When
in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one spouse to dissolve
the marital 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,
marriages are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the mutual
consent of the parties, --That whenever any Form of partnership becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the person to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute a new relationship, 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 holy matrimony, 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 abusive relationships, and to provide new Guards for their
future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Persons; and
such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former marriage
status. The history of the present King of my home is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an
absolute Tyranny over me and my family. To prove this, let Facts be submitted
to a candid world.
He
has refused his support of righteousness, most wholesome and necessary for the
family good.
He
has forbidden his family to enjoy activities 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 create a safe place for the accommodation of large gathering of
people, unless those people would relinquish the right of self governance, a
right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He
has called together discussions at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant
from the normal time and place for counseling, for the sole purpose of
fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He
has dissolved our self esteem 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 befriended;
whereby the human spirit, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to his
approval for their exercise; the family remaining in the mean time exposed to
all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He
has endeavoured to prevent the social interactions of these family members; for
that purpose obstructing the Laws for forging bonds; refusing to pass others to
encourage their seeking friendships hither, and raising the conditions of new
Appropriations of connections.
He
has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for
establishing healthy boundaries.
He
has made others dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their marital
and social status, and the amount and payment of their salaries or family
budget.
He
has erected a multitude of New rules to obey, 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 policies without the Consent of
our common sense to comply.
He
has affected to render his opinion independent of and superior to the family
desires.
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 unattainable goals among us:
For
protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should
commit on the self worth of these family members:
For
cutting off our friends with all parts of the world:
For
imposing expectations on us without our Consent:
For
depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of a reasonable discussion:
For
transporting us beyond reality to be tried for pretended offences
For
abolishing the free System of societal norms in forming relationships,
establishing therein an Arbitrary control, and enlarging its Boundaries so as
to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same
absolute rule into these family expectations:
For
taking away our righteous desires, abolishing our most valuable self worth, and
altering fundamentally the Forms of our trust in others:
For
suspending our own personal insights, and declaring themselves invested with
power to think 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 funds, ravaged our hearts, burnt our family relationships,
and destroyed the lives of our relatives.
He
is at this time transporting large Armies of unjust principles to complete 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 righteous household.
He
has constrained our descendants taken Captive by his behavior to bear witness
against their parent and siblings, 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 endeavored to bring on
the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless social media 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 Partner whose character is thus marked by every act which may define
a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Priesthood leader of a family.
Nor
have We been wanting in attentions to our spouse. 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
fidelity and support 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 our family unit, 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 this
household, solemnly publish and declare, That our family is, and of Right ought
to be Free and Independent persons; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance
to the controlling partner, and that all marital connection between them and
the abuser of , is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and
Independent persons, they have full Power to create boundaries, conclude Peace,
contract lasting friendships, establish bank accounts and to do all other Acts
and Things which Independent adults 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
