When, in the course of human devel­op­ment, exist­ing insti­tu­tions prove inad­e­quate to the needs of man, when they serve mere­ly to enslave, rob, and oppress mankind, the peo­ple have the eter­nal right to rebel against, and over­throw, these institutions.

A vast country, rich enough to supply all her children with all possible comforts, and ensure well-being to all, is in the hands of a few, while the nameless millions are at the mercy of ruthless wealth gatherers, unscrupulous lawmakers, and corrupt politicians.

The mere fact that these forces – inim­i­cal to life, lib­er­ty, and the pur­suit of hap­pi­ness – are legal­ized by statute laws, sanc­ti­fied by divine rights, and enforced by polit­i­cal pow­er, in no way jus­ti­fies their con­tin­ued existence.

We hold these truths to be self-evi­dent: that all human beings, irre­spec­tive of race, col­or, or sex, are born with the equal right to share at the table of life; that to secure this right, there must be estab­lished among men eco­nom­ic, social, and polit­i­cal free­dom; we hold fur­ther that gov­ern­ment exists but to main­tain spe­cial priv­i­lege and prop­er­ty rights; that it coerces man into sub­mis­sion and there­fore robs him of dig­ni­ty, self-respect, and life.

The his­to­ry of the Amer­i­can kings of cap­i­tal and author­i­ty is the his­to­ry of repeat­ed crimes, injus­tice, oppres­sion, out­rage, and abuse, all aim­ing at the sup­pres­sion of indi­vid­ual lib­er­ties and the exploita­tion of the peo­ple. A vast coun­try, rich enough to sup­ply all her chil­dren with all pos­si­ble com­forts, and ensure well-being to all, is in the hands of a few, while the name­less mil­lions are at the mer­cy of ruth­less wealth gath­er­ers, unscrupu­lous law­mak­ers, and cor­rupt politi­cians. Stur­dy sons of Amer­i­ca are forced to tramp the coun­try in a fruit­less search for bread, and many of her daugh­ters are dri­ven into the street, while thou­sands of ten­der chil­dren are dai­ly sac­ri­ficed on the altar of Mam­mon. The reign of these kings is hold­ing mankind in slav­ery, per­pet­u­at­ing pover­ty and dis­ease, main­tain­ing crime and cor­rup­tion; it is fet­ter­ing the spir­it of lib­er­ty, throt­tling the voice of jus­tice, and degrad­ing and oppress­ing human­i­ty. It is engaged in con­tin­u­al war and slaugh­ter, dev­as­tat­ing the coun­try and destroy­ing the best and finest qual­i­ties of man; it nur­tures super­sti­tion and igno­rance, sows prej­u­dice and strife, and turns the human fam­i­ly into a camp of Ishmaelites.

We, there­fore, the lib­er­ty-lov­ing men and women, real­iz­ing the great injus­tice and bru­tal­i­ty of this state of affairs, earnest­ly and bold­ly do here­by declare, That each and every indi­vid­ual is and ought to be free to own him­self and to enjoy the full fruit of his labor; that man is absolved from all alle­giance to the kings of author­i­ty and cap­i­tal; that he has, by the very fact of his being, free access to the land and all means of pro­duc­tion, and entire lib­er­ty of dis­pos­ing of the fruits of his efforts; that each and every indi­vid­ual has the unques­tion­able and unabridge­able right of free and vol­un­tary asso­ci­a­tion with oth­er equal­ly sov­er­eign indi­vid­u­als for eco­nom­ic, polit­i­cal, social, and all oth­er pur­pos­es, and that to achieve this end man must eman­ci­pate him­self from the sacred­ness of prop­er­ty, the respect for man-made law, the fear of the Church, the cow­ardice of pub­lic opin­ion, the stu­pid arro­gance of nation­al, racial, reli­gious, and sex supe­ri­or­i­ty, and from the nar­row puri­tan­i­cal con­cep­tion of human life. And for the sup­port of this Dec­la­ra­tion, and with a firm reliance on the har­mo­nious blend­ing of man’s social and indi­vid­ual ten­den­cies, the lovers of lib­er­ty joy­ful­ly con­se­crate their uncom­pro­mis­ing devo­tion, their ener­gy and intel­li­gence, their sol­i­dar­i­ty and their lives.