DaveInDaytona
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posted July 04, 2003 06:01 AM
Happy Independence Day Everyone
The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
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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.
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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
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DaytonaSportbikes Forum
   
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TurboBlew
Moderator
BUSY DOING THE SCHIAVO
Posts: 4590
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posted July 04, 2003 07:14 AM
Happy 4th to you and your family Dave!! 
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GOZR
Zone Head
GOZR
Posts: 716
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posted July 04, 2003 08:30 AM
Happy 4th!
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-G
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ddpete3
Pro
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posted July 04, 2003 09:09 AM
cheers!!
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ScaredyCat
Expert Class
Posts: 201
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posted July 04, 2003 09:40 AM
All spelt correctly too, 10/10.
:-)
Happy Independence Day to all you Yanks.
(Meant in fun guys).
____________
If it ain't broke, BREAK IT.
 
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ZHooligan
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Posts: 3829
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posted July 04, 2003 10:32 AM
Happy 4th to you all.
____________
To those who do not count their life in years, but in how life
has touched them in the past and how much it can hold in the
future; -- Youth is forever.
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oldkawboy
Needs a job
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posted July 04, 2003 11:33 AM
Good post Dave,
Lets all enjoy the cookouts and riding but most of all, enjoy the freedom that came with a lot of sacrifices.
Dan
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deathpulse
Pro
Posts: 1688
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posted July 04, 2003 11:56 AM
HAPPY 4th EVERYONE!! now.. time to get on my bike and ride around - no better way to celebrate .
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slug
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Out in search of my mind...
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posted July 04, 2003 12:36 PM
amen preach on brothers!
http://www.heritage.org/Research/AmericanFoundingandHistory/BG1451.cfm
this from 01, but good read too
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MarkZX12RKX500
Expert Class
Posts: 159
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posted July 04, 2003 12:46 PM
YES this is one great country I am glad my fore father was brought over as a slave other wise I would be running around with a stick in my hand and riding Ostrages in stead of ZX12R!
Oop's that's right I am white. Never mind
Happy Fourth
Be careful in Chicago $1500 Fine for firework's who cares I don't.
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MEANGREEN
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frEEK
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted July 04, 2003 02:11 PM
was john hancock the FIRST or LAST one to sign it?
and happy 4th to all u yanks!
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oldkawboy
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posted July 04, 2003 03:13 PM
frEEK,
I believe that was Herbie Hancock!
Dan
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frEEK
Administrator
ummm... yeah
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posted July 04, 2003 03:55 PM
i'm guessing that's a joke, but i'm afraid i dont get it.
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ZHooligan
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posted July 04, 2003 04:55 PM
 Edited By: ZHooligan on 4 Jul 2003 18:00
Hancock was President (Presiding Officer) of the Congress so protocol wise it was for his signiture to be first. Jefferson authored the decleration and should have been the first and biggest signiture if there were to be one larger than the others.
____________
To those who do not count their life in years, but in how life
has touched them in the past and how much it can hold in the
future; -- Youth is forever.
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12RPilot
Pro
Posts: 1094
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posted July 04, 2003 05:35 PM
Edited By: 12RPilot on 4 Jul 2003 18:37
Ironicly, John Hancock died without life insurance.
On another note, my son called today and he is finally out of Bahgdad. What a relief.
____________
If you aren't an AMA member, you're part of the problem.
NESBA #209
http://www.bikepics.com/members/12rpilot/04zx10r/
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oldkawboy
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posted July 04, 2003 06:14 PM
Edited By: oldkawboy on 4 Jul 2003 19:15
frEEK,
It's a line from the movie "Tommy Boy".....
12RPilot,
That's great news, I'm happy & proud for you.
Dan
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jonwright
Needs a job
Posts: 2416
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posted July 04, 2003 06:30 PM
I'm assuming you musical igoramouses know who Herbie Hancock is....damned infedels.
By the way, here's an Email I recieved the other day. Don't usually put up this kind of stuff, but I think it's rather appropriate.
Of course, I can't and don't vouch for the historical accuracy, hence, my reluctace to share. But, I will anyway.
========
We are less than a week away from one of the most important Holidays of our
time. . . the 4th of July. Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56
men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before
they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in
the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary
War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred
honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were
farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they
signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty
would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his Ships
swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to
pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his
family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his
family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty
was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton,
Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British
General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters.
He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was
destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his
wife, and she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13
children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to
waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home
to find his wife dead and his children vanished. Some of us take these
liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.
So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and silently
thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.
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DaveInDaytona
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Posts: 1696
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posted July 04, 2003 06:36 PM
FYI JW - http://www.snopes.com/glurge/declare.htm
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DaytonaSportbikes Forum
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jonwright
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posted July 04, 2003 06:46 PM
Yeah, I was afraid of that. Thanks for the link. I'll explore a bit more on glurge.
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slug
Pro
Out in search of my mind...
Posts: 1433
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posted July 04, 2003 06:55 PM
more useful info here i think
http://www.heritage.org/Research/AmericanFoundingandHistory/BG1451.cfm
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frEEK
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted July 04, 2003 07:20 PM
no idea who herbie hancock is. we don't idolize banjo music like youse inbred hics do (i'm a more modern non-inbred hic myself).
i was just askin cause someone mentioned the meaning behind the "just need your john hancock here" saying the other day & we couldnt remember if he was the first or last.
it is pretty easy to forget that our way of life is particularly rare & precious, and that it wasnt always that way.
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jonwright
Needs a job
Posts: 2416
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posted July 04, 2003 08:46 PM
Edited By: jonwright on 4 Jul 2003 21:56
Herbie Hancock is a pianist (watch how you say that). He was famous for jazz and played with several very influential bands (he played with Miles Davis for a while if that tells you anything oh, and Chick Corea).
I don't think he qualifies as inbred banjo hic music. John McLaughlin, because he plays gee-tar, might. 
More about Herbie
His Website
Now, for showing how musically ignorant you are I order you to burn all the Britney Spears you own for penance.
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jonwright
Needs a job
Posts: 2416
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posted July 04, 2003 09:02 PM
Edited By: jonwright on 4 Jul 2003 22:03
Oh, yeah. I thought the whole "John Hancock" thing about the signatures was because his was the largest and most ornate - not because he was first or last.
Dave????? Verification??????
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frEEK
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted July 05, 2003 12:04 AM
OH PLEASE NO!! not the britney spears CDs! NNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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jonwright
Needs a job
Posts: 2416
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posted July 06, 2003 11:24 AM
You can keep the dirty pics of her, though. I wouldn't do THAT to ya. Just shit can the music.
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