Quotes from the Declaration of Independence

USA Independence Day

Quotes from the Declaration of Independence

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.

Thomas Jefferson

2

Human Rights USA Famous Quotes Independence Day

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

Thomas Jefferson

Quotes about Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence says when government fails, the people have the right to replace it. Well, New York State government has failed and the people have the right, indeed the people have the obligation, to act.

Andrew Cuomo

1

It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking: How did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue. And maybe we can actually never have it, no matter what. How did he know that?

Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness

8

Thomas Jefferson Happiness Freedom

You might like these Quotes aswell

If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America. They don’t care for human beings.

Nelson Mandela

3

This is America. Anyone can eat what they want, as long as they eat too much.

Homer Simpson in The Simpsons - Season 24 Episode 5

3

We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now.

Martin Luther King

2

Tolerance USA Independence Day

Not only are you wrong... but you are belligerently sticking to your guns and insulting me in the process. Robin Scherbatsky, you are an American.

Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother - Season 5 Episode 5

2

Robin Scherbatsky USA

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Francis Scott Key - Star-Spangled Banner

2

USA Independence Day

Americans are the best entertained and quite likely the least well-informed people in the Western world.

Neil Postman

1

If the world were a bar, America would currently be the angry drunk waving around a loaded gun. Yeah, the other people in the bar may be afraid of him, but they sure as hell don't respect him.

Wil Wheaton

1

If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace.

Nelson Mandela - 2002, on the US, preparing to invade Iraq

1

It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own.

Benjamin Franklin - May 1777

1

USA Independence Day

Let every nation know... that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

John F. Kennedy - Inaugural Address

1

If you don't like your job, you don't strike: you just go in every day and do it really half a-sed. That's the American way.

Homer Simpson in The Simpsons

1

Laughter is America's most important export.

Walt Disney

1

Laughing & Smile USA

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.

George Washington

1

Human Rights Freedom Independence Day

The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission. We have, therefore, to resolve to conquer or die.

George Washington - 27. August 1776 - before the Battle of Long Island

1

USA Independence Day

My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring!

Samuel Francis Smith - My Country, 'Tis of Thee

1

USA Independence Day

It's the 4th of July, that time of year when Americans who don't watch MSNBC, celebrate the nation's birthday.

Ronny Chieng in The Daily Show

Independence Day

Independence Day. Best holiday on the calendar. The Fourth of July never lets you down. It's just simple, summer fun with games, parades, concerts, burgers, hot dogs and bursts of fiery embers in the sky. There's no cooking a turkey for six hours. No cross-country travel through snow and ice, no feeling pressure to spend money.

Lisa in I Believe in Santa

Independence Day

Our country may be likened to a new house. We lack many things, but we possess the most precious of all - liberty!

James Monroe (1758 - 1831)

USA Independence Day

America was established not to create wealth but to realize a vision, to realize an ideal - to discover and maintain liberty among men.

Woodrow Wilson

USA Independence Day

America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense… human rights invented America.

Jimmy Carter

USA Independence Day

The American flag, Old Glory, standing tall and flying free over American soil for 228 years is the symbol of our beloved country. It is recognized from near and afar, and many lives have been lost defending it.

Jeff Miller

USA Memorial Day Independence Day

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

Harry S. Truman

Taking action USA Independence Day

The injuries we have received from the British nation were so unprovoked, and have been so great and so many, that they can never be forgotten.

George Washington - 1778

USA Independence Day

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.

Abraham Lincoln (Inaugural Address) - 1861

USA Democracy Independence Day

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

Benjamin Franklin

A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines.

Benjamin Franklin

Half a truth is often a great lie.

Benjamin Franklin

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

Benjamin Franklin

Teachers Learning

Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.

Benjamin Franklin

Well done is better than well said.

Benjamin Franklin

Taking action Motivation

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

Benjamin Franklin

Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.

Benjamin Franklin

1

If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.

Thomas Jefferson

2

I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.

Thomas Jefferson

2

Happiness Ambition Work

I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

Thomas Jefferson

1

Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.

Thomas Jefferson

In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

Thomas Jefferson

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money.

Thomas Jefferson

Coronavirus will change almost everything going forward. Nobody can tell you when this is going to end. Nobody can tell you when you'll go back to work.

Andrew Cuomo (as Governor of New York) - March 2020

1

Call it psychological, call it feelings. call it emotions. But this is as much a social crisis as a health crisis.

Andrew Cuomo (as Governor of New York) - March 2020

1

This part of my life, this little part is called hapiness.

Chris Gardner in The Pursuit of Happyness

9

The important thing about that freedom train, is it's got to climb mountains. We ALL have to climb mountains, you know. Mountains that go way up high, and mountains that go deep and low.

Reverend Williams in The Pursuit of Happyness

4

Men must be free to do what they believe. It is not our right to punish one for thinking what they do, no matter how much we disagree.

Assassin's Creed

6

Human Rights Freedom Opinions

I came, I saw, I conquered.

Julius Caesar

3

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life.
When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I wrote down "happy". They told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told them they didn't understand life.

John Lennon

20

This is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause!

Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

9

Related pages to Declaration of Independence

Quotes about The United States of America

USA

Quotes about the 4th of July (Independence Day)

Independence Day

Benjamin Franklin

Thomas Jefferson

Human Rights

The most famous Quotes of all times

Famous Quotes

Andrew Cuomo

The Pursuit of Happyness