The last 13 essays of "The Federal Farmer" were published together on May 2, 1788. Historians have some evidence that Elbridge Gerry is the principle writer for these essays. Federal Farmer: Letter 6 Federal Farmer: Letter 7 Federal Farmer: Letter 8 Federal Farmer: Letter 9 Federal Farmer: Letter 10 Federal Farmer: Letter 11 Federal Farmer: Letter 12 Federal Farmer: Letter 13 Federal Farmer: Letter 14 Federal Farmer: Letter 15 Federal Farmer: Letter 16 Federal Farmer: Letter 17 Federal Farmer: Letter 18

The first five essays of "The Federal Farmer" were published together on November 8, 1787. Historians have some evidence that Elbridge Gerry is the principle writer for these essays. A second pamphlet was written and published on May 2, 1788 with thirteen more essays. Federal Farmer: Letter 1: October 8, 1787 Federal Farmer: Letter 2: October 9, 1787 Federal Farmer: Letter 3: October 10, 1787 Federal Farmer: Letter 4: October 12, 1787 Federal Farmer: Letter 5: October 13, 1787

First of all, it's a real honor for me to be here with all you famous people. I have a great admiration for you and a deep feeling for you in this time of challenge and disappointment. This is a sad time for all those in our country who are involved in amateur athletics. This past week, as you know, a tragic airline accident occurred in Warsaw, Poland, and 22 members of the U.S. amateur boxing team were killed. It's a tragic occurrence, and our whole Nation was reminded of the value of a human life, and also was reminded of the sacrifice that goes into the training for championship sports. This team went overseas to do its best. They were full of spirit and full of determination to exhibit their own prowess and achievement, and also to represent their country. And they represented us well. And I personally feel the loss, which I know you all share. When we are confronted with stark tragedies such as these, we have to stop for a moment and put our own lives and our own principles, our own emotions, our own commitments, back into perspective; to reassess or to kind of inventory what are the most important things in a human life. This is one of those times. And that's why I've asked you to come to the White House—with some degree of trepidation—to listen to Dr. Brzezinski, to consult with Joe Onek, 1 and to meet with me as your President, to discuss a very serious and a very vital matter, one that does directly involve human life, thousands of human lives already lost in Afghanistan, and many more hundreds of thousands of lives that could be lost, unless our Nation is strong enough and is willing to sacrifice, if necessary, to preserve the peace of our country. Deputy Counsel to the President. The highest commitment that I have in my official capacity as President is to preserve the security of the United States of America and to keep the peace. Every decision that I make, every action that I take, has to be compatible With that commitment. Ours is a nuclear age. We have a much more serious prospect now even than existed back in 1936 when the Olympics were held in Berlin. It was serious then. In retrospect it's obvious. I met last week with the Minister President of Bavaria, in Western Germany, who's running for Prime Minister this year—or Chancellor. He said if only the Olympics had not been held in Berlin in 1936 the course of history could have been different. We face a similar prospect now. I'm determined to keep our national interest paramount, even if people that I love and admire, like you, are required to share in disappointment and in personal sacrifice. I don't say that lightly, because my admiration of you and my appreciation of you is very deep and very sincere. But it is absolutely imperative that we and other nations who believe in freedom and who believe in human rights and who believe in peace let our voices be heard in an absolutely clear way, and not add the imprimatur of approval to the Soviet Union and its government while they have 105,000 heavily armed invading forces in the freedom-loving and innocent and deeply religious country of Afghanistan. Thousands of people's lives have already been lost. Entire villages have been wiped out deliberately by the Soviet invading forces. And as you well know, the people in the Soviet Union don't even know it. They do not even realize that 104 nations in the United Nations condemned the Soviet Union for their invasion and called for their immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan. The people of the Soviet Union don't even know it. The Olympics are important to the Soviet Union. They have made massive investments in buildings, equipment, propaganda. As has probably already been pointed out to you, they have passed out hundreds of thousands of copies of an official Soviet document saying that the decision of the world community to hold the Olympics in Moscow is an acknowledgement of approval of the foreign policy of the Soviet Union, and proof to the world that the Soviets' policy results in international peace. I can't say at this moment what other nations will not go to the Summer Olympics in Moscow. Ours will not go. I say that not with any equivocation; the decision has been made. The American people are convinced that we should not go to the Summer Olympics. The Congress has voted overwhelmingly, almost unanimously, which is a very rare thing, that we will not go. And I can tell you that many of our major allies, particularly those democratic countries who believe in freedom, will not go. I understand how you feel, and I thought about it a lot as we approached this moment, when. I would have to stand here in front of fine young Americans and dedicated coaches, who have labored sometimes for more than 10 years, in every instance for years, to become among the finest athletes in the world, knowing what the Olympics mean to you, to know that you would be disappointed. It's not a pleasant time for me. You occupy a special place in American life, not because of your talent or your dedication or your training or your commitment or your ability as an athlete, but because for American people, Olympic athletes represent something else. You represent the personification of the highest ideals of our country. You represent a special commitment to the value of a human life, and to the achievement of excellence within an environment of freedom, and a belief in truth and friendship and respect for others, and the elimination of discrimination, and the honoring of human rights, and peace. Even though many of you may not warrant or deserve that kind of esteem, because you haven't thought so deeply about these subjects, perhaps, the American people think you do, because you are characterized accurately as clean and decent and honest and dedicated. That's why it's particularly important that you join in with us, not in condemnation, even of the Soviet Union, not in a negative sense at all, but in a positive sense of what's best for our country and best for world peace. There must be a firm, clear voice of caution given to the Soviet Union, not just in admonition and criticism of what they have already done to despoil a small and relatively weak country but to make sure that they don't look upon this as an achievement without serious adverse consequences which can then be followed up with additional aggression along the same lines. Since the Second World War the Soviets have invaded successfully and have subjugated and taken away the freedom of people in Poland, in Hungary, in Czechoslovakia, in other countries as well, as you know. But for more than 25 years they did not use their massive forces, after the Warsaw Pact was formed, to go into an adjacent country themselves. They used others to fight the battles for them, the Vietnamese and the Cubans, the North Koreans earlier. This was a radical departure from past Soviet policy, to go in themselves, and it cannot go unmet. I'd like to also point out that you will not be the only ones making a sacrifice. Yours may be the deepest and the most personal to you. I acknowledge that. But the farmers of this country also suffer. Some of you come from farm families. You know how important it is to have stable international markets to sell your products after very doubtful seasons have to be faced and deep debts have to be acquired. Shortly before the election in Iowa, I declared an embargo and cut off 17 million tons of grain that was going to the Soviet Union. And a lot of people said, "The farmers will condemn you, Mr. President. You'll never be successful in the election, in the farm communities." I won the election by more than a 3-to-1 margin, because the farmers felt that, "Although it's a sacrifice for me, I believe in my country, and in a peaceful way we must send the Soviets a clear message that aggression will not be condoned or excused." And I'd like to remind you that everything we have done has been not only for the ultimate purpose of peace but has been done with peace. I've got powerful forces available to carry out my command, military forces, the most powerful on Earth, and I did not exercise any military option. We exercised political options by asking the other nations to join in with us at the U.N. to condemn the Soviet Union, and 103 others did it. And we exercised economic options, which I've just described and I need not repeat. And the other thing that we must do is to stand with our allies and friends and freedom-loving people around the world and say, "We will not go to Moscow and participate in the Olympic games in your capital. We call for the moving of the Olympics or the delay of the Olympics for at least a year, until Soviet troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan, or the cancellation of the games, or either we would not participate." Mr. Onek has been describing to you my commitment to do the best I can to give you Olympic-quality international competition, probably toward the end of August, that will let you participate, representing yourselves, representing our Nation. I am not naive, and I know that there is nothing that I could help to create, even if all other nations on Earth joined with me, that would equal the status of an Olympic gold medal. In my judgment what we are doing is preserving the principles and the quality of the Olympics, not destroying it. It would suit me fine if we had a permanent Olympic site near the original Olympic game in Olympus in Greece. We've advocated that. We've sent a delegation from the White House, along with Prime Minister Karamanlis of Greece to look at a potential site. That would please me completely. It's going to take a while to do it. But I want to be sure that the principles of the Olympics are preserved, not wasted or destroyed or minimized. This is obviously a difficult decision for me to make. It's much more difficult on you. I'm not saying it's worse for me. The last think I would like to say is this: We have many kinds of awards and types of recognition. I'm not an outstanding 10,000-meter runner. But I've been honored by election to the highest elective office in our country, and there will be a difference, not just a subtle difference, between a gold medal that you might win the last part of August in international games that will not equal an Olympic gold medal. I understand that. But there will be an additional award that I will help to emphasize within the bounds of my capacity and authority and influence and status as a President, and that is a special recognition to you that you not only prevailed in a superb international competition of a world championship quality but that you also are honored along with it, having helped to preserve freedom and having helped to enhance the quality or the principles of the Olympics and having helped in a personal way to carry out the principles and ideals of our Nation, and having made a sacrifice in doing it. And I hope that at least in the minds of some of you the medal that you might win in competition and the recognition of a grateful nation will at least partially make up for the sacrifice that you'll have to make this summer in not going to Moscow for the Summer Olympics. I'm very grateful that you came, and I hope that you will help me, and I hope that you will agree, if possible. But this is a free country, and your voice is yours, and what you do and say is a decision for you to make. But whatever you decide, as far as your attitude is concerned, I will respect it. And I will appreciate this opportunity for me as President to meet with you to discuss a very serious matter as equals, as Americans who love our country, who recognize that sometimes we have to make sacrifices and that for the common good, for peace and for freedom, those sacrifices are warranted. Thank you very much. Source: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-representatives-us-teams-the-1980-summer-olympics

The United States In Congress Assembled Friday, September 28, 1787. Present - New-Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, North-Carolina, South-Carolina, and Georgia, and from Maryland Mr. Ross. Congress having received the Report of the Convention lately assembled in Philadelphia, Resolved Unanimously, THAT the said Report, with the Resolutions and Letter accompanying the same, be transmitted to the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each state by the people thereof, in Conformity to the Resolves of the Convention, made and provided in that case. Charles Thompson, Secretary Source: https://csac.history.wisc.edu/2021/03/31/ratification-of-the-u-s-constitution-an-overview-of-the-process/

In Convention Monday September 17th. 1787 Present The States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Mr. Hamilton from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Resolved, That the preceding Constitution be laid before the United States in Congress assembled, and that it is the Opinion of this Convention, that it should afterwards be submitted to a Convention of Delegates, chosen in each State by the People thereof, under the Recommendation of its Legislature, for their Assent and Ratification; and that each Convention assenting to, and ratifying the Same, should give Notice thereof to the United States in Congress assembled. Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this Convention, that as soon as the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Constitution, the United States in Congress assembled should fix a Day on which Electors should be appointed by the States which shall have ratified the same, and a Day on which the Electors should assemble to vote for the President, and the Time and place for commencing Proceedings under this Constitution. That after such Publication the Electors should be appointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected: That the Electors should meet on the Day fixed for the Election of the President, and should transmit their votes certified signed, sealed and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the Secretary of the United States in Congress assembled, that the Senators and Representatives should convene at the Time and Place asigned; that the Senators should appoint a President of the Senate, for the sole Purpose of receiving, opening and counting the Votes for President; and, that after he shall be chosen, the Congress, together with the President, should, without Delay, proceed to execute this Constitution. By the Unanimous Order of the Convention Go: Washington Presidt. W. Jackson Secretary GEORGE WASHINGTON WASHINGTON, GEORGE September 17, 1787 Source: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/6277391?objectPage=2

Volume 1 March 22, 1788 Volume 2 May 28, 1788

May 4th, 1776 An Act repealing an Act entitled “An Act for the effectual securing to His Majesty the Allegiance of His Subjects in this His Colony and Dominion of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” and altering the Form of Commissions of all Writs and Processes in the Courts, and of the Oaths prescribed by Law. Whereas George the Third King of Great Britain entirely departing from the Duties and Character of a good King instead of protecting is endeavoring to destroy the good People of this Colony and of all the United Colonies by sending Fleets and Armies to America to confiscate our Property and spread Fire Sword and Desolation throughout our Country in order to compel us to submit to the most debasing and detestable Slavery And whereas Protection and Allegiance are reciprocal, the latter being only due in Consequence of the former: And Be it further Enacted by this General Assembly, and by the Authority thereof It is Enacted that in all Commissions for Offices Civil and Military and in all Writs and Processes in Law whether original, judicial or executory civil or criminal wherever the Name and Authority of the said King is made Use of the same shall be omitted and in the Room thereof the Name and Authority of the Governor and Company of this Colony shall be substituted in the following Words to wit: “The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” That all such Commissions Writs and Processes shall be otherwise of the same Form and Tenor as they heretofore were: That the Courts of Law be no longer entitled nor considered as the Kings Courts: And that no Instrument in Writing of any Nature or Kind, whether public or private, shall in the Date thereof mention the Year of the said King’s Reign: Provided nevertheless, That nothing in this Act contained shall render void or vitiate any Commission, Writ, Process or Instrument, heretofore made or executed, on Account of the Name and Authority of the said King being therein inserted. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Oaths or Engagements to be administered to the Officers appointed in this Colony shall be as follows, to wit General Officers “You __________ being by the free Vote of the Freemen of this Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations elected unto the Place of _____________ do solemnly engage to be true and faithful unto this said Colony, and in your said Office equal Justice to do unto all Persons, poor and rich, within this Jurisdiction, to the utmost of your Skill and Ability, without Partiality, according to the Laws established, or that may be established, by the General Assembly of this Colony, as well in Matters military as civil: And this Engagement you make and give upon the Peril of the Penalty of Perjury.” Whereas in all States existing by Compact Protection and allegiance are reciprocal the latter being only due in Consequence of the former: And Where as George the Third King of Britain forgetting his dignity, regardless of the Compact most solemnly entered into ratified & confirmed to the Inhabitants of this Colony by his illustrious Ancestors- and till of late fully recognized by him and entirely departing from the duties and Character of a good king-instead of Protecting is endeavoring to destroy the good people of this Colony, and of all the united Colonies by sending Fleets and Armies to America to confiscate our Property and to spread Fire, Sword and Desolation throughout our Country in order to compel us to submit to the debasing and detestable Tyranny whereby we are obliged by necessity and it becomes our highest Duty to use every means with which God and Nature have furnished us, in support of our invaluable rights, & privileges to oppose that Power which is exerted only for our destruction. Be it therefore Enacted by this General Assembly and by the Authority thereof it is Enacted that an Act entitled “An Act for the more effectual securing to His Majesty the Allegiance of his Subjects in this His Colony and Dominion of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations” be and the same is hereby repealed. Source: https://www.amrevmuseum.org/virtualexhibits/season-of-independence/pages/rhode-island-act-repealing-allegiance-to-great-britain-may-4-1776

Common Sense Thomas Paine INTRODUCTION PERHAPS the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favor; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defence of custom. But tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. As a long and violent abuse of power is generally the means of calling the right of it in question, (and in matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry,) and as the king of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpations of either. In the following sheets, the author hath studiously avoided every thing which is personal among ourselves. Compliments as well as censure to individuals make no part thereof. The wise and the worthy need not the triumph of a pamphlet; and those whose sentiments are injudicious or unfriendly, will cease of themselves, unless too much pains is bestowed upon their conversion. The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling; of which class, regardless of party censure, is THE AUTHOR. Philadelphia, Feb. 14, 1776. The first edition was published on January 10, 1776. Chapters Source: https://ahp.gatech.edu/common_sense_1776.html

A Declaration of the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to advance from that subordination in which they have hitherto remained, & to assume among the powers of the earth the equal & independant station to which the laws of nature & 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 change. We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable (Franklin's note to change "sacred & undeniable" to "self-evident"); that all men are created equal & independant, that from that equal creation they derive rights inherent & inalienable, among which are the preservation of life, & liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these ends, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government shall become destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness. prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light & 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 long train of abuses & usurpations, begun at a distinguished period, & pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to subject them to arbitrary power, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government & to provide new guards for their future security. such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; & such is now the necessity which constrains them to expunge their former systems of government. the history of his present majesty, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations, among which no one fact stands single or solitary to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, all of which 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. 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 & pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has neglected utterly to attend to them. he has refused to pass other laws for the accomodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of representation, a right inestimable to them, & formidable to tyrants alone: he has dissolved Representative houses repeatedly & continually, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people: he has refused for a long space of time 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, & convulsions within: he has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither; & raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands: he has suffered the administration of justice totally to cease in some of these colonies, refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers: he has made our judges dependant on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and amount of their salaries: he has erected a multitude of new offices by a self-assumed power, & sent hither swarms of officers to harrass our people & eat out their substance: he has kept among us in times of peace standing armies & ships of war: he has affected to render the military, independant of & superior to the civil power: he has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknoleged by our laws; giving his assent to their pretended acts of legislation, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; for protecting them by a mock-trial from punishment for any murders 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 of the benefits of trial by jury; for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences: for taking away our charters, & altering fundamentally the forms of our governments; for suspending our own legislatures & declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever: he has abdicated government here, withdrawing his governors, & declaring us out of his allegiance & protection: he has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns & destroyed the lives of our people: he is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation & tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty & perfidy unworthy the head of a civilized nation: he 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, & conditions of existence: he has incited treasonable insurrections in our fellow-subjects, with the allurements of forfeiture & confiscation of our property: he has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the christian king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another. in every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered 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 people who mean to be free. future ages will scarce believe that the hardiness of one man, adventured within the short compass of 12 years only, on so many acts of tyranny without a mask, over a people fostered & fixed in principles of liberty. 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 a jurisdiction over these our states. we have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration & settlement here, no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expence of our own blood & treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league & amity with them: but that submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited: and we appealed to their native justice & magnanimity, as well as to the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which were likely to interrupt our correspondence & connection. they too have been deaf to the voice of justice & of consanguinity, & when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have by their free election re-established them in power. at this very time too they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch & foreign mercenaries to invade & deluge us in blood. these facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce for ever these unfeeling brethren. we must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and to hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. we might have been a free & a great people together; but a communication of grandeur & of freedom it seems is below their dignity. be it so, since they will have it: the road to glory & happiness is open to us too; we will climb it in a separate state, and acquiesce in the necessity which pronounces our everlasting Adieu! We therefore the representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled do, in the name & by authority of the good people of these states, reject and renounce all allegiance & subjection to the kings of Great Britain & all others who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve & break off all political connection which may have heretofore subsisted between us & the people or parliament of Great Britain; and finally we do assert and declare these colonies to be free and independant states, and that as free & independant states they shall hereafter have power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, & to do all other acts and things which independant states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, & our sacred honour. He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it’s most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobium of INFIDEL Powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people on whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the LIVES of another. 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 injuries. 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 who mean to be free. Future ages will scarcely believe that the hardiness of one man adventured, within the short compass of twelve years only, to lay a foundation so broad & so undisguised for tyranny over a people fostered & fixed in principles of freedom. 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 a [an unwarrantable] jurisdiction over these our states [us]. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration & settlement here, no one of which could warrant so strange a pretension: that these were effected at the expense of our own blood & treasure, unassisted by the wealth or the strength of Great Britain: that in constituting indeed our several forms of government, we had adopted one common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league & amity with them: but that submission to their parliament was no part of our constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may be credited: and, we [have] appealed to their native justice and magnanimity [and we have conjured them by] as well as to the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which were likely to [would inevitably] interrupt our connection and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice & of consanguinity, and when occasions have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free election, re-established them in power. At this very time too they are permitting their chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but Scotch & foreign mercenaries to invade & destroy us. These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former love for them, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. We might have been a free and a great people together; but a communication of grandeur & of freedom it seems is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. The road to happiness & to glory is open to us too. We will tread it apart from them, and [We must therefore] acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our eternal 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 assebled [appealing to the Judge of the World for the recititude of our intentions] do in the name & by authority of the good people of these states [colonies] reject and renounce all allegiance & subjections to the kings of Great Britain & all others who may hereafter claim by, through or under them: we utterly disolve all political connection which may heretofore have subsisted between us & the people or parliment of Great Britain: and finally we do assert and declare these colonies to be free and independent states, [solemly Publish and Declare that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are dissolved from 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 allies, establish commerce, & do all other acts & 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, & our sacred honor.