Today, Friday, July 29, 2011 7:00 to 9:00
“Art After Hours” at the Campbell County Public Library
Cold Spring Branch, 3920 Alexandria Pike, Cold Spring, KY 41076
No entry fee.
www.cc-pl.org
Meet Jan Polk and 15 local artists from Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. The exhibit will feature a variety of mediums and each artist will be available to discuss their artwork. (No sales allowed that night until after the event) Enjoy live music, wine samples $1.00/glass, appetizers and desserts. Come out for a delightful casual evening and meet interesting artists, sculptors, potter, a print maker, blacksmith and photographers. View beautiful and unique fine art.
Participants are:
Sharmon Davidson.......Mixed media
Ann Deering.................Photography
John Deering................Photography
Anita Douthat...............Photograms
Mark Downey...............Painting and Illustration
Barb Clark-Edgley........Acrylice, Pen and Ink
Paula Risch Head..........Painting
Roger Heuck.................Painting
Carrye Kearns...............Fiber Art
Cal Kowal.....................Photography
Marc Leone...................Multi-media and Earth Materials
Marsha Nelson..............Blacksmithing
Kathleen Piercefield......Printmaking
Jan Polk.........................Painting and artist/publisher of
“A Year of Good Manners” by Margery Sinclair and Jan Polk (fine art marries fine living)
Polly Venneman.............Pencil
Larry Watson..................Pottery
Live Music by Jorge Wojtas, an English-born flamenco guitarist.(www.vivoflamenco.com)
McHale’s Hospitality Group (http://www.mchalescatering.com) is donating appetizers and
Fantasy in Frosting (http://www.fantasyinfrosting.com) is providing petite desserts for the evening.
Stone Brook Winery (http://www.stonebrookwinery.com/ ) is offering samples of wine for $1, with
all proceeds donated to the Library. Many thanks to CC-PL
sponsors.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
What does your handshake say about you?
There are all kinds of handshakes....secret....fist bump....and the universal,
civilized web-to-web handshake. Did you know that the universal handshake originated as a way to show respect and trust when meeting someone and to show that there was no weapon concealed in the hand?
In our book, "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and Jan Polk, $27.95,
Margery Sinclair offers three tips which will help you become charming, confident,
and well liked:
"The drill for meeting new people is easy: stand up straight, smile, look at
their eyes, shake hands, say hello, and give your name. It helps to know what
is expected. Either men or women can extend their hand first."
"Shake hands firmly, "web-to-web" (that web of skin between the thumb and fingers),
and without crushing their knuckles. Extend your hand vertically, with the thumb
up."
"Your handshake should be firm, quick (two or three shakes), and free of
perspiration. A too limp handshake implies a weak character; the too strong
handshake indicates a domineering personality. And it hurts."
What does your handshake say about you?
To read all 365 tips written by Margery Sinclair,
securely order your copy of "A Year of Good Manners" on line at http://www.janpolk.com
Margery also offers corporate etiquette training classes as well as
classes for children. Please check her website for additional information and travel schedule. www.margerysinclair.com
civilized web-to-web handshake. Did you know that the universal handshake originated as a way to show respect and trust when meeting someone and to show that there was no weapon concealed in the hand?
In our book, "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and Jan Polk, $27.95,
Margery Sinclair offers three tips which will help you become charming, confident,
and well liked:
"The drill for meeting new people is easy: stand up straight, smile, look at
their eyes, shake hands, say hello, and give your name. It helps to know what
is expected. Either men or women can extend their hand first."
"Shake hands firmly, "web-to-web" (that web of skin between the thumb and fingers),
and without crushing their knuckles. Extend your hand vertically, with the thumb
up."
"Your handshake should be firm, quick (two or three shakes), and free of
perspiration. A too limp handshake implies a weak character; the too strong
handshake indicates a domineering personality. And it hurts."
What does your handshake say about you?
To read all 365 tips written by Margery Sinclair,
securely order your copy of "A Year of Good Manners" on line at http://www.janpolk.com
Margery also offers corporate etiquette training classes as well as
classes for children. Please check her website for additional information and travel schedule. www.margerysinclair.com
Monday, July 18, 2011
Who taught you good manners?
Who taught you good manners? We are not born with this information.
Good manners must be taught. Those of us who are lucky, learned good
manners from our parents. It is a pleasure to live with good manners
and people who treat you with respect.
The wealthy know the value of this information. They spend hundreds
of dollars to have this information taught to their children.
Those who become wealthy, will spend the money to learn good manners
and have it taught to their own children. Will Smith and family are
a good example.
Everyone wants to be treated with respect. Every group has rules,
even gangs and the Jersey Shore group. Civilized society is for
every one and you don't have to be jumped to get in. Honorable,
civilized, law abiding citizens come in every color, size, age,
health, wealth, religious and political affiliation. All that is
expected of you is to be honorable, civilized and law abiding.
You will develop common sense, good self esteem, and the ability to
make good decisions just by knowing good manners and how to show respect
to yourself and others.
You will enjoy reading "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and
Jan Polk, $27.95. Margery uses a very humorous style to write 365 common,
every day courtesies and the reason to use each one.
One of Margery Sinclair's tips is: "Learning good manners is the most basic
skill of civilization. The earlier they are learned, the happier the world is.
Give this advantage to the children in your life so they can grow up without
the baggage of social embarrassments."
Self-esteem and good manners should not be based on how much money you have; they should be based on your honorable character and your good manners. Good Manners will last a life time and you will feel good about yourself where ever you are in life...family, school, social, or business.
This book is a steal at $27.95 for the amount of information that is contained in this book. If you already know the information, it will reinforce you are on the
right track. If you learn something new, you will become even more confident and
relaxed.
We suggest you read "A Year of Good Manners" before making major life changing decisions. When you know what to expect from life, and what life expects of you, you will not have to seek means to escape. You will enjoy life and know how to deal with others in a civilized manner.
You may purchase this book on line at http://www.ayearofgoodmanners.com
Please "like" my page on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/janpolk
Before purchasing our book, if you would like to see a free 7 page index of all the valuable information covered in "A Year of Good Manners," please send your email address to me at: janpolk@janpolk.com and I will send you a copy of the index via email. If you have already purchased our book, please send me your email and I will send you the index. Margery and I had intended the book to be a calendar and realized the information is so valuable, an index allows you to use the book as a reference book as well. Thank you for your purchase.
Good manners must be taught. Those of us who are lucky, learned good
manners from our parents. It is a pleasure to live with good manners
and people who treat you with respect.
The wealthy know the value of this information. They spend hundreds
of dollars to have this information taught to their children.
Those who become wealthy, will spend the money to learn good manners
and have it taught to their own children. Will Smith and family are
a good example.
Everyone wants to be treated with respect. Every group has rules,
even gangs and the Jersey Shore group. Civilized society is for
every one and you don't have to be jumped to get in. Honorable,
civilized, law abiding citizens come in every color, size, age,
health, wealth, religious and political affiliation. All that is
expected of you is to be honorable, civilized and law abiding.
You will develop common sense, good self esteem, and the ability to
make good decisions just by knowing good manners and how to show respect
to yourself and others.
You will enjoy reading "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and
Jan Polk, $27.95. Margery uses a very humorous style to write 365 common,
every day courtesies and the reason to use each one.
One of Margery Sinclair's tips is: "Learning good manners is the most basic
skill of civilization. The earlier they are learned, the happier the world is.
Give this advantage to the children in your life so they can grow up without
the baggage of social embarrassments."
Self-esteem and good manners should not be based on how much money you have; they should be based on your honorable character and your good manners. Good Manners will last a life time and you will feel good about yourself where ever you are in life...family, school, social, or business.
This book is a steal at $27.95 for the amount of information that is contained in this book. If you already know the information, it will reinforce you are on the
right track. If you learn something new, you will become even more confident and
relaxed.
We suggest you read "A Year of Good Manners" before making major life changing decisions. When you know what to expect from life, and what life expects of you, you will not have to seek means to escape. You will enjoy life and know how to deal with others in a civilized manner.
You may purchase this book on line at http://www.ayearofgoodmanners.com
Please "like" my page on Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/janpolk
Before purchasing our book, if you would like to see a free 7 page index of all the valuable information covered in "A Year of Good Manners," please send your email address to me at: janpolk@janpolk.com and I will send you a copy of the index via email. If you have already purchased our book, please send me your email and I will send you the index. Margery and I had intended the book to be a calendar and realized the information is so valuable, an index allows you to use the book as a reference book as well. Thank you for your purchase.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The Dead Horse Theory
To develop common sense and the ability to make good decisions on your own,
without guidance from parents or the government, we suggest you purchase our book
“A Year of Good Manners” by Margery Sinclair and Jan Polk ($27.95) to read
365 etiquette tips and the reasons to use them. You will learn to excel in dealing with family, school, social and business situations. Knowing respect and good manners makes you feel relaxed and confident. You may even develop the "likability factor" and become charming.
You will definitely understand the Dead Horse Theory:
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."
However, in government, education, and in corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
And of course....
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
Securely purchase "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and
Jan Polk $27.95 at www.ayearofgoodmanners.com
without guidance from parents or the government, we suggest you purchase our book
“A Year of Good Manners” by Margery Sinclair and Jan Polk ($27.95) to read
365 etiquette tips and the reasons to use them. You will learn to excel in dealing with family, school, social and business situations. Knowing respect and good manners makes you feel relaxed and confident. You may even develop the "likability factor" and become charming.
You will definitely understand the Dead Horse Theory:
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."
However, in government, education, and in corporate America, more advanced strategies are often employed, such as:
1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
And of course....
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
Securely purchase "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and
Jan Polk $27.95 at www.ayearofgoodmanners.com
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Honorable Politicians - Do They Exist?
I support all honorable, civilized, law abiding citizens who try to unite our country rather than being divisive.
United States of America’s motto is United We Stand – Divided We Fall. Both the national parties seem to have forgotten this. Beware of any candidate that pits one part of the country against another. We are all in this together and must find common ground.
I found the following campaign ads refreshing and hopeful. They unite Americans rather than being divisive. We all want to be treated with respect no matter what party we belong to. This candidate tells what he is going to do and doesn't tear down the opposition in the process.
John Polk is a Republican candidate running for State Senator in Mississippi.
http://www.youtube.com/user/votejohnpolk?feature=mhsn tight with money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPTdHJicmZU illegals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFYb4M5w_80&NR=1 teachers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-OcX8bPL0&feature=related economic development
John Polk is my brother-in- law and I can vouch for him that he is an honorable,
civilized, law abiding citizen.
I invite you to read our book "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and
Jan Polk ($27.95) which features 365 etiquette tips and the reasons to use each one.
They will help you recognize an honorable, civilized, law abiding citizen.
Book may be purchased at my website: www.janpolk.com
United States of America’s motto is United We Stand – Divided We Fall. Both the national parties seem to have forgotten this. Beware of any candidate that pits one part of the country against another. We are all in this together and must find common ground.
I found the following campaign ads refreshing and hopeful. They unite Americans rather than being divisive. We all want to be treated with respect no matter what party we belong to. This candidate tells what he is going to do and doesn't tear down the opposition in the process.
John Polk is a Republican candidate running for State Senator in Mississippi.
http://www.youtube.com/user/votejohnpolk?feature=mhsn tight with money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPTdHJicmZU illegals
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFYb4M5w_80&NR=1 teachers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I-OcX8bPL0&feature=related economic development
John Polk is my brother-in- law and I can vouch for him that he is an honorable,
civilized, law abiding citizen.
I invite you to read our book "A Year of Good Manners" by Margery Sinclair and
Jan Polk ($27.95) which features 365 etiquette tips and the reasons to use each one.
They will help you recognize an honorable, civilized, law abiding citizen.
Book may be purchased at my website: www.janpolk.com
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Happy July 4th - Independence Day
July 4th is a reminder each year that we fought to be free, independent people capable of being personally responsible for our own actions and electing our government officials from among ourselves.....not people that sit helplessly by dependant on the government do everything for us. Our Declaration of Independence was written to free us from the oppressive government of Great Britain in 1776.
Thank you to all the Veterans who have fought for us each year since the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence is a document that We The People of the United
States of America honor and respect as our guidelines on how all citizens are to be recognized as free people guaranteed equal opportunities to succeed. We expect our citizens to be honorable, civilized, law abiding citizens. The one thing each of us is in control of is our “Sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence is nothing more than a piece of paper if the citizens of the United States are not honorable, civilized, law abiding citizens who respect the laws of the land
Today is a good time to reread the Declaration of Independence and notice the similarities between the oppressive British Crown and the oppressiveness of bigger and bigger government. When government is not working for the good of all its people, it becomes oppressive. When government officials pit one group of citizens (poor) against another group of citizens (wealthy) it becomes divisive.
The United States of America became the greatest nation on earth when we all believed the motto: United We Stand – Divided We Fall
The following was taken from this website:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
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
Thank you to all the Veterans who have fought for us each year since the Declaration of Independence.
The Declaration of Independence is a document that We The People of the United
States of America honor and respect as our guidelines on how all citizens are to be recognized as free people guaranteed equal opportunities to succeed. We expect our citizens to be honorable, civilized, law abiding citizens. The one thing each of us is in control of is our “Sacred Honor.”
The Declaration of Independence is nothing more than a piece of paper if the citizens of the United States are not honorable, civilized, law abiding citizens who respect the laws of the land
Today is a good time to reread the Declaration of Independence and notice the similarities between the oppressive British Crown and the oppressiveness of bigger and bigger government. When government is not working for the good of all its people, it becomes oppressive. When government officials pit one group of citizens (poor) against another group of citizens (wealthy) it becomes divisive.
The United States of America became the greatest nation on earth when we all believed the motto: United We Stand – Divided We Fall
The following was taken from this website:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html
The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription
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
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