Happy Fourth Of July!

John Trumbull - Oil-on-canvas - commissioned 1817; purchased 1819; placed 1826 in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, Washington, D.C.


When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 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 to 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.

Full text of the Declaration of Independence.

Demographics of the signers of the Declaration.



A celebration before even my time. Have a wonderful holiday!

Trumball's painting from Wiki.

Note: As many of you probably noted and were too kind to say, in my original post I made un grand faux pas by posting a quote, a link to the text, and the names of the signers of the US Constitution. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! Publish in haste; repent in leisure.