When in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to challenge and alter the Political Bands which have subjected them to another, and to assume among the Powers of the Nation, the distinct and equal Station to which the Constitution and the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to their Exertions.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all People are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among People, 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 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 shown, that People 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 the People of the District of Columbia; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present Congress of the United States of America, supported by its Agents, is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Maintenance of an absolute Tyranny over this District. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

Congress has refused its Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

Congress has forbidden the home rule Government to pass laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till Congressional Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, Congress has utterly neglected to attend to them.

Congress has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of this District, unless its People would relinquish their Claims of Right to Representation in Congress, a Right inestimable to the People, and formidable to Tyrants only.

Congress has commanded elected members of the home rule Government to testify against the actions of the home rule Government, which it cannot do to elected members of any State Government, to fatigue them in to Compliance with its Measures.

Congress has threatened to dissolve the home rule Government repeatedly, for firmly opposing Congress’s Invasions on the Rights of the People.

Congress refused, for a long Time after Dissolution of a previous home rule Government, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, returned to the People at large for their exercise; the District remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Carpetbaggers from without and Cronyism within.

Congress has endeavored to diminish the Population of this District, discouraging many from migrating hither, and encouraging many to migrate elsewhere.

Congress has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing its Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers acceptable to the People.

Congress has made Judges dependent on its Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

Congress has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.

Congress has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislatures.

Congress has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

Congress has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; imposing Acts of Legislation contrary to every Criterion of Democracy taught in the Schools of the United States:

For quartering large Bodies of troops and expensive Consultants among us:

For protecting them from punishment for any insults they should commit on the Inhabitants of this District:

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 our District to be tried for pretended Offences:

For abolishing the free System of Constitutional Laws in this Jurisdiction, establishing herein an arbitrary Government, and setting its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into other Places:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our rights of Self Determination, and declaring Itself invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

Congress has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of its Protection and waging War against us.

Congress has plundered our Neighborhoods, ravaged our Streets, burnt our Homes, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

Congress is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of Lobbyists, Consultants, and Assistant United States Attorneys residing outside this District to compleat the Works of Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidity, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy [of] the Legislature of a civilized Nation.

Congress has constrained our fellow Citizens inducted into its Military to bear Arms against their home District, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren.

Congress has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to impose upon the Citizens of this District the Caprices of merciless Politicians (mostly from the Deep South), whose known Rule of Politics, is an undistinguished Antipathy to all Ages, Sexes and Conditions different from their own, which is almost uniformly rich, white, and male.

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 Government, 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 Brothers and Sisters residing in the various States and Commonwealths of the United States. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Congress to extend and 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 of denouncing our Separation from our natural Friends.

We, therefore, the Citizens of the District of Columbia, of all political stripes herein 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 this District, solemnly Publish and Declare, That this District is, and of Right ought to be, a Free and Independent State or a self-governing Part of a Free and Independent State, standing on an equal Footing with all the other States of the United States; that it is absolved from all Subservience to the Congress of the United States; that all political Connection between it and the government of the United States is and ought to be identical to the political Connection between all States and the government of the United States, as defined by the Constitution of the United States; and that as a Free and Independent State, it has full Power to do all Acts and Things which a State of the United 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.

Send questions or comments about legal content to George LaRoche, or in general about the web site to Malcolm Wiseman.
Last modified: November 22, 2000