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Happy 4th of July!(2016)

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Not a chance in hell of that, UK!, Not a chance in hell of that!

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

A DECLARATION

By the REPRESENTATIVES of the

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

In GENERAL CONGRESS assembled

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, the 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 abosolute 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 Obect 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 ot 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, incapble of Annihalation, 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 of obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Aprropriations 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 Officies, 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 superiour to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foriegn 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 abidicated Goverment here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our Sea, 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, Desolution, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and 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 Brethern, 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 Trant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethen.  We have warmed 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 ot the Sumpreme 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 thees 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-Britian, 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 firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

JOHN HANCOCK, Presdent

Attest,
CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary.

[John Adams said:]The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more

You were only off by two days, Mr. Adams.

This thread is not for discussing politics or anything anti-American DO IT IN ANOTHER THREAD!

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I don’t really like the “Shrine O’ America” that the end of the OP has.

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As much as I think Nationalism is a dangerous religion the American people have furnished the world with great philosophy, fine cuisine, beautiful and valuable art, generous charitable contributions and some of the nicest people I have ever met.
It is gifted with landscape of astonishing epic sweep and grandeur and I wish all American’s reading this a very happy collective birthday.
I still hope for an Independence day for my home patch, not for the flag or the dancing or the other local oddities but just to bring democracy closer to home.
Every country has an unfortunate aspect to it and hopefully you will give that a moment’s thought too while the red rockets glare.
Keep your pets in and handle your gunpowder safely and let the festivities be fun.

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I think I’m much more of an America skeptic than an America hater.

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Bingowings said:

Every country has an unfortunate aspect to it and hopefully you will give that a moment’s thought too while the red rockets glare.

I think about that more often than you realize.

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Other countries:
Hey, X years ago today we got founded. Let’s celeberate!

America:
AW YES MOTHERFUCKERS THIS IS MY DAY BITCHES WE GOT INDEPENDENT SUCK IT BRITS BWAHA WE GOT CHEESEBURGERS WHATCHA GOT U HEALTH NOPE BWA WE HAVE NO BOUNDS FUCK YOU BRITAIN GUNS GUNS OBAMA BURGERS

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HansiG said:

Other countries:
Hey, X years ago today we got founded. Let’s celeberate!

America:
AW YES MOTHERFUCKERS THIS IS MY DAY BITCHES WE GOT INDEPENDENT SUCK IT BRITS BWAHA WE GOT CHEESEBURGERS WHATCHA GOT U HEALTH NOPE BWA WE HAVE NO BOUNDS FUCK YOU BRITAIN GUNS GUNS OBAMA BURGERS

Surprisingly cogent.

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Warbler said:

Bingowings said:

Every country has an unfortunate aspect to it and hopefully you will give that a moment’s thought too while the red rockets glare.

I think about that more often than you realize.

I have no preconception of how you think. I can only respond to what you say and my comment wasn’t directed at you but all Americans celebrating Independence from the weirdly hatted people over the pond.

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Just so you know, I don’t hate people in the UK. My ancestors were born in the UK. However there is that ancestor of your Queen . . .

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Warbler said:

Just so you know, I don’t hate people in the UK. My ancestors were born in the UK. However there is that ancestor of your Queen . . .

George the 3rd and his brother William were actually rather nice.
He had a rather nasty illness but compared to his potty brained son he was rather decent. If you guys could have waited a bit you could have bolted the the Empire under the Regency and much of the Empire would have joined you.
The institution of monarchy is pretty daft but not that much dafter than electing one of two or three rich people who have never had a day of financial hardship in their life and are probably only in a position to be chosen because they are the spouse, brother or son of a previous head of state. I wouldn’t call Trump a breath of fresh air but he does pong differently 😄

However the people of America, the UK or wherever you find yourself are far more interesting and give far more value and character to their place of origin or adoption than the heads of state, may we be Independent of them all.

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Bingowings said:

Warbler said:

Just so you know, I don’t hate people in the UK. My ancestors were born in the UK. However there is that ancestor of your Queen . . .

George the 3rd and his brother William were actually rather nice. He had a rather nasty illness but compared to his potty brained son he was rather decent.

if you say so.

If you guys could have waited a bit you could have bolted the the Empire under the Regency and much of the Empire would have joined you.

didn’t know that. btw, the regency you speak of was when George III was declared mentally unfit and so was relieved of duty for a bit, right?

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The Prince Regent was so unpopular that with a bit of help from Napoleon England might have become a republic. William just walked around Brighton unguarded, saying hello to anyone that greeted him. Just a really nice guy who liked the odd flutter on the horses. Most people forget him.

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at first, I though you were talking about William IV, but he wasn’t George III’s brother, he was his son. So what does George III’s brother have to do with this?

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I can send a 3D model.

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Frink, I just PMed you the model of the hot dog. Hope you enjoy it.

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Warbler said:

?

“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”