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n. (Amer. Hist.) The document promugated, July 4, 1776, by the leaders of the thirteen British Colonies in America that they have formed an independent country. See note below. [ PJC ]

The Declaration of Independence of The 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 shown, 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 of Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration 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 harass 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 of 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 attention to our 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 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 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 Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Depended; p. pr. & vb. n. Depending. ] [ F. dépendre, fr. L. depend&unr_;re; de- + pend&unr_;re to hang. See Pendant. ] 1. To hang down; to be sustained by being fastened or attached to something above. [ 1913 Webster ]

And ever-living lamps depend in rows. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To hang in suspense; to be pending; to be undetermined or undecided; as, a cause depending in court. [ 1913 Webster ]

You will not think it unnatural that those who have an object depending, which strongly engages their hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to superstition. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To rely for support; to be conditioned or contingent; to be connected with anything, as a cause of existence, or as a necessary condition; -- followed by on or upon, formerly by of. [ 1913 Webster ]

The truth of God's word dependeth not of the truth of the congregation. Tyndale. [ 1913 Webster ]

The conclusion . . . that our happiness depends little on political institutions, and much on the temper and regulation of our own minds. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heaven forming each on other to depend. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To trust; to rest with confidence; to rely; to confide; to be certain; -- with on or upon; as, we depend on the word or assurance of our friends; we depend on the mail at the usual hour. [ 1913 Webster ]

But if you 're rough, and use him like a dog,
Depend upon it -- he 'll remain incog. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To serve; to attend; to act as a dependent or retainer. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To impend. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the trait of being dependable or reliable.
Syn. -- dependableness, reliability, reliableness. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Worthy of being depended on; trustworthy. “Dependable friendships.” Pope.

{ n., , n. See Dependent, Dependence, Dependency. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The forms dependant, dependance, dependancy are from the French; the forms dependent, etc., are from the Latin. Some authorities give preference to the form dependant when the word is a noun, thus distinguishing it from the adjective, usually written dependent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. dependentia, fr. L. dependens. See Dependent, and cf. Dependance. ] 1. The act or state of depending; state of being dependent; a hanging down or from; suspension from a support. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being influenced and determined by something; subjection (as of an effect to its cause). [ 1913 Webster ]

The cause of effects, and the dependence of one thing upon another. Bp. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Mutual connection and support; concatenation; systematic inter-relation. [ 1913 Webster ]

So dark and so intricate of purpose, without any dependence or order. Sir T. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Subjection to the direction or disposal of another; inability to help or provide for one's self; a lack of independence or self-sufficiency.
Syn. -- dependance, dependency. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

Reduced to a servile dependence on their mercy. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A resting with confidence; reliance; trust. [ 1913 Webster ]

Affectionate dependence on the Creator is the spiritual life of the soul. T. Erskine. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. That on which one depends or relies; as, he was her sole dependence. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. That which depends; anything dependent or suspended; anything attached a subordinate to, or contingent on, something else. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like a large cluster of black grapes they show
And make a large dependence from the bough. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A matter depending, or in suspense, and still to be determined; ground of controversy or quarrel. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To go on now with my first dependence. Beau. & Fl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Dependencies 1. State of being dependent; dependence; state of being subordinate; subordination; concatenation; connection; reliance; trust. [ 1913 Webster ]

Any long series of action, the parts of which have very much dependency each on the other. Sir J. Reynolds. [ 1913 Webster ]

So that they may acknowledge their dependency on the crown of England. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A thing hanging down; a dependence. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is attached to something else as its consequence, subordinate, satellite, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

This earth and its dependencies. T. Burnet. [ 1913 Webster ]

Modes I call such complex ideas which . . . are considered as dependencies on or affections of substances. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A territory remote from the kingdom or state to which it belongs, but subject to its dominion; a colony; as, Great Britain has its dependencies in Asia, Africa, and America. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Dependence is more used in the abstract, and dependency in the concrete. The latter is usually restricted in meaning to 3 and 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. dependens, -entis, p. pr. dependere. See Depend, and cf. Dependant. ] 1. Hanging down; as, a dependent bough or leaf. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Relying on, or subject to, something else for support; not able to exist, or sustain itself, or to perform anything, without the will, power, or aid of something else; not self-sustaining; subordinate; -- often with on or upon; as, dependent on God; dependent upon friends. Opposite of independent. [ Narrower terms: interdependent, mutualist, mutually beneficial; parasitic, parasitical, leechlike, bloodsucking; subordinate; underage; myrmecophilous; symbiotic ] Also See: unfree. [ 1913 Webster ]

England, long dependent and degraded, was again a power of the first rank. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. conditional; contingent or conditioned. Opposite of unconditional.
Syn. -- qualified. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

4. addicted to drugs.
Syn. -- addicted, dependent, drug-addicted, hooked, strung-out. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

Dependent covenant or
Dependent contract (Law), one not binding until some connecting stipulation is performed. --
Dependent variable (Math.), a varying quantity whose changes are arbitrary, but are regarded as produced by changes in another variable, which is called the independent variable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who depends; one who is sustained by another, or who relies on another for financial support or favor; a hanger-on; a retainer; as, a numerous train of dependents. [ 1913 Webster ]

A host of dependents on the court, suborned to play their part as witnesses. Hallam. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which depends; corollary; consequence. [ 1913 Webster ]

With all its circumstances and dependents. Prynne. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ See the Note under Dependant. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a dependent manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who depends; a dependent. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. As having dependence. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. indépendance. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The state or quality of being independent; freedom from dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by, others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one's own affairs without interference. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let fortune do her worst, . . . as long as she never makes us lose our honesty and our independence. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Sufficient means for a comfortable livelihood. [ 1913 Webster ]

Declaration of Independence (Amer. Hist.), the declaration of the Congress of the Thirteen United States of America, on the 4th of July, 1776, by which they formally declared that these colonies were free and independent States, not subject to the government of Great Britain. [ 1913 Webster ]

. In the United States, a holiday, the 4th of July, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on that day in 1776. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. Independence. [ 1913 Webster ]

“Give me, ” I cried (enough for me),
“My bread, and independency!” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Eccl.) Doctrine and polity of the Independents. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. in- not + dependent: cf. F. indépendant. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. Not dependent; free; not subject to control by others; not relying on others; not subordinate; as, few men are wholly independent. [ 1913 Webster ]

A dry, but independent crust. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Affording a comfortable livelihood; as, an independent property. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Not subject to bias or influence; not obsequious; self-directing; as, a man of an independent mind. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Expressing or indicating the feeling of independence; free; easy; bold; unconstrained; as, an independent air or manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Separate from; exclusive; irrespective. [ 1913 Webster ]

That obligation in general, under which we conceive ourselves bound to obey a law, independent of those resources which the law provides for its own enforcement. R. P. Ward. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Eccl.) Belonging or pertaining to, or holding to the doctrines or methods of, the Independents. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Math.) Not dependent upon another quantity in respect to value or rate of variation; -- said of quantities or functions. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (U. S. Politics) Not bound by party; exercising a free choice in voting with either or any party. [ 1913 Webster ]

Independent company (Mil.), one not incorporated in any regiment. --
Independent seconds watch, a stop watch having a second hand driven by a separate set of wheels, springs, etc., for timing to a fraction of a second. --
Independent variable. (Math.) See Dependent variable, under Dependent.

Syn. -- Free; uncontrolled; separate; uncoerced; self-reliant; bold; unconstrained; unrestricted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Eccl.) One who believes that an organized Christian church is complete in itself, competent to self-government, and independent of all ecclesiastical authority. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In England the name is often applied (commonly in the pl.) to the Congregationalists. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Politics) One who does not acknowledge an obligation to support a party's candidate under all circumstances; one who exercises liberty in voting. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Independency; the church system of Independents. Bp. Gauden. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In an independent manner; without control. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Mutual dependence. “The interdependence of virtue and knowledge.” M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Mutual dependence; as, interdependency of interests. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Mutually dependent. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Dependent on one's self; self-depending; self-reliant. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Depending on one's self. [ 1913 Webster ]