A WELL KNOWN DOCUMENT,

Very Slightly Paraphrased.

A comparison of the following lines, with the original American Declaration of Independence, will show that the earnest and impassioned language of real life is sometimes closely assimilated to blank verse.

When, in their course, human events compel One people to dissolve the social bands That linked them with another, and to take Among the powers of the Earth that station, Equal and separate, to which the laws Of Nature and of Nature's God, by right, Entitle them—respect to the opinions Of fellow men calls on them to declare The causes, which have rendered necessary Such separation. We, then, hold these truths To be self-evident: That all mankind Are equal, and endowed by their Creator With certain unalienable rights: That amongst these are Life, and Liberty, And the Pursuit of Happiness: That men, To make these rights available and safe, Have instituted Governments, deriving Their lawful power from the free consent Of those they govern: That when any form Of Government is proved to be destructive Of these their ends, it is the People's right To alter, or abolish it, and found A Government anew, with principles So laid for its foundation, and with powers In such form organized, as shall to them Seem most conducive to their happiness And safety. Prudence will, indeed, dictate That long-established Governments should not Be changed for any light or transient cause: And all experience, accordingly, Hath shown that men are more disposed to suffer, So long as evils are endurable, Than to assert their rights, and throw aside Their customary forms. But when abuses And usurpations, in a lengthened train, Pursue an object steadfastly, evincing A firm design to bow them down beneath Absolute despotism, it is their right, It is their bounden duty, to throw off Such Government, and to provide new guards For their security in future. Such Has been the patient sufferance of these Our Colonies, and such is now the need, That forces them to change their present systems Of Government. Great Britain's present King Hath made his history the history Of usurpation, and of injuries Often repeated, and directly tending To the establishment of Tyranny Over these States: to prove this, let the World In candour listen to undoubted facts. He has refused to give assent to laws, Wholesome, and needful for the public good. He has denied his Governors the power To sanction laws of pressing urgency, Unless suspended in their operation, Till his assent should be obtained; and when Suspended thus, he has failed wilfully To give them further thought. He has refused To sanction other laws, deemed advantageous To districts thickly peopled, unless they, Who dwelt therein, would basely throw away Their right to representatives—a right Inestimable, to themselves and only To Tyrants formidable. In the hope To weary them into a weak compliance With his obnoxious measures, he has summoned The Legislative Bodies to assemble At places inconvenient, and unusual, And whence their public records were remote. He has repeatedly dissolved the Houses Of Representatives for interfering With manly firmness, when he has invaded The People's rights. Long time he has refused, After such dissolutions, to convene Others in lieu of them; whereby, the powers Of Legislation, since they might not be Annihilated, have for exercise Been forced upon the body of the people; Leaving, meanwhile, the unprotected State To dangers of invasion from without, And inward anarchy. He has endeavoured To check the population of these States, Thwarting the laws for naturalization Of foreigners, withholding his assent From other laws, that might encourage them In immigrating hither, and enhancing The price of new allotments of the soil. He has obstructed the administration Of Justice, by his veto on the laws Establishing judiciary powers He has made Judges on his will alone Dependent, for the tenure of their office, For the amount, and for the proper payment Of their emoluments. He has erected New offices in multitudes, and sent Swarms of his officers to harass us, And to eat out our substance. He has kept, In times of peace, among us, standing armies, Without the sanction of our Legislatures. His aim has been to place the military Above the civil power, and beyond Its just control. He has combined with others To make us subject to a jurisdiction, In spirit foreign to our Constitution, And unacknowledged by our laws; assenting To acts, that they have passed with semblance only Of legislation: Acts for quartering Among us bodies of armed troops: For shielding, By a mock trial, those their instruments From punishment for any murders done On our inhabitants: For cutting off Our trade with every quarter of the world— For laying on us taxes not approved By our consent: For oft-times robbing us Of any benefit that might attend Trial by jury: For transporting us Beyond the seas, to answer for offences, Imputed to us: For abolishing, Within a neighbouring province, the free system Of English laws; establishing therein An arbitrary power; and enlarging Its boundaries, to render it at once The fit example, and the instrument For bringing into these our Colonies The same despotic rule: For taking from us Our Charters; and abolishing our laws Most valued; changing thus, in principle, Our forms of Government: And for suspending Our Legislatures, with the declaration That they, themselves, in each and every case, Were vested with supreme authority To legislate for us. He has laid down His sway, by holding us without the pale Of his protection, and by waging war Against us. He has plundered on our seas; Ravaged our coasts; our cities burnt; and taken Our people's lives. He is transporting hither Armies composed of foreign mercenaries, To end the works of death, and desolation, And tyranny, begun with circumstances Of cruelty and perfidy unequalled In the most barbarous ages, and unworthy The Ruler of a nation civilized. He has constrained our fellow-citizens, On the high seas made captive, to bear arms Against their country, and of friends and brothers To be the executioners, or fall Beneath his creatures' hands. He has excited Amongst ourselves domestic insurrection; And sought to bring on the inhabitants Of our frontier the savage Indian, Whose code of warfare, merciless and sure, Spares not, in undistinguished massacre, Age, sex, condition. We, in every stage Of these oppressions, have in humblest terms Petitioned for redress. To our petitions, Though oft repeated, there has been one answer— Repeated injury. A prince, whose life And conduct thus are marked by every act That may define a Tyrant, is unfit To rule o'er Freemen. Neither have we failed In due attention to our British brethren. From time to time, we have admonished them Of efforts, by their Legislature made, Unwarrantably to extend to us Their jurisdiction. How we emigrated, And settled here, we have reminded them. We to their native justice have appealed And magnanimity; and have conjured them, By common kindred ties, to disavow These usurpations, which, inevitably, Would mar our intercourse and friendship. They Have also turned a deaf ear to the voice Of Justice and of Consanguinity. So must we yield to the necessity Which forces us to separate, and hold them— As we do hold the rest of human kind— Our enemies in War, in Peace our friends. We, therefore, who are here to represent The States United of America, In General Congress met, for rectitude Of our intentions to the Judge Supreme Of all things here in confidence appealing, 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 from allegiance to the British Crown They are absolved: That all connecting ties Of policy between them and Great Britain Are, as they should be, totally dissolved: And that, as Free and Independent States, They have full power to levy war, conclude Peace, and contract alliances, establish Commerce, and do all other acts and things Which Independent States of right may do. This is our Declaration: to support it, With firm reliance on Divine protection, We to each other mutually pledge Our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.