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 “states [colonies,] reject and renounce all allegiance and subjection to the kings of Great Britain, and all others, who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them; we utterly dissolve all political connexion which may heretofore have subsisted between us and the parliament of Great Britain; and finally we do assert” [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 connexion 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 Divine Providence,] we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
THE END.
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed; spelling variants were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.
Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
Page [185]: the dates “1663” and “1773” must refer to two different people.
Page [330]: “IN CONGRESS, JULY 8, “1778” was misprinted as 1788”; corrected here. Some apparently incorrect dates on other pages of the original book have not been noted or corrected.