Declaration of Independence

www.archives.gov October 11, 2011

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 attentions to our Brittish 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 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. The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated: Column 1 Georgia:    Button Gwinnett    Lyman Hall    George Walton Column 2 North Carolina:    William Hooper    Joseph Hewes    John Penn South Carolina:    Edward Rutledge    Thomas Heyward, Jr.    Thomas Lynch, Jr.    Arthur Middleton Column 3 Massachusetts: John Hancock Maryland: Samuel Chase William Paca Thomas Stone Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe Richard Henry Lee Thomas Jefferson Benjamin Harrison Thomas Nelson, Jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee Carter Braxton Column 4 Pennsylvania:    Robert Morris    Benjamin Rush    Benjamin Franklin    John Morton    George Clymer    James Smith    George Taylor    James Wilson    George Ross Delaware:    Caesar Rodney    George Read    Thomas McKean Column 5 New York:    William Floyd    Philip Livingston    Francis Lewis    Lewis Morris New Jersey:    Richard Stockton    John Witherspoon    Francis Hopkinson    John Hart    Abraham Clark Column 6 New Hampshire:    Josiah Bartlett    William Whipple Massachusetts:    Samuel Adams    John Adams    Robert Treat Paine    Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island:    Stephen Hopkins    William Ellery Connecticut:    Roger Sherman    Samuel Huntington    William Williams    Oliver Wolcott New Hampshire:    Matthew Thornton

Page URL:  http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

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Federalism run amok

Ok. a brief recap of what is turning into a series on what is bugging most of us about our federal government.  We discussed how there are way too many governments in America with over 85,000 different governments.  Then, we looked at how many federal entities there are.  And again, we find there are 440 different federal entites we all pay for with our federal tax dollars from many different types of various federal taxes.  We also discussed what a problem there is when we have 50 states plus a national or federal government.

Technically, we do not have a national government.  We are supposed to have a limited and narrow federal government which is a lot different.  Our founding fathers tried to do their best to keep the federal government very, very small when they drafted the United States Constitution.  They state so explicitly in the Federalist Papers, over and over.  That plan of our founding fathers has now failed as we now have this gigantic big brother federal government invading our individual liberties.

So, what is federalism?  Originally, we had a confederation established by our founding fathers.  The 13 colonies all joined together with a document called the Articles of Confederation.  As time progressed after the Declaration of Independence, most of the states of the confederation did not  want to fund the new national government. 

So, the founding fathers had another meeting and then decided the Articles of Confederation were not working.  So, they decided to try and modify the defects of the Articles by writing the United States Constitution which was subsequently ratified.

So, instead of having a confederation with a small central government, in 1787, our founded fathers gave up on a confederation and formed a new federal government.  Now to get enough of the original 13 states to go along with this deal, this new United States Constitution, the founding fathers created a central or federal government along with each state of the union having all powers not expressly enumerated in the United States Constitution.  Hence, federalism came into existence.

Now sometimes federalism runs amok.  Sometimes, the federal government states a particular problem is the states.  And conversely sometimes the states say a problem is not theirs to fix.  And sometimes, no one takes responsibility for upholding and enforcing federal laws or statutes.

For example, take unlawful immigration.  Then, on the other hand, sometimes the federal government states some problem is a federal one and whatever the federal goverment decides to do, the states have to comply whether they want to or not. 

Take school desegregation for example.  And all that busing of kids in public schools to force integration. When the federal government tells the states what they must do, the politicians use the  the supremacy clause from the United States Constitution as their authority.

So it just depends on the political climate in Washington and across the several states.  So, back to immigration, here the federal government is failing to do anything about unlawful immigration.  So, the state of Arizona decides to do something.  The legislature of Arizona states we will deal with unlawful immigration under concurrent enforcement.  So on July 20, 2010 they will.

Now, the United States Supreme Court just docketed a case last week related to unlawful immigration. So do not be suprised to see the Supreme Court do something to block Arizona's laws related to unlawful immigration take effect.  While also noting that the President of the United States had flown to Arizona a couple of weeks again to complain to the Governor of Arizona about what Arizona wants to do.  Which Arizona merely wants to uphold and enforce federal immigration laws.  Which is the right of Arizona if one believes the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence clearly informs us if any branch of the federal government fails us, then the people of Arizona have the duty to do what the federal government refuses to do.  Federalism.  The right of the state to concurrently uphold and enforce federal immigration laws. 

The bigger question is why does the federal government not doing its job of upholding and enforcing our nation's federal immigration laws?  Does the federal government really want unlawful immigration? 

It certainly appears that is the case.  The federal government wants to only engage in selective enforcement of federal laws when it feels like it.  And when it comes to unlawful immigration, ever since Bush was President and continuing with President Obama, the feds want unlawful immigration.  Why?  Beats me. 

So why is President Obama not wanting Arizona to be able to do what the federal government has failed to do--to control unlawful immigration.  If the federal government had done their duty and controlled the borders, the people of Arizona would not have to.  However, the federal government has failed all of us.  So, by this logic, the people of Arizona and the several states have every right to use concurrent jurisdiction to uphold and enforce federal laws. 

That is how I see this situation.  The federal government refused to uphold and enforce the law.  So , Arizona and all the other states have the right to do so.  And if I were in Arizona, I would tax the cost to the federal government all expenses related to controlling unlawful immigration.  And that is why the title of this piece is federalism run amok.

 The majority of Americans want our federal laws upheld and enforced.  If the federal government cannot do the job, or refuses to do the job by omission, then the states like Arizona have every right to do so.  At least that is my take on the Declaration of Independence.  Have a great fourth of July.  Especially if you are a true blue American.  If you are here unlawfully, get out. 

Later. 

tdus.