Happy Independence Day! If you’re not in the US, well, happy 4th of July… for whatever reason you like!<\/p>\n
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.<\/p>\n
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,<\/strong><\/p>\nWhen<\/strong> 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\u2019s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.<\/p>\nWe<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\nThat<\/strong> to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.<\/p>\nThat<\/strong> whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is in the Right of the People to alter or 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 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.<\/p>\n[…]<\/p>\n
We<\/strong>, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America<\/strong>, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by the 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 the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nPeace out, yo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Happy Independence Day! If you’re not in the US, well, happy 4th of July… for whatever reason you like! 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… Continue reading Happy Independence Day!<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[200],"tags":[84,385],"class_list":["post-1192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-life","tag-holiday","tag-politics","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pimUj-je","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":291,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/11\/29\/school-bars-declaration-of-independence\/","url_meta":{"origin":1192,"position":0},"title":"School Bars Declaration Of Independence","author":"Keith Survell","date":"November 29, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"This is just silly. And I don't mean in the \"funny\" sense of the word, either. Seperation of church & state is one thing (a good thing, certainly)... but... c'mon, it's the freaking DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE!!","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":754,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2006\/07\/04\/happy-independence-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":1192,"position":1},"title":"Happy Independence Day!","author":"Keith Survell","date":"July 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, it's the 4th of July again. Time to celebrate the ratification of the Declaration of Independence. Which, by the way, I highly recommend reading the whole thing (including the Constitution itself).","rel":"","context":"In "personal"","block_context":{"text":"personal","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":709,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2006\/02\/13\/digital-rights-mismanagement\/","url_meta":{"origin":1192,"position":2},"title":"Digital Rights (Mis)Management","author":"Keith Survell","date":"February 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Hmmm... this person may be onto something here.","rel":"","context":"In "Rants"","block_context":{"text":"Rants","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/rants\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6421,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2025\/07\/04\/rip-usa\/","url_meta":{"origin":1192,"position":3},"title":"RIP USA","author":"Keith Survell","date":"July 4, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"RIP, United States of America: In Congress, July 4, 1776 - July 4, 2025.","rel":"","context":"In "My Opinion"","block_context":{"text":"My Opinion","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/personal\/my-opinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2004\/12\/15\/the-truth-about-cars-back-to-the-future\/","url_meta":{"origin":1192,"position":4},"title":"The Truth About Cars – Back to the Future","author":"Keith Survell","date":"December 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Very, very true. \"Fun to drive\" does not equal \"massive horsepower.\"","rel":"","context":"In "Cars and Trucks"","block_context":{"text":"Cars and Trucks","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/cars-and-trucks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4955,"url":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/2017\/01\/31\/democracy-despotism\/","url_meta":{"origin":1192,"position":5},"title":"Democracy & Despotism","author":"Keith Survell","date":"January 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"How to tell if your community or country is sliding towards despotism - a useful guide both then and now.","rel":"","context":"In "politics"","block_context":{"text":"politics","link":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/eLlLEtWEY4Y\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.starkeith.net\/coredump\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}