美国独立宣言原稿即翻译
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美国独立宣言原稿即翻译
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The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
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 [George III] 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 meantime 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 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 complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy 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 attentions 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.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
在人类事务发展的过程中,当一个民族必须解除同另一个民族的联系,并按照自然法则和上帝的旨意,以独立平等的身份立于世界列国之林时,出于对人类舆论的尊重,必须把驱使他们独立的原因予以宣布.
我们认为下述真理是不言而喻的:人人生而平等,造物主赋予他们若干不可让与的权利,其中包括生存权、自由权和追求幸福的权利.为了保障这些权利,人们才在他们中间建立政府,而政府的正当权利,则是经被统治者同意授予的.任何形式的政府一旦对这些目标的实现起破坏作用时,人民便有权予以更换或废除,以建立一个新的政府.新政府所依据的原则和组织其权利的方式,务使人民认为唯有这样才最有可能使他们获得安全和幸福.若真要审慎的来说,成立多年的政府是不应当由于无关紧要的和一时的原因而予以更换的.过去的一切经验都说明,任何苦难,只要尚能忍受,人类还是情愿忍受,也不想为申冤而废除他们久已习惯了的政府形式.
然而,当始终追求同一目标的一系列滥用职权和强取豪夺的行为表明政府企图把人民至于专制暴政之下时,人民就有权也有义务去推翻这样的政府,并为其未来的安全提供新的保障.这就是这些殖民地过去忍受苦难的经过,也是他们现在不得不改变政府制度的原因.当今大不列颠王国的历史,就是屡屡伤害和掠夺这些殖民地的历史,其直接目标就是要在各州之上建立一个独裁暴政.为了证明上述句句属实,现将事实公诸于世,让公正的世人作出评判.
他拒绝批准对公众利益最有益、最必需的法律.
他禁止他的殖民总督批准刻不容缓、极端重要的法律,要不就先行搁置这些法律直至征得他的同意,而这些法律被搁置以后,他又完全置之不理.
他拒绝批准便利大地区人民的其他的法律,除非这些地区的人民情愿放弃自己在自己在立法机构中的代表权;而代表权对人民是无比珍贵的,只有暴君才畏惧它.
他把各州的立法委员召集到一个异乎寻常、极不舒适而有远离他们的档案库的地方去开会,其目的无非是使他们疲惫不堪,被迫就范.
他一再解散各州的众议院,因为后者坚决反对他侵犯人民的权利.
他在解散众议院之后,又长期拒绝另选他人,于是这项不可剥夺的立法权便归由
普通人民来行使,致使在这其间各州仍处于外敌入侵和内部骚乱的种种危险之中.
他力图阻止各州增加人口,为此目的,他阻挠外国人入籍法的通过,拒绝批准其
他鼓励移民的法律,并提高分配新土地的条件.
他拒绝批准建立司法权利的法律,以阻挠司法的执行.
他迫使法官为了保住任期、薪金的数额和支付而置于他个人意志的支配之下.
他滥设新官署,委派大批官员到这里骚扰我们的人民,吞噬他们的财物.
他在和平时期,未经我们立法机构同意,就在我们中间维持其常备军.
他施加影响,使军队独立于文官政权之外,并凌驾于文官政权之上.
他同他人勾结,把我们置于一种既不符合我们的法规也未经我们法律承认的管辖之下,而且还批准他们炮制的各种伪法案,以便任其在我们中间驻扎大批武装部队;不论这些人对我们各州居民犯下何等严重的谋杀罪,他可用加审判来庇护他们,让他们逍遥法外;他可以切断我们同世界各地的贸易;未经我们同意便向我们强行征税;在许多案件中剥夺我们享有陪审制的权益;以莫须有的罪名把我们押送海外受审;他在一个邻省废除了英国法律的自由制度,在那里建立专制政府,扩大其疆域,使其立即成为一个样板和合适的工具,以便向这里各殖民地推行同样的专制统治;他取消我们的许多特许状,废除我们最珍贵的法律并从根本上改变我们各州政府的形式;他终止我们立法机构行使权力,宣称他们自己拥有在任何情况下为我们制定法律的权力.
他们放弃设在这里的政府,宣称我们已不属他们保护之列,并向我们发动战争.他在我们的海域里大肆掠夺,蹂躏我们的沿海地区,烧毁我们的城镇,残害我们人民的生命.
他此时正在运送大批外国雇佣兵,来从事其制造死亡、荒凉和暴政的勾当,其残忍与卑劣从一开始就连最野蛮的时代也难以相比,他已完全不配当一个文明国家的元首.
他强迫我们在公海被他们俘虏的同胞拿起武器反对自己的国家,使他们成为残杀自己亲友的刽子手,或使他们死于自己亲友的手下.他在我们中间煽动内乱,并竭力挑唆残酷无情的印地安蛮子来对付我们边疆的居民,而众所周知,印地安人作战的准则是不分男女老幼、是非曲直,格杀勿论.在遭受这些压迫的每一阶段,我们都曾以最谦卑的言辞吁请予以纠正.而我们一次又一次的情愿,却只是被报以一次又一次的伤害.
一个君主,其品格被他的每一个只有暴君才干的出的行为所暴露时,就不配君临自由的人民. 我们并不是没有想到我们英国的弟兄.他们的立法机关想把无理的管辖权扩展到我们这里来,我们时常把这个企图通知他们.我们也曾把我们移民来这里和在这 里定居的情况告诉他们.我们曾恳求他们天生的正义感和雅量,念在同种同宗的分上,弃绝这些掠夺行为,因为这些掠夺行为难免会使我们之间的关系和来往中 断.可他们对这种正义和同宗的呼声也同样充耳不闻.因此,我们不得不宣布脱 离他们,以对待世界上其他民族的态度对待他们:同我交战者,就是敌人;同我 和好者,即为朋友.
因此我们这些在大陆会议上集会的美利坚合众国的代表们,以各殖民地善良人民的名义,并经他们授权,向世界最高裁判者申诉,说明我们的严重意向,同时郑重宣布:
我们这些联合起来的殖民地现在是,而且按公理也应该是,独立自由的国家;我们对英国王室效忠的全部义务,我们与大不列颠王国之间大不列颠一切政治联 系全部断绝,而且必须断绝.
作为一个独立自由的国家,我们完全有权宣战、缔和、结盟、通商和采取独立国家有权采取的一切行动.
我们坚定地信赖神明上帝的保佑,同时以我们的生命、财产和神圣的名誉彼此宣誓来支持这一宣言.
美国独立宣言―林语堂译
咱们国事乱到这般田地,叫咱们不得不跟(英国)皇上分家,自起炉灶,除了老天爷以外,谁也不要管谁,所以这会子总应向大家交个账,说个明白,叫人家懂得这是怎么一回事,别疑心了咱们是在做什么坑崩拐骗蒙的好勾当.
"咱们不会歪缠,就是这么几名话.一则,你我大家比起人家都是一只鼻子两只眼睛,不认输谁,说不定比人家还强的多着呢;二则,谁也别想贬却咱们的身分资格;三则,一个人要怎么活就可以怎么活,要怎么玩就可以怎么玩,要到哪儿去就可以到哪儿去,只要不碍着旁人就得了.什么鸟政府不放咱们这样,便是XXX."还有,老百姓要什么政府就可自己做主,不干人家的鸟事.什么政府不给咱们这样就得滚他的蛋,再扶一个出来顶替.固然,象那些南美洲的傻子浑人,或者象什么共产党,天天革命,也不成个样子.或者衙门里老爷一做岔了事便革一回命,也是不成的.有时候,老爷们吞款舞弊,作恶为非,咱们闭着眼儿装不见,比起傻子浑人共产党天天革命还好,你只要不是什么无来由的,还能说声不是吗?但是国事混乱到这个分儿,一个人什么身分儿都没有了,任人当奴才看,到这会子,大家就得合拢来革那些狗官僚的命儿,另叫一般人来,给监视着,不让他们大模大样干他们偷鸡的勾当.咱们十三州老百姓就是这么一句话,罪受够了,再混也混不下去.
当今皇上乔治登基以来,政事就是一团糟,谁不服气来同他办交涉,就是一把拳头叫你吃,这还有什么天理么?咱们同他算一下账给你瞧.
咱们一体通过的条陈,他总批驳下来,咱们人人反对的条例,他倒给钦此了.
咱们有什么呈文,非他亲眼瞧过不成,呈文一上去,他却向口袋里一放,装着忘了,你同他提起,只给你一个不睬.
人家到宫里去呈请他立个新法,他就是这么一套:要末,把议会封起来,让他称孤道寡,孤行己意,不然,便是一个不行,两个不行.
他叫议会到那儿岭外天边三家村上去开会,乐得没人肯去,让他去一意横行霸道.
议员去找他,说什么好歹,他就是一溜不见,送他们回家.
议院封了,要叫开又不肯开,政事没人管,成个无法无天的天下.
他哄人家不要来咱们十三州.谁要来,也不让有报纸看,人家一看也不肯来了,就是来了,也不给田地,不得不回去,有的索性就不来.
他跟法官通同作弊,就不肯出钱多用几个官吏,人家有案子,三年两载还不见个动静,不发下来,只好认倒霉空手回去.
法官有什么不顺从他的意旨,就得滚蛋,官俸又不发,叫他们先来孝敬老天爷,不然也别想拿一个大.
高兴起了,就添了什么司什么员,安排一些不见经传的人小,钱向咱们老百姓腰包里拿,不管你情愿不情愿.
一个好好的太平天下,养了一大班丘八,惊扰百姓,咱们怎么抗议也没用.
他放着这些丘八作恶为非,横行霸道,不挂腰刀的人只好听他们排比.
他放贪官污吏到处作孽,一朝权在手,无恶不作,干起以下的事来:
叫一些毫无用处人人讨厌的丘八驻扎民家里.
丘八杀人,便做个圈套,放他们逍遥法外.
管人家的事.
征苛捐杂税,也不问一问咱们缴的税项有个缴税的道理没有.
把人捉将官里去,人家要叫百姓陪审,不让陪审.
把人无端赶出国外,事案是此地发的,叫人家到天边海外去受审.
放几个坏蛋充我们邻国的官员,慢慢的扩展,希望有一天把咱们也吞下去,同他们一般腐败.把宪法当做把戏,人人说好没人说坏的法律,他偏取消,让他一人去瞎干.
他把议院关了门,就象他一个人独干比别人干得好.现在一不做二不休,索性跟咱们开战,咱们还认什么皇上,做什么臣子?
他把城也烧了,人也杀了,比狗还不如,在海上还要兴师问罪.
他雇些荷兰杂种来打咱们,教他们只要打得过咱们,可以随意抢掠,什么万国公法都不顾了.
咱们自己人在海上给他捉去,不管愿意不愿意,就迫着拿起枪把杀咱们同胞.
他唆使印第安生番,给他们枪火,教他们打死咱们的男女老少.
"每回他这样干,咱们就不服同他反抗,每回咱们不服同他反抗,他还是照旧这样干下去.一个人老是这样蛮横不讲理,还有什么身分,就是不配来管咱们有身分失,应当滚蛋."
"咱们向英国人讲理,总是不得要领.差不多天天咱们忠告他们,他们那边那些官僚违法越权,侵犯咱们.咱们老同他们讲,咱们是谁,咱们在做什么事,咱们为什么过海而来.咱们同他们讲公道,告诉他们,如果长此下去,咱们有一天要自己做自己打算,他们才知道利害.但是越和他们讲理,越无理可讲.可以见得他们不跟咱们一伙儿,就是同咱们为难,咱们就得同他们拚个高低,打完了再做道理.
因此,咱们决定,咱们代表十三州府的百姓在议会上议决:咱们合众国就是以前的十三州府,从此以后是自由国,照理就早该如此;咱们不认皇上,同他一刀两断,再也不听英国人的吩咐;咱们既然自由,自由国能干什么咱们就能干什么,尤重要的是宣战、议和、营商等等.
咱们拿圣经罚咒,大家一心一力,有首有尾,不顾利害,不论成败,不计吉凶,就是财破人亡,到断头台上,还是这样做去.
说的挺好的不是吗 要是只在他自己本国实行也是不错的
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 [George III] 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 meantime 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 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 complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy 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 attentions 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.
The signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows:
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samual Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
在人类事务发展的过程中,当一个民族必须解除同另一个民族的联系,并按照自然法则和上帝的旨意,以独立平等的身份立于世界列国之林时,出于对人类舆论的尊重,必须把驱使他们独立的原因予以宣布.
我们认为下述真理是不言而喻的:人人生而平等,造物主赋予他们若干不可让与的权利,其中包括生存权、自由权和追求幸福的权利.为了保障这些权利,人们才在他们中间建立政府,而政府的正当权利,则是经被统治者同意授予的.任何形式的政府一旦对这些目标的实现起破坏作用时,人民便有权予以更换或废除,以建立一个新的政府.新政府所依据的原则和组织其权利的方式,务使人民认为唯有这样才最有可能使他们获得安全和幸福.若真要审慎的来说,成立多年的政府是不应当由于无关紧要的和一时的原因而予以更换的.过去的一切经验都说明,任何苦难,只要尚能忍受,人类还是情愿忍受,也不想为申冤而废除他们久已习惯了的政府形式.
然而,当始终追求同一目标的一系列滥用职权和强取豪夺的行为表明政府企图把人民至于专制暴政之下时,人民就有权也有义务去推翻这样的政府,并为其未来的安全提供新的保障.这就是这些殖民地过去忍受苦难的经过,也是他们现在不得不改变政府制度的原因.当今大不列颠王国的历史,就是屡屡伤害和掠夺这些殖民地的历史,其直接目标就是要在各州之上建立一个独裁暴政.为了证明上述句句属实,现将事实公诸于世,让公正的世人作出评判.
他拒绝批准对公众利益最有益、最必需的法律.
他禁止他的殖民总督批准刻不容缓、极端重要的法律,要不就先行搁置这些法律直至征得他的同意,而这些法律被搁置以后,他又完全置之不理.
他拒绝批准便利大地区人民的其他的法律,除非这些地区的人民情愿放弃自己在自己在立法机构中的代表权;而代表权对人民是无比珍贵的,只有暴君才畏惧它.
他把各州的立法委员召集到一个异乎寻常、极不舒适而有远离他们的档案库的地方去开会,其目的无非是使他们疲惫不堪,被迫就范.
他一再解散各州的众议院,因为后者坚决反对他侵犯人民的权利.
他在解散众议院之后,又长期拒绝另选他人,于是这项不可剥夺的立法权便归由
普通人民来行使,致使在这其间各州仍处于外敌入侵和内部骚乱的种种危险之中.
他力图阻止各州增加人口,为此目的,他阻挠外国人入籍法的通过,拒绝批准其
他鼓励移民的法律,并提高分配新土地的条件.
他拒绝批准建立司法权利的法律,以阻挠司法的执行.
他迫使法官为了保住任期、薪金的数额和支付而置于他个人意志的支配之下.
他滥设新官署,委派大批官员到这里骚扰我们的人民,吞噬他们的财物.
他在和平时期,未经我们立法机构同意,就在我们中间维持其常备军.
他施加影响,使军队独立于文官政权之外,并凌驾于文官政权之上.
他同他人勾结,把我们置于一种既不符合我们的法规也未经我们法律承认的管辖之下,而且还批准他们炮制的各种伪法案,以便任其在我们中间驻扎大批武装部队;不论这些人对我们各州居民犯下何等严重的谋杀罪,他可用加审判来庇护他们,让他们逍遥法外;他可以切断我们同世界各地的贸易;未经我们同意便向我们强行征税;在许多案件中剥夺我们享有陪审制的权益;以莫须有的罪名把我们押送海外受审;他在一个邻省废除了英国法律的自由制度,在那里建立专制政府,扩大其疆域,使其立即成为一个样板和合适的工具,以便向这里各殖民地推行同样的专制统治;他取消我们的许多特许状,废除我们最珍贵的法律并从根本上改变我们各州政府的形式;他终止我们立法机构行使权力,宣称他们自己拥有在任何情况下为我们制定法律的权力.
他们放弃设在这里的政府,宣称我们已不属他们保护之列,并向我们发动战争.他在我们的海域里大肆掠夺,蹂躏我们的沿海地区,烧毁我们的城镇,残害我们人民的生命.
他此时正在运送大批外国雇佣兵,来从事其制造死亡、荒凉和暴政的勾当,其残忍与卑劣从一开始就连最野蛮的时代也难以相比,他已完全不配当一个文明国家的元首.
他强迫我们在公海被他们俘虏的同胞拿起武器反对自己的国家,使他们成为残杀自己亲友的刽子手,或使他们死于自己亲友的手下.他在我们中间煽动内乱,并竭力挑唆残酷无情的印地安蛮子来对付我们边疆的居民,而众所周知,印地安人作战的准则是不分男女老幼、是非曲直,格杀勿论.在遭受这些压迫的每一阶段,我们都曾以最谦卑的言辞吁请予以纠正.而我们一次又一次的情愿,却只是被报以一次又一次的伤害.
一个君主,其品格被他的每一个只有暴君才干的出的行为所暴露时,就不配君临自由的人民. 我们并不是没有想到我们英国的弟兄.他们的立法机关想把无理的管辖权扩展到我们这里来,我们时常把这个企图通知他们.我们也曾把我们移民来这里和在这 里定居的情况告诉他们.我们曾恳求他们天生的正义感和雅量,念在同种同宗的分上,弃绝这些掠夺行为,因为这些掠夺行为难免会使我们之间的关系和来往中 断.可他们对这种正义和同宗的呼声也同样充耳不闻.因此,我们不得不宣布脱 离他们,以对待世界上其他民族的态度对待他们:同我交战者,就是敌人;同我 和好者,即为朋友.
因此我们这些在大陆会议上集会的美利坚合众国的代表们,以各殖民地善良人民的名义,并经他们授权,向世界最高裁判者申诉,说明我们的严重意向,同时郑重宣布:
我们这些联合起来的殖民地现在是,而且按公理也应该是,独立自由的国家;我们对英国王室效忠的全部义务,我们与大不列颠王国之间大不列颠一切政治联 系全部断绝,而且必须断绝.
作为一个独立自由的国家,我们完全有权宣战、缔和、结盟、通商和采取独立国家有权采取的一切行动.
我们坚定地信赖神明上帝的保佑,同时以我们的生命、财产和神圣的名誉彼此宣誓来支持这一宣言.
美国独立宣言―林语堂译
咱们国事乱到这般田地,叫咱们不得不跟(英国)皇上分家,自起炉灶,除了老天爷以外,谁也不要管谁,所以这会子总应向大家交个账,说个明白,叫人家懂得这是怎么一回事,别疑心了咱们是在做什么坑崩拐骗蒙的好勾当.
"咱们不会歪缠,就是这么几名话.一则,你我大家比起人家都是一只鼻子两只眼睛,不认输谁,说不定比人家还强的多着呢;二则,谁也别想贬却咱们的身分资格;三则,一个人要怎么活就可以怎么活,要怎么玩就可以怎么玩,要到哪儿去就可以到哪儿去,只要不碍着旁人就得了.什么鸟政府不放咱们这样,便是XXX."还有,老百姓要什么政府就可自己做主,不干人家的鸟事.什么政府不给咱们这样就得滚他的蛋,再扶一个出来顶替.固然,象那些南美洲的傻子浑人,或者象什么共产党,天天革命,也不成个样子.或者衙门里老爷一做岔了事便革一回命,也是不成的.有时候,老爷们吞款舞弊,作恶为非,咱们闭着眼儿装不见,比起傻子浑人共产党天天革命还好,你只要不是什么无来由的,还能说声不是吗?但是国事混乱到这个分儿,一个人什么身分儿都没有了,任人当奴才看,到这会子,大家就得合拢来革那些狗官僚的命儿,另叫一般人来,给监视着,不让他们大模大样干他们偷鸡的勾当.咱们十三州老百姓就是这么一句话,罪受够了,再混也混不下去.
当今皇上乔治登基以来,政事就是一团糟,谁不服气来同他办交涉,就是一把拳头叫你吃,这还有什么天理么?咱们同他算一下账给你瞧.
咱们一体通过的条陈,他总批驳下来,咱们人人反对的条例,他倒给钦此了.
咱们有什么呈文,非他亲眼瞧过不成,呈文一上去,他却向口袋里一放,装着忘了,你同他提起,只给你一个不睬.
人家到宫里去呈请他立个新法,他就是这么一套:要末,把议会封起来,让他称孤道寡,孤行己意,不然,便是一个不行,两个不行.
他叫议会到那儿岭外天边三家村上去开会,乐得没人肯去,让他去一意横行霸道.
议员去找他,说什么好歹,他就是一溜不见,送他们回家.
议院封了,要叫开又不肯开,政事没人管,成个无法无天的天下.
他哄人家不要来咱们十三州.谁要来,也不让有报纸看,人家一看也不肯来了,就是来了,也不给田地,不得不回去,有的索性就不来.
他跟法官通同作弊,就不肯出钱多用几个官吏,人家有案子,三年两载还不见个动静,不发下来,只好认倒霉空手回去.
法官有什么不顺从他的意旨,就得滚蛋,官俸又不发,叫他们先来孝敬老天爷,不然也别想拿一个大.
高兴起了,就添了什么司什么员,安排一些不见经传的人小,钱向咱们老百姓腰包里拿,不管你情愿不情愿.
一个好好的太平天下,养了一大班丘八,惊扰百姓,咱们怎么抗议也没用.
他放着这些丘八作恶为非,横行霸道,不挂腰刀的人只好听他们排比.
他放贪官污吏到处作孽,一朝权在手,无恶不作,干起以下的事来:
叫一些毫无用处人人讨厌的丘八驻扎民家里.
丘八杀人,便做个圈套,放他们逍遥法外.
管人家的事.
征苛捐杂税,也不问一问咱们缴的税项有个缴税的道理没有.
把人捉将官里去,人家要叫百姓陪审,不让陪审.
把人无端赶出国外,事案是此地发的,叫人家到天边海外去受审.
放几个坏蛋充我们邻国的官员,慢慢的扩展,希望有一天把咱们也吞下去,同他们一般腐败.把宪法当做把戏,人人说好没人说坏的法律,他偏取消,让他一人去瞎干.
他把议院关了门,就象他一个人独干比别人干得好.现在一不做二不休,索性跟咱们开战,咱们还认什么皇上,做什么臣子?
他把城也烧了,人也杀了,比狗还不如,在海上还要兴师问罪.
他雇些荷兰杂种来打咱们,教他们只要打得过咱们,可以随意抢掠,什么万国公法都不顾了.
咱们自己人在海上给他捉去,不管愿意不愿意,就迫着拿起枪把杀咱们同胞.
他唆使印第安生番,给他们枪火,教他们打死咱们的男女老少.
"每回他这样干,咱们就不服同他反抗,每回咱们不服同他反抗,他还是照旧这样干下去.一个人老是这样蛮横不讲理,还有什么身分,就是不配来管咱们有身分失,应当滚蛋."
"咱们向英国人讲理,总是不得要领.差不多天天咱们忠告他们,他们那边那些官僚违法越权,侵犯咱们.咱们老同他们讲,咱们是谁,咱们在做什么事,咱们为什么过海而来.咱们同他们讲公道,告诉他们,如果长此下去,咱们有一天要自己做自己打算,他们才知道利害.但是越和他们讲理,越无理可讲.可以见得他们不跟咱们一伙儿,就是同咱们为难,咱们就得同他们拚个高低,打完了再做道理.
因此,咱们决定,咱们代表十三州府的百姓在议会上议决:咱们合众国就是以前的十三州府,从此以后是自由国,照理就早该如此;咱们不认皇上,同他一刀两断,再也不听英国人的吩咐;咱们既然自由,自由国能干什么咱们就能干什么,尤重要的是宣战、议和、营商等等.
咱们拿圣经罚咒,大家一心一力,有首有尾,不顾利害,不论成败,不计吉凶,就是财破人亡,到断头台上,还是这样做去.
说的挺好的不是吗 要是只在他自己本国实行也是不错的