Declaration of Independence - 250

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 & 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 Brittish 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 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 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
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

Column 4
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

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

World Cup Tourists Remind Americans We Have a Great Country

The World Cup is at our shores, and all these people are doing us a great service. They are reminding Americans that this place is kind of awesome. pic.twitter.com/gl34T6pY4L

— Bill Maher (@billmaher) June 27, 2026

There is no place I'd rather be than here.

The Great American State Fair

Visited the Great American State Fair in DC today- part of the America 250 celebration. It was patriotic and high flying -with a side of rope burn. @IngrahamAngle @Freedom250 @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/irkJdpJTKu

— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) June 26, 2026

It's shameful that Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington refused to participate in this magnificent celebration.

U.S. Retaliatory Strikes in Iran

.@POTUS on whether there will be consequences for Iran's violation of the ceasefire agreement:

"You'll find out. I don't like the fact that they took a shot yesterday — actually four, we knocked down three — at a ship... Will I respond? You're going to find out." https://t.co/QTpTs3H4mv pic.twitter.com/NA8QjIlh0h

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 26, 2026

https://t.co/W4zjNqnmCt

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 26, 2026

Trump Kicks Off Great American State Fair

.@POTUS: Tonight, right here on our National Mall, we are beginning the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen.

This evening, it is my honor to officially kick off the celebration with The Great American State Fair.

From today through July 10th, this event… pic.twitter.com/bsRSaO1O2V

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2026

Let the celebration begin!

Appreciating America

No ways! Check this out!!!

America gets better and better! pic.twitter.com/Cf7XuAeVX5

— Jason Bartlett (@Jason2bartlett) June 19, 2026

British Tourists Experience America

Full story here: https://t.co/8Cz87okPIE

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) June 20, 2026

NEW Air Force One

The new Air Force One 🔥🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/obFRtq5U26

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 19, 2026

.@POTUS makes the inaugural exit from the BRAND NEW AIR FORCE ONE! 🔥🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/jBciB2atAV

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 19, 2026

.@POTUS: The other plane was about 35 years old — and it was time. We have our beautiful American flag, and we put the wave in it. Now, we have a wavy, beautiful flag — we're waving it proudly. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/ND9wayNN9Y pic.twitter.com/EI6L9TlPzi

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 19, 2026

.@POTUS: I want to thank especially the 250 people who worked 24/7 to prepare this plane for service — including many airmen here at Joint Base Andrews. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/cff9LWNE4W pic.twitter.com/YywqCHpnRy

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 19, 2026

Nice.

Deal with Islamic Republic of Iran Complete

“The Deal with Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!” President Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/RdSwyEdEtO

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 14, 2026

Why Freddy Is a Phenomenon

Let me explain why I think Freddy resonates.

Lots of Europeans visit the USA as tourists. They visit New York City, or Washington DC, or Hollywood, or Las Vegas, and if they visit natural beauty too, they go to really crowded places like the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone.

So… https://t.co/mPsaJN5ckN

— Cynical Publius (@CynicalPublius) June 12, 2026

Freddy at Buc-ee's

DUDE LMAO THIS IS A GAS STATION😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/YYFmWJiCQa

— Freddy🇩🇪 (@FreddyLA7) June 10, 2026

Freddy Amazed By Bass Pro Shops

They were selling rifles in there pic.twitter.com/wF4bJFB1pk

— Freddy🇩🇪 (@FreddyLA7) June 11, 2026

Seeing the country through a tourist's eyes is enlightening.

I take a lot for granted. Like Bass Pro Shops.

Elon Musk - World's First Trillionaire

BREAKING: Elon Musk has become the world's first trillionaire.

After SpaceX raised a record $75 billion in its IPO, Musk’s net worth shot up to top $1.1 trillion when the stock began trading Friday, putting him in an economic class of his own.

Combined with his holdings in… pic.twitter.com/QwGBjkOTFc

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 12, 2026

pic.twitter.com/OC6l7harKj

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 12, 2026

Elon just created 4,400 millionaires in a single day.

400 of them are now worth over $100 million.

These aren't VCs. They're SpaceX employees, and the list includes welders, technicians, and cafeteria staff, because for two decades the company paid every level of the workforce… pic.twitter.com/tc2LuK7Gd7

— Shruti (@heyshrutimishra) June 12, 2026

Elon Musk isn't the only one getting richer from SpaceX going public.

The stock’s surge is estimated to have turned about 4,400 current and former employees into millionaires through equity compensation accumulated during their time at the company.

SpaceX’s long-awaited IPO… pic.twitter.com/Ct0gsRxM1S

— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 12, 2026

I love the incredible people of SpaceX beyond words

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 12, 2026

Only in America.

Black Crowes Ruin Their Show

😬 EXCLUSIVE: The Black Crowes were booed for dissing a crowd chanting "USA." https://t.co/Jt8xBLYTG4 pic.twitter.com/CettxXyqWv

— TMZ (@TMZ) June 1, 2026

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: The fallout from The Black Crowes' onstage political dust-up on Sunday didn't end with boos ... it kept rolling straight toward the exits. pic.twitter.com/PSFZy9iMi4

— TMZ (@TMZ) June 2, 2026

Chris Robinson blew it. Too bad.

Proud To Be an American

Yes https://t.co/oOwarGNpJU

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 2, 2026

Memorial Day and Veterans Day

Memorial Day and Veterans Day hold two very different meanings. 🇺🇸

Tomorrow, we honor those who lost their lives in service to our nation. In November, we thank the living veterans who served.

Share this to help remind Americans of the difference. pic.twitter.com/cjLKBMlY5w

— U.S. Army (@USArmy) May 24, 2026

1976 Coke Commercial

Coca-Cola commercial from 1976

The past is a foreign country pic.twitter.com/TnVHQiF6Ah

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) May 21, 2026

Good times.

Pete Hegseth Reenlists Joey Jones to Marine Corps

.@SECWAR remarks at the enlistment ceremony of @Johnny_Joey:

"We have the pleasure of honoring an incredible American today and have the opportunity to re-enlist him in the Marine Corps..." pic.twitter.com/12AUt1LmbQ

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) May 20, 2026

🚨 AWESOME! SecWar Pete Hegseth just REENLISTED Joey Jones to the Marine Corps

JONES: "I'm doing it because I have a debt left to give... It means the world to me to be here to finish the story that I started writing twenty-one years ago."

PATRIOT. 🇺🇸👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/Z05OtUMhou

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 20, 2026

Patriot.

.@Johnny_Joey full remarks after being reenlisted into the Marine Corps:

"I'm doing it because I have a debt left to give... It means the world to me to be here to finish the story that I started writing twenty-one years ago." pic.twitter.com/SXa2wXHJsV

— DOW Rapid Response (@DOWResponse) May 20, 2026

Trump Invites Xi to White House

🚨 President Trump just OFFICIALLY invited Xi Jinping to the White House for a state visit in September

"It is my honor to extend an invitation to you and Madam Peng to visit us at the White House this September 24th."

"I'd now like to raise a glass and propose a toast to the… pic.twitter.com/C7HX9adqIo

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 14, 2026

Xi - America a 'Declining Nation'

pic.twitter.com/oDX64MGvCq

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 14, 2026