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A Narrative of The First Reading of The Declaration of Independence · Voices Of Life

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  on a summer morning in the city of philadelphia
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  the air still trembling with the hope of a new
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  -born nation a crowd gathered at the steps of
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  the state house it was july eighth seventeen
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  seventy six just four days after the continental
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  congress declared that the thirteen colonies
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  were and of right ought to be free and independent
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  states men women and children pressed into the
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  square their hearts unsteady their future uncertain
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  yet their spirits lifted by the promise of liberty
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  and then from the balcony the words that would
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  reshape the world were read aloud for the very
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  first time the declaration of independence to
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  -day on voices of life a ministry of the church
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  for life we step back into the sacred moment
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  not as distant observers but as listeners standing
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  shoulder to shoulder with those who first heard
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  the proclamation of freedom spoken into the open
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  air of a trembling republic this is more than
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  a historical reading this is a reminder that
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  god moves through moments moments when ordinary
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  people hear extraordinary truth and find the
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  courage to rise So prepare your heart, steady
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  your mind, and join me as we return to that July
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  morning to hear once again the words that declared
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  a people free and set in motion to our nation
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  on its long, imperfect, God -guided journey.
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  This is the narrative of the first reading of
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  the Declaration of Independence, and you are
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  listening to the Voices of Life. The Declaration
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  of Independence First Public Reading When in
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  the course of human events it becomes necessary
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  for one people to dissolve the political bands
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  which have connected them with another, and to
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  assume among the powers of the earth the separate
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  and equal station to which the laws of nature
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  and of nature's God entitle them. A decent respect
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  to the opinions of mankind requires that they
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  should declare the causes which impel them to
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  the separation. We hold these truths to be self
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  -evident, that all men are created equal, that
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  they are endowed by their creator with certain
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  unalienable rights, that among these are life,
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  liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to
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  secure these rights, governments are instituted
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  among men, deriving their just powers from the
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  consent of the governed. That whenever any form
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  of government becomes destructive of these ends,
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  it is the right of the people to alter or to
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  abolish it. And to institute new government,
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  laying its foundation on such principles and
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  organizing its powers in such form, as to them
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  shall seem most likely to affect their safety
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  and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate
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  that governments long established should not
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  be changed for light and transient causes, and
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  accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind
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  are more disposed to suffer, while evils are
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  sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing
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  the forms to which they are accustomed. But when
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  a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
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  invariably the same object evances, are designed
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  to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is
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  their right, it is their duty, to throw off such
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  government and to provide new gods for their
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  future security. Such has been the patient sufferance
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  of these colonies, and such is now the necessity
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  which constrains them to alter their former systems
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  of government. The history of the present king
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  of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries
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  and usurpations, all having in direct object
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  the establishment of an absolute tyranny over
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  these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted
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  to a candid world. He has refused his assent
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  to laws the most wholesome and necessary for
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  the public good. He has forbidden his governors
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  to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance.
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  unless suspended in their operation till his
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  assent should be obtained. And when so suspended,
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  he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He
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  has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation
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  of large districts of people, unless those people
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  would relinquish the right of representation
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  in the legislature, a right inestimable to them
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  and formidable to tyrants only. He has called
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  together legislative bodies at places unusual,
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  uncomfortable and distant from the depository
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  of their public records for the sole purpose
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  of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
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  He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly
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  for opposing with manly firmness his invasions
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  on the rights of the people. He has refused for
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  a long time after such dissolutions to cause
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  others to be elected. whereby the legislative
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  powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned
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  to the people at large for their exercise, the
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  state remaining in the meantime exposed to all
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  the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions
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  within. He has endeavored to prevent the population
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  of these states, for that purpose obstructing
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  the laws for naturalization of foreigners. refusing
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  to pass others to encourage their migrations
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  hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations
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  of lands, he has obstructed the administration
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  of justice by refusing his assent to laws for
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  establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges
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  dependent on his will alone for the tenure of
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  their offices and the amount and payment of their
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  salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices
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  and sent hither swarms of officers to harass
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  our people and eat out their substance. He has
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  kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies
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  without the consent of our legislatures. He has
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  affected to render the military independent of
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  and superior to the civil power. He has combined
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  with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign
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  to our constitution. and unacknowledged by our
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  laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended
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  legislation. For quartering large bodies of armed
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  troops among us, for protecting them by a mock
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  trial, from punishment for any murders which
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  they should commit on the inhabitants of these
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  states, for cutting off our trade with all parts
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  of the world, for imposing taxes on us without
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  our consent. for depriving us in many cases of
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  the benefits of trial by jury, for transporting
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  us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences,
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  for abolishing the free system of English laws
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  in a neighbouring province, establishing therein
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  an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries
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  so as to render it at once an example. and fit
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  instrument for introducing the same absolute
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  rule into these colonies for taking away our
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  charters abolishing our most valuable laws and
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  altering fundamentally the forms of our governments
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  for suspending our own legislatures and declaring
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  themselves invested with power to legislate for
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  us in all cases whatsoever he has abdicated government
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  here by declaring us out of his protection and
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  waging war against us He has plundered our seas,
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  ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed
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  the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting
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  large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete
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  the works of death, desolation, and tyranny.
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  Already begun with circumstances of cruelty and
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  perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous
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  ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized
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  nation. He has constrained our fellow citizens,
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  taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against
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  their country, to become the executioners of
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  their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves
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  by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrections
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  amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the
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  inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
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  savages whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished
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  destruction of all ages, sexes. and conditions.
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  In every stage of these oppressions, we have
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  petitioned for redress in the most humble terms.
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  Our repeated petitions have been answered only
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  by repeated injury. A prince, whose character
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  is thus marked by every act which may define
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  a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free
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  people. Nor have we been wanting in attentions
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  to our British brethren. We have warned them
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  from time to time of attempts by their legislature
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  to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over
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  us. We have reminded them of the circumstances
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  of our emigration and settlement here. We have
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  appealed to their native justice and magnanimity.
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  And we have conjured them by the ties of our
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  common kindred to disavow these usurpations,
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  which would inevitably interrupt our connections
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  and correspondence. They too have been deaf to
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  the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We
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  must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which
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  denounces our separation and hold them, as we
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  hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war. Peace,
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  friends. We, therefore, the representatives of
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  the United States of America, in general Congress,
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  assembled, appealing to the supreme judge of
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  the world for the rectitude of our intentions,
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  do, in the name and by authority of the good
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  people of these colonies, solemnly publish and
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  declare that these united colonies are, and of
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  right ought to be, free and independent states.
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  that they are absolved from all allegiance to
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  the British crown, and that all political connection
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  between them and the state of Great Britain is
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  and ought to be totally dissolved. And that as
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  free and independent states, they have full power
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  to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances,
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  establish commerce, and to do all other acts
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  and things which independent states may of right
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  do. And for the support of this declaration,
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  with a firm reliance on the protection of divine
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  providence, we mutually pledge to each other
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  our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
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  Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat, Payne,
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  Elbridge Derry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery,
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  Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams,
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  Oliver Walcott, William Floyd, Philip Livingston,
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  Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Richard Stockton,
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  John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart,
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  Abraham Clark, Pennsylvania, Robert Morris, Benjamin
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  Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George
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  Kiner, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson,
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  George Ross. Cesar Rodney, George Reed, Thomas
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  McKean, Samuel Chase, William Backer, Thomas
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  Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George
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  Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin
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  Harrison, Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot
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  Lee, Carter Braxton, North Carolina, William
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  Hooper, Joseph Hughes, John Penn, South Carolina,
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  Edward Roblich, Thomas Hayward Jr., Thomas Litch
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  Jr., Arthur Middleton, Button Gwinnett, Lyman
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  Hall. As we bring today's journey to a close,
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  we pause to remember that history is never just
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  a record of what happened. It is a reminder of
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  who we are and who we are called to become. The
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  voices we heard today, the voices of patriots,
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  pastors, families, and founders. still echo across
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  the generations they speak of courage in uncertain
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  times of faith that outlasts fear and of people
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  learning to trust the hand of providence as they
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  stepped into a future they could not yet see
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  here on voices of life a ministry of the church
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  for life we believe that these stories are more
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  than lessons they are invitations invitations
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  to stand firm to walk humbly, to live with conviction,
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  and to remember that God who guided a fragile
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  nation still guides us today. Thank you for joining
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  me on this journey, for listening, for learning,
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  and for letting the past speak life into the
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  present. Until next time, may the Lord bless
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  you, may He strengthen you, and may He keep you
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  ready for every good work He has prepared you
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  for. This is Pastor David. and you've been listening
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  to the Voices of Life.