the constitution, in order to acquire or retain political power, fearless of being called to account. § 1008. Respect and obedience to the laws should be faithfully inculcated. All laws which do not actually violate the rights of conscience, or which do not interfere with our duties to our Creator, should receive a ready and cheerful obedience. No law affecting merely our property and persons, can be violated without incurring guilt. Neither the injustice nor the inequality of a law, can justify its violation. When necessary laws are wanting for the punishment of crime, men may not take the law into their own hands, and inflict summary punishment, according to their own ideas of justice. It is the duty of the citizen to submit to the laws of the land; and to endeavor, by all peaceable and lawful means, to procure the repeal of bad laws, and the enactment of good ones. 1009. Education must be united with religious princi. ple. It is not enough that the citizen understands his duties. Knowledge, if improperly used, may be productive of great evil. Where the love of virtue does not govern the conduct of men, violations of the laws will be frequent, and the rights of men will be unsafe. Bad men will obtain the public offices; bad laws will be made; and civil and religious liberty will be destroyed. Said the revered Washing. ton, "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens." § 1010. The minds of youth should be early impressed with the principles of peace. It is not intended here to discuss the question of the lawfulness of war; but merely to declare the belief, that the power of the principles of peace, is one of the most effectual means of defence of the rights of nations as well as of individuals. principles of government is necessary? § 1008. What would be the natural effect of a general disregard of the laws upon the interests of the community? 1009. Why is the prevalence of moral and religious principle deemed essential to national happiness? § 1010. If all men were governed by the pure principles of peace, what would 1011. Let our citizens, then, promote the general diffu. sion of knowledge. Let our youth be instructed in their duties as members of society and as citizens of a free government; and be taught to regard the public welfare as of higher value than the interests of individuals or of parties, and to feel themselves individually responsible for their moral and political influence; and our liberties will be safe. It has been said by a worthy citizen of another nation: "Let America be good, and America will be happy ;" and, it may be added, whatever has been the fate of former republics, ours will stand an enduring witness to the truth, that MAN CAN be governed, and yet be frEE. be the effect upon the world? § 1011. What is the general effect of the spirit of party upon the public welfare? What are the principal means by which our republican institutions may be preserved ? DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN 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 a 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 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 migration hither, and raising the condition of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refus ing 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 hithe DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. THE UNANIMOUS IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED 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 a 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 |