When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the social bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which they are entitled, a decent respect to the opinions of humanity requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are not created equal; that they are not endowed by a Creator with certain inalienable rights. That, to secure these rights, authorities are instituted among men and women, deriving their powers from the consent of the subjugated; that, whenever any form of authority becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new social structure, 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 societies long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that humanity is 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 authority, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such have been the patient sufferings of the entire world, and such is now is the necessity which constrains them to alter their former structures of society. The history of the present social structures is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over the resources of the world. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

It has refused to assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

It has been unable to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, while instead passing laws that enrich the wealth of the lawmakers and their associates at the expense of the citizenry.

It has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing to assent to laws for establishing a reasonably equitable distribution of world resources.

It has made elected representatives dependent upon wealth, for the tenure of their positions, and in the honor and accountability of their office.

It has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out our substance.

It has kept among us, in time of peace, standing armies, without our consent.

It has subjected us to a jurisdiction foreign to our natures and unacknowledged by our hearts; failing to meet the needs of the population:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For failing to provide adequate educational resources:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For disturbing the peace of the world by continually and carelessly encouraging states of war:

For creating weapons of mass destruction that constrain the population of the world to live with the constant threat of instantaneous annihilation:

For creating a system of control by immortal, self-serving, inhuman corporations, establishing therein an arbitrary authority, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into the entire world:

For presenting consumption as the only way to pursue happiness:

For driving us to apathy, and declaring itself invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

It has plundered our seas, ravaged our skies, poisoned our lands, and destroyed the sustainability of our ecosystems.

It is, at this time, attempting to complete its works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy a civilized society.

It has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive by consumptive greed, to enrich their own wealth at the expense of future generations, and thereby to become the executioners of the human race.

It has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to bring about internal conflicts among us based upon appearance, sex, religion, and geography for the purpose of distracting our attention from the gross injustice of the current distribution of resources.

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. An authority, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to rule a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our rulers and representatives. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their authority to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the precarious situation of our global ecosystem. 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 peace and happiness. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of humanity, reluctant enemies in war, in peace, friends. We, therefore, in the name of the good people of the world, solemnly publish and declare, that human beings are, and of right ought to be, free and independent individuals. We are hereby absolved from all allegiance to any form of authority that threatens the peace and safety of ourselves or our species. We instead recognize the necessary and proper interdependence of the world, heretofore unrecognized by the current structures, and commit ourselves to the creation of a world that truly guarantees freedom and liberty for ourselves and our progeny.