Perhaps they may sometime form useful barrier settlements on the frontiers. Then they may become interested in the public welfare, and assist in promoting it; instead of being dangerous, as now they are, should any enemy promise them a better condition. . . .
These are sentiments of JUSTICE AND HUMANITY [Conway, ed., The Writings of Paine, I, 7-9.]
Source: Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris, eds., The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution As Told By Participants (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), 404.
Questions
1. Why does Paine find the American fear of enslavement hypocritical?
2. Why did Americans conveniently ignore the philosophical contradiction
between African slavery and American freedom? Does Paine offer his own reasons, or is he simply chastizing?
3. How would Paine treat slave owners?
4. Why doesn't Paine desire the immediate abolition of slavery? Is he being hypocritical?
From Lemuel Haynes (23-year-old mulatto minuteman from western Massachusetts), 1776.
Liberty Further Extended: Or Free thoughts on the illegality of Slave-keeping; Wherein those arguments that Are used in its vindication Are plainly confuted. Together with an humble Address to such as are Concearned in the practise.
We hold these truths to be self-Evident, that all me are created Equal, that they are Endowed By their Creator with Ceartain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. --Congress.
. . . Liberty is a Jewel which was handed Down to man from the cabinet of heaven, and is Coaeval with his Existence. And as it proceed from the Supreme Legislature of the univers, so it is he which hath a sole right to take away; therefore, he that would take away a mans Liberty assumes a prerogative that Belongs to another, and acts out of his own domain.
One man may bost a superorety above another in point of Natural previledge; yet if he can produse no convincive arguments in vindication of this pre-heminence his hypothesis is to Be Suspected. To affirm, that an Englishman has a right to his Liberty, is a truth which has Been so clearly Evinced, Especially of Late, that to spend time in illustrating this, would be But Superfluous tautology. But I query, whether Liberty is so contracted a principle as to be Confin'd to any nation under Heaven; nay, I think it not hyperbolical to affirm, that Even an affrican, has Equally as good a right to his Liberty in common with Englishmen. . . .
It hath pleased god to make of one Blood all nations of men, for to dwell upon the face of the Earth. Acts 17, 26. And as all are of one Species, so there are the same Laws, and aspiring principles placed in all nations; and the effect that these Laws will produce, are Similar to Each other. Consequently we may suppose, that what is precious to one man, is precious to another, and what is irksom, or intolarable to one man, is so to another, consider'd in a Law of Nature. Therefore we may reasonably Conclude, that Liberty is Equally as pre[c]ious to a Black man, as it is to a white one, and Bondage Equally as intolarable to the one as it is to the other: Seeing it Effects the Laws of nature Equally as much as in the one as it Does in the other. But, as I observed Before, those privileges that are granted to us By the Divine Being, no one has the Least right to take them from us without our consen[t]; and there is Not the Least precept, or practise, in the Sacred Scriptures, that constitutes a Black man a Slave, any more than a white one.
Shall a mans Couler Be the Decisive Criterion whereby to Judg of his natural right? or Becaus a man is not of the same couler with his Neighbour, shall he Be Deprived of those things that Distuingsheth [Distinguisheth] him from the Beasts of the field? . . . O Sirs! Let that pity, and compassion, which is peculiar to mankind, Especially to English-men, no Longer Lie Dormant in your Breast: Let it run free thro' Disinterested Benevolence. then how would these iron yoaks Spontaneously fall from the gauled Necks of the oppress'd! And that Disparity, in point of Natural previlege, which is the Bane of Society, would Be Cast upon the utmost coasts of Oblivion. . . . SO when shall America be consistantly Engaged in the Cause of Liberty!" If you have any Love to yourselves, or any Love to this Land, if you have any Love to your fellow-men, Break these intollerable yoaks, and Let their names Be remembered no more, Least they Be retorted on your own necks, and you Sink under them: for god will not hold you guiltless.
Source: Richard D. Brown, ed., Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760-1791: Documents and Essays (Lexington, Mass. and Toronto: D.C. Heath, 1992), 309-10.
Questions
1. How does Haynes use the word "liberty"? Is there a larger significance to this?
2. How are religious ideas used in the Petition?
3. How does the opening quote of the document relate to the rest of the document?
4. How had the Declaration of Independence affected his view of liberty? Is there an irony in this?
The Declaration of Independence
In Congress, July 4, 1776, A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.
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 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, 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 of 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 harass 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 and 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 British 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 the 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.
Signed by ORDER and in BEHALF of the CONGRESS,
JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT
|
