On the 4th of July we celebrate our nation's independence from the tyranny of a king. To prepare for the Fourth this year, I went back to the Declaration of Independence and its detailed description of the king's tyranny our forebears decried and vowed never again to suffer.
I can think of no better way to prepare for and celebrate the Fourth of July than by taking a little time to read the Declaration of Independence...
You can read the whole text of the declaration here. Below you'll find a partial list of the colonists' grievances... "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 endeavoured 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, 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 harrass 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 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 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 suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves (King and Parliament) invested with
power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever…
- 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 & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the
most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized
nation.
- He has excited domestic insurrections amongst
us...
- 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..."
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