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.

As has been stated, they were seeking to gain independence from their tyrannical bonds. Theirs came from abroad, ours have come from within.

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 when 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.

In our case, the task is not to create a new government, but it is to return to those principles set forth by the founders.

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.

We have long endured -- though sometimes with patience waning -- the gradual usurpation of our free government.

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.

We emphasize here the word "Duty." It is our duty to restore our government to its legitimate functions as defined by the Constitution.

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.

We submit that the whole mechanism of our government today as well, is essentially controlled by men and women who seek to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries, and to merge our nation into a "New World Order."

To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

! Bit by bit the government has instituted more and more socialistic programs so that now we find ourselves in a virtual cradle-to-grave welfare state.

! In the unjustified name of protecting us from criminals, our government has been eroding our right to bear arms; which right not only protects us from criminals, but ensures against the greatest crime: tyranny.

! They have debauched our currency, overturning the gold standard and introducing the Federal Reserve.

! Their fiscal policies have provided them with prolific finances to further their subversive activities, while creating a national debt which can only end with economic chaos.

! They have financed international lending institutions which provide aid to oppressive governments with no strings attached.

! They have granted most favored nation trading status for governments with a proven record of brutal oppression.

! At the same time, they have imposed sanctions and diplomatic pressures against free governments, which has resulted at times in the toppling of those only to be replaced by tyrannical rule.

! They have withheld assistance and even recognition of freedom forces in countries that have made legitimate attempts to overthrow their dictatorships.

! They have participated in international alliances whose effect has been to subvert freedom and promote tyranny.

! They have committed our military forces to international "peace keeping" missions with a mandate of containment, not victory.

! They have allowed enemy "beach-heads" to be established in our hemisphere, greatly increasing the threats to our peace and safety.

! They have encouraged the sale of merchandise in our nation from oppressive regimes, which goods were produced through slave labor and subsidized in part by U.S. taxpayers' money.

! Not only have they treated spies, espionage agents, traitors, and saboteurs with leniency, but they have even written laws and made treaties which invite such individuals into our country.

! Meanwhile, as the enemy's military machine surges forward with the benefit of our technology and our aid, we have allowed our own military to dwindle both in effectiveness and efficiency.

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.

Indeed, we also have made a valiant attempt to inhibit the encroachments on our freedom. We have attempted to educate the public and have made our voices heard by our government officials. Yet these attempts have fallen on deaf ears.

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.

We so qualify our present government leaders.

Nor have we been wanting in Attention to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us.

Again, our efforts have not been insignificant.

We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here.

We have repeatedly reminded our leaders of the brilliant and inspired minds who created our government, but they have thought otherwise, claiming their own wisdom to be superior.

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.

Our weapon is truth, and our strategy, education. We will use peaceful means so long as our enemies use peaceful means. But we swear in remembrance of the blood of our fathers and by our faith in God -- whom we know will deliver whomsoever will trust in him -- that we will fight for freedom at all costs.

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 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 Connections 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.

We also appeal to the Supreme Judge of the World for the rectitude of our intentions, and though we are not striving for independence from a foreign despot, we, too, solemnly declare our repudiation of the present usurpations and demand a return to the Constitution of the United States as intended by our beloved forefathers, to which form of government we pledge our allegiance -- and to no other.

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.