LAD #3- Declaration of Independence

The Declaration states that all men are created equal, with certain rights that should never be taken away from them, the ‘unalienable rights,’ which everyone is born with. Also, it states that the government and their laws are derived from the people of the country, and that if the government becomes corrupt, it is the job of the people in the country to change it. If there becomes an absolute ruler, the people have the power to overthrown them and create a new government based on the laws stated in the Declaration of Independence. Also, there is a section where grievances towards the king are listed which include some of the following; the fact that he refused to change his laws in order to adapt them to the common good of the people. Also, they stated that the king did not pass laws that were of immediate importance, and that he did not pass other laws that would accommodate large masses of people. He also called together legislative bodies that were great distances from the colonies, and he did this in order to exasperate them and force them into doing that he desired. He also went away with representative houses, which went against the rights of the people. He also wanted to prevent the population of the states, and discouraged migration to the states, also reducing the power of the court system and the rights to all men. In doing so, he made the courts only compliant to him, giving him basically complete authority over the judiciary system. Also, in compliance with the Quartering Acts, he had standing armies in the United States even in times of peace. He acquitted them on all accounts of murder. Also, he cut off American trade with other parts of the world, and imposed taxes on the colonies without representation in the Parliament. Following the grievances, the Declaration stated that the ‘United Colonies are… free and independent states.” And that they have no connection to the British crown and should be treated as free states. They have their own power to ‘levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce,’ and to do all other things that other free countries are able to do.