J.R. Holmsted Profile picture
Jul 4 48 tweets 16 min read
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, #July4th
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. #July4th
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. #July4th
— 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, #July4th
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. #July4
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, #July4th
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, #July4th
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. #July4th
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. #July4th
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, #July4th
unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. #July4th
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. #July4th
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. #July4th
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. #July4th
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; #July4th
the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. #July4th
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. #July4th
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. #July4th
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. #July4th
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. #4thofJuly
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. #July4th
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: #July4th
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: #July4th
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 benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: #July4th
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: #July4th
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. #July4th
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. #July4th
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, #July4th
already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. #July4th
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. #July4th
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. #4thofJuly
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. #4thofJuly
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. #July4th
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. #July4th
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, #July4th
which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. #July4th
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. #July4th
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, #July4th
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, #July4th
and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; #July4th
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. #July4th
— 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. #July4th
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
#July4th
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

#July4th
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

#July4th
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

#July4th
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

#July4th
The Declaration of Independence, Philadelphia, adopted July 4, 1776.

"Let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."
— Thomas Jefferson

LET FREEDOM RING!
Happy Independence Day, y’all! #July4th 🇺🇸

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More from @JHolmsted

Jul 4
The first copies of the Declaration of Independence were printed on the evening of July 4th, 1776 in Philadelphia by a young immigrant, John Dunlap. ~200 Dunlap broadsides were distributed throughout the colonies, including one to General Washington & one to England. #July4th
Though several copies made their way to England, the Continental Congress did not send an official copy directly to King George. A 26th copy of the Dunlap Broadside was found as recently as 2009 in The National Archives in England. #July4th
Dunlap did more during the Revolutionary War than just secure one of the most historic printing contracts in American history, he was also a patriot who fought under Washington, including in a few key battles (that boosted the Continental Army) at Trenton & Princeton. #July4th
Read 12 tweets
Apr 22, 2021
There are some people you could take this up with. Mainly the Democrats that now control most of the federal government so I have a sneaking suspicion you won’t.
Also, why has the officer who shot someone that day not had their name released? I am not weird about this, people trespassed & were threatening, many were not in the right, but what gives? A person was shot by a federal officer. Where is the transparency?
Officer involved shootings from local to state to national level that make news usually see the LEO names released long before all the facts are in. Definitely within a few weeks. Certainly by month’s end. But no dice here.
Read 5 tweets
Apr 22, 2021
Within mere hours the mom was in the media spotlight. She nor many giving her media coverage mentioned Ma’Khia was in foster care. Of course that doesn’t take away from loving or memorializing her daughter. It does warrant some uncomfortable questions. washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04…
“Her daughter didn’t come home tonight because of that murderer.”

She wouldn’t have been going to her mom’s home. That saddens me even more. She was left to the system and her mom took center stage upon her daughter’s death.
My god this is just a shitty fucking situation with the worst possible outcome.
Read 4 tweets
Apr 22, 2021
Words are dangerous, but knives are meh.
“Teens have knife fights all the time.”
“It was just a kitchen knife.”
“He could’ve shot her in the leg.”
“Fire a few rounds into the sky.”
“Taser, don’t murder.”

Holy. Fucking. Shit.
There are bad cops. There are bad department policies regarding use of force. There are bad shootings. This ain’t fucking it.
Read 55 tweets
Apr 20, 2021
It’s easy to hate defense attorneys until you or someone you care about needs a good one.
Lots of innocent people walking around free that didn’t think they’d ever need one until they did. Some innocent people in prison that probably didn’t think they would either.
And yeah, even guilty people have the right to a defense. I’m disgusted people are so bothered by this concept that is a basic tenet of our legal system.
Read 5 tweets
Feb 23, 2021
A short thread about my choice to go to CPAC. Get your pom poms, American flags, fainting couch & smelling salts, or daggers ready as so suits you for the subject.
I am fortunate to attend as media. I live stream with @KLRNRadio & blog for @MisfitsPolitics while there. I am not paid. I have not been asked to cover certain people or topics nor have I been told to give positive reviews of any part of the conference. I wouldn’t oblige.
I don’t endorse everything the ACU does nor many of their choices with various aspects of CPAC. In fact, there are many things I openly disagree with. Those of you that know me are not ignorant of what those might be.
Read 14 tweets

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