A Declaration by the People of the United States of America
When, in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for a people to examine the conduct of one entrusted with the powers of their government, and to reaffirm the principles upon which their liberty depends, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to this declaration.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all persons are equal before the law; that they are endowed with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the right of the People to govern themselves; that Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any authority becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to call it to account and to insist upon constitutional restraint.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that authority long exercised should not be questioned 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 opposing the offices to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of actions, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a disposition to place personal authority above constitutional duty, it is their right, it is their duty, to declare such actions.
The history of the present figure is a history of repeated acts, all having in direct object the elevation of personal authority above the lawful consent of the governed. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has disputed the validity of lawful elections by which authority is derived.
He has refused to acknowledge the expressed will of the People when that will was lawfully rendered.
He has challenged the legitimacy of courts and judges when their judgments did not conform to his interest.
He has sought to retain influence over offices and institutions beyond the term granted by the People.
He has urged public officers, sworn to uphold the Constitution, to act contrary to their lawful obligations.
He has treated the powers of government as instruments of personal allegiance rather than as trusts held for the public good.
He has blurred the distinction between public office and private interest, confounding public duty with personal advantage.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing federal forces, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has stationed armed agents of the executive authority within American cities, rendering civil power subordinate to military enforcement.
He has continued such deployments notwithstanding objections raised by the People and their local governments.
He has permitted the withholding or delay of public records and matters of national concern, preventing full and timely examination through ordinary constitutional processes.
He has authorized or tolerated law enforcement actions that, in the judgment of a federal court, violated the Fourth Amendment by entering a person’s home without a judicial warrant, and then re-detaining that person without lawful process.
He has acted in ways that have resulted in citizens being killed by agents acting under federal authority, giving rise to public alarm and demands for lawful inquiry.
He has permitted the arrest and detention by federal agents of journalists covering matters of public concern, including independent journalists arrested in connection with reporting on protests and federal enforcement activity, where press freedom advocates and public interest organizations have stated such actions threaten the right of the People to receive information about governmental conduct.
He has allowed the prosecution under federal law of journalists and others present at demonstrations—charges that many legal experts, press freedom groups, and Members of Congress have condemned as incompatible with the First Amendment’s guarantee of a free press.
He has portrayed lawful accountability as persecution, and restraint under law as injury.
In every stage of these proceedings, the People have sought redress through lawful means. They have appealed through elections, through courts of justice, and through the exercise of free expression. Their petitions have been answered by denial, deflection, or repetition of the same acts.
A figure whose actions thus demonstrate a disposition incompatible with constitutional government is unfit to be entrusted with unchecked authority in a free republic.
Nor have the People been wanting in respect. They have distinguished between the office and the individual; they have honored lawful authority even while objecting to its misuse. They have appealed to reason, precedent, and constitutional duty. These appeals have been disregarded.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which compels us to speak plainly, and hold that fidelity to the Constitution requires neither silence nor submission.
We, therefore, the People of the United States of America, appealing to the principles upon which this Republic was founded, do solemnly reaffirm that authority derives only from consent; that law stands above all persons; and that power exists to secure rights, not to eclipse them.
And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on constitutional order and the judgment of history, we mutually pledge to one another our continued vigilance in defense of a government of laws, and not of men.
