Declaration of Independence v1.1

What follows is the 1776 US Declaration of Independence with a few small edits. Words in bold were added by me and not in the original text. All other words were written by the founders. (Words in parenthesis are those I’d cut).

IN THE INTERNET (CONGRESS), JULY 4, 2018 (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 human rights (separate and equal station) to which the Laws of Nature (and of Nature’s God) entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of the people (mankind) requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people (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 the people (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 the people (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 American people (Colonies); and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present elected government (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.

They have (He has) refused their (his) Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

They have (He has) forbidden (his) Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till their (his) Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, they have (He has) utterly neglected to attend to them.

They have (He has) refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of true democracy and Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

They have (He has) called together ballot casting (legislative bodies) at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the people (depository of their Public Records), for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with their (his) measures.

They have (He has) dissolved access to voting (Representative Houses) repeatedly, for opposing (with manly firmness) their (his) invasions on the rights of the people.

They have (He has) refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause universal access to voting (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 environmental calamity, invasion from without, and convulsions within.

They have (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 air, water, and public land stewardship (new Appropriations of Lands).

They have (He has) obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing their (his) Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

They have (He has) made Judges dependent on their (his) Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

They have (He has) erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and lock our children in cages (eat out their substance).

They have (He has) kept among us, in times of peace, armed police (Standing Armies) without the Consent of our people (legislatures).

They have (He has) affected to render law enforcement (the Military) independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

They have (He has) combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving their (his) Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed law enforcement (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 denying medical services (imposing Taxes on us) without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For separating families (transporting us beyond Seas) to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free access to voting (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 United States (Colonies)

For taking away our unions (Charters), abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own representation (Legislatures), and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

They have (He has) abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of their (his) Protection, withholding emergency aid and waging War against us.

They have (He has) plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

They are (He is) at this time building (transporting) large Armies of law enforcement (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 goverment (Head) of a civilized nation.

They have (He has) constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive to perform umcompensated labor (on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall thems on
Telves by their Hands).

They have (He has) excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless white supremacists (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 system of government (Prince), whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the government (ruler) of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our white supremacist (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 humankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the people (Representatives) of the united States of America, online (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 United States (Colonies), solemnly publish and declare, That these united people (Colonies) are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent (States), that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to a false democracy (the British Crown), and that all political connection between them and the elected government (State of Great Britain), is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent people (States), we (they) have full Power to provide lifelong healthcare, housing, education, work, safety, emergency aid, and restorative justice; to self direct our destiny and be the ancestors our children deserve, levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which self-directed communities (Independent States) may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of human decency (Divine Providence), we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Yesterday I stood on the angry earth in front of Independence Hall in Philly and considered the dreams of landed white men long dead.

Today I declare myself independent of their dreams, of their limited version of democracy where the power of government is hoarded by white men. Our American democracy is broken by design, not circumstance. It was created to privilege those that framed it, white men rich with stolen land and slave labor. It was designed by and for wealthy white men eager to scale the distillation of wealth from the blood of black and brown people and create power for them to pass on to the children born in their image of superiority.

We are living on the precipice of a second civil war, an escalation of the bloodshed of occupation already on our streets. I would like to chart a nonviolent revolution to realize the peace and tranquility our children deserve. I would like to try something different, an idea worthy of all American people regardless of documentation or melanin.

I dream of a new democracy, a TRUE democracy grounded in safety and fairness, a TRUE democracy no longer bound by the mediocre elements of whiteness in which our elected government was founded, a TRUE democracy that is co-designed by the people centered on the needs of all people, not just those with enough power to enjoy control over elected and appointed officials. I dream of a TRUE democracy in which every citizen is empowered to self-direct the future of our people through collective decision making.

What does your dream of TRUE democracy look like? What does a nonviolent revolution look like? We are living in uncharted territory. Can we find a path together?