# Chapter 1: Images

Title: The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America

Author: Thomas Jefferson

Release date: December 1, 1971 [eBook #1]
Most recently updated: December 6, 2024

Language: English

    ===========================================================

         NOTE:  This file combines the first two
         files, both of which were given the filenumber #1. There are
         several duplicate files here. There were many updates over
         the years.  All of the original files are included in the
         "old" subdirectory which may be accessed under the "More
         Files" listing in the PG Catalog of this file. No changes
         have been made in these original etexts.

    ===========================================================

    **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**

    **Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**

    *These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations*

    Below you will find the first nine  Etexts, in
    one file, with one header for the entire file.  This is to keep
    the overhead down, and in response to requests from Gopher site
    keeper to eliminate as much of the headers as possible.

    However, for legal and financial reasons, we must request these
    headers be left at the beginning of each file that is posted in
    any general user areas, as  is run mostly by a
    donation from people like you.

    If you see our books posted ANYWHERE without these headers, you
    are requested to send them a note requesting they re-attach the
    header, otherwise they have no legal protection and we have the
    loss of the donations we hope will keep  going
    long enough to post 10,000 books, plays, musical pieces, etc.

    ***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START***
    Why is this "Small Print!" statement here?  You know: lawyers.
    They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with
    your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from
    someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our
    fault.  So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement
    disclaims most of our liability to you.  It also tells you how
    you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to.

    *BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT
    By using or reading any part of this -tm
    etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept
    this "Small Print!" statement.  If you do not, you can receive
    a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by
    sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person
    you got it from.  If you received this etext on a physical
    medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request.

    ABOUT -TM ETEXTS
    This -tm etext, like most -
    tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor
    Michael S. Hart through the  Association at
    Illinois Benedictine College (the "Project").  Among other
    things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright
    on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and
    distribute it in the United States without permission and
    without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules, set forth
    below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext
    under the Project's "" trademark.

    To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable
    efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain
    works.  Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any
    medium they may be on may contain "Defects".  Among other
    things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or
    corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
    intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged
    disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer
    codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment.

    LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES
    But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below,
    [1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this
    etext from as a -tm etext) disclaims all
    liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including
    legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR
    UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT,
    INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE
    OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE
    POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

    If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of
    receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any)
    you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that
    time to the person you received it from.  If you received it
    on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and
    such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement
    copy.  If you received it electronically, such person may
    choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to
    receive it electronically.

    THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS".  NO OTHER
    WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS
    TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT
    LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
    PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

    Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or
    the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the
    above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you
    may have other legal rights.

    INDEMNITY
    You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors,
    officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost
    and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or
    indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause:
    [1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification,
    or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.

    DISTRIBUTION UNDER "-tm"
    You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by
    disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this
    "Small Print!" and all other references to ,
    or:

    [1]  Only give exact copies of it.  Among other things, this
         requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the
         etext or this "small print!" statement.  You may however,
         if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable
         binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
         including any form resulting from conversion by word pro-
         cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as
         *EITHER*:

         [*]  The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and
              does *not* contain characters other than those
              intended by the author of the work, although tilde
              (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may
              be used to convey punctuation intended by the
              author, and additional characters may be used to
              indicate hypertext links; OR

         [*]  The etext may be readily converted by the reader at
              no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent
              form by the program that displays the etext (as is
              the case, for instance, with most word processors);
              OR

         [*]  You provide, or agree to also provide on request at
              no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the
              etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC
              or other equivalent proprietary form).

    [2]  Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this
         "Small Print!" statement.

    [3]  Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the
         net profits you derive calculated using the method you
         already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  If you
         don't derive profits, no royalty is due.  Royalties are
         payable to " Association / Illinois
         Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each
         date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare)
         your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return.

    WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO?
    The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time,
    scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty
    free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution
    you can think of.  Money should be paid to "
    Association / Illinois Benedictine College".

    This "Small Print!" by Charles B. Kramer, Attorney
    Internet (72600.2026@compuserve.com); TEL: (212-254-5093)
    *END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*

    December, 1971  [Etext #1]

    The  Etext of The Declaration of Independence.

    All of the original  Etexts from the
    1970's were produced in ALL CAPS, no lower case.  The
    computers we used then didn't have lower case at all.

    This is a retranscription of one of the first  Etexts, officially dated December, 1971--
    and now officially re-released on December 31, 1993--

    The United States Declaration of Independence was the first Etext
    released by , early in 1971.  The title was stored
    in an emailed instruction set which required a tape or diskpack be
    hand mounted for retrieval.  The diskpack was the size of a large
    cake in a cake carrier, cost $1500, and contained 5 megabytes, of
    which this file took 1-2%.  Two tape backups were kept plus one on
    paper tape.  The 10,000 files we hope to have online by the end of
    2001 should take about 1-2% of a comparably priced drive in 2001.

    This file was never copyrighted, Sharewared, etc., and is thus for
    all to use and copy in any manner they choose.  Please feel free to
    make your own edition using this as a base.

    In my research for creating this transcription of our first Etext,
    I have come across enough discrepancies [even within that official
    documentation provided by the United States] to conclude that even
    "facsimiles" of the Declaration of Indendence will NOT going to be
    all the same as the original, nor of other "facsimiles."  There is
    a plethora of variations in capitalization, punctuation, and, even
    where names appear on the documents [which names I have left out].

    The resulting document has several misspellings removed from those
    parchment "facsimiles" I used back in 1971, and which I should not
    be able to easily find at this time, including "Brittain."

    **The  Etext of The Declaration of Independence**

    =======================================================================

    NOTE: This HTML rendition of the original  etext #1
    was produced on August 4, 2018 to replace the original inadequate
    auto-generated file, and, in order that this important PG work could
    be read on mobile viewer screens. Images of Thomas Jefferson's
    hand-drafted copy of The Declaration of Independence have been added.

    The original  header and footer have been retained.

    =======================================================================

# THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

# THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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 migration 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 & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of 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 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. 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.

## December, 1972 [Etext #2]

### ****The Etext of The U. S. Bill of Rights****

## The United States Bill of Rights.

The Ten Original Amendments to the Constitution of the United States Passed by Congress September 25, 1789 Ratified December 15, 1791

## I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

## II

A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

## III

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

## IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

## V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

## VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

## VII

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

## VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

## IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

## X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

## THOMAS JEFERSON'S HANDWRITTEN DRAFT

> [The following four images are from engravings taken from the Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence in his handwriting with some ammendations and changes in the handrwriting of Benjamin Franklin and John Adams--Click on the enlarge button to view the image in full-size.]

ENLARGE

ENLARGE

ENLARGE

ENLARGE