《独立宣言》为一个新国家奠定了基础。托马斯·杰斐逊发挥了关键作用，他不仅是其主要作者，而且还精心完成了所有最终被第二大陆会议于 1776 年 7 月 4 日采纳的修订。然而，正式文件需要全体 56 名代表的签名，因此整个过程耗时近一个月。
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
1776年7月4日，在国会。
A DECLARATION By the REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, In GENERAL CONGRESS assembled.
由美利坚合众国代表全体在总国会召集时所作的宣言。
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.
随着世间事务的发展，当一个民族必须解除其和另一个民族之间的政治联系并取得自然法则和上帝所赋予的、在举世列国中独立与平等的地位时，他们出於对人类舆论的尊重必须宣示驱使他们独立的原因。
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 abolish it, and to institute a 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.
我们认为下列真理不言而喻 : 人人生而平等，造物者赋予其若干不可剥夺的权利，包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利；世间政府是为保障这些权利而建的，政府的正当权力来自于被治理者的认可；当任何政府形式危及这些目标时，人民就有权予以改变或废除并基于最有可能给他们带来安全与幸福的原则和权力分配形式建立新政府。的确，从慎重考虑，不应当由于轻微和短暂的原因而改变成立多年的政府。过去的一切经验也都说明，任何苦难，只要尚能忍受，人类都宁愿容忍，而无意废除他们久已习惯了的政府来恢复自身的权益。但是，当政府一贯滥用职权、强取豪夺，一成不变地追逐这一目标，足以证明它旨在把人民置于绝对专制统治之下时，那么，人民就有权利，也有义务推翻这个政府，并为他们未来的安全建立新的保障。这就是这些殖民地过去逆来顺受的情况，也是它们现在不得不改变以前政府制度的原因。当今大不列颠国王的历史，是一再损人利己和强取豪夺的历史，所有这些暴行的直接目的，就是想在这些邦建立一种绝对的暴政。为了证明所言属实，现把下列事实公正地向世界宣布。
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
他拒绝批准对公众利益最有益、最必要的法律。
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.
他禁止他的总督们批准急需和至关重要的法律，要不就把这些法律搁置起来暂等待他的同意；一旦这些法律被搁置起来，他就完全置之不理。
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.
他拒绝批准允许将广大地区供民众垦殖的其他法律，除非那些人民情愿放弃自己在立法机关中的代表权；但这种权利对他们有无法估量的价值，只有暴君才畏惧这种权利。
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.
他把各地立法机构召集到既不方便、也不舒适且远离公文档案保存地的地方去开会，其唯一的目的是使他们疲于奔命，顺从他的意旨。
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
他一再解散各殖民地的议会，因为它们坚定果敢地反对他侵犯人民的各项权利。
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.
在解散各殖民地议会後，他又长时间拒绝另选新议会。但立法权是无法被取消的，因此这项权力已经回到广大人民手中并由他们来行使；其时各邦仍然险象环生，外有侵略之患，内有动乱之忧。
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.
他竭力抑制各殖民地增加人囗，为此，他阻挠《外国人归化法律》的通过，拒绝批准其他鼓励外国人移居各邦的法律，并提高分配新土地的条件。
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
他拒绝批准建立司法权力的法律，藉以阻挠司法公正。
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
他控制了法官的任期、薪金数额和支付，从而让法官完全从属于他个人的意志。
He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.
他建立多种新的衙门，派遣蝗虫般多的官员，骚扰我们人民，并蚕食民脂民膏。
He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislature.
在和平时期，未经我们立法机关的同意，他就在我们中间驻扎常备军。
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
他使军队独立于民政权力之外，并凌驾于民政权力之上。
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:
他同一些人勾结，把我们置于一种与我们的体制格格不入、且不为我们的法律认可的管辖之下；他还批准这些人炮制的假冒法案，来到达下述目的：
For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
在我们这里驻扎大批武装部队；
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
用假审讯来包庇他们，使那些杀害我们各邦居民的谋杀者逍遥法外；
For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
切断我们同世界各地的贸易；
For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:
未经我们同意便向我们强行徵税；
For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
在许多案件中剥夺我们享有陪审团的权益；
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
编造罪名把我们递解到海外去受审。
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 in these Colonies:
在一个邻近地区[8]废除英国法律的自由制度，在那里建立专横政府，并扩大它的疆界，企图使之迅即成为一个样板和得心应手的工具，以便向这里的各殖民地推行同样的专制统治；
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
取消我们的特许状，废除我们最宝贵的法律，并且从根本上改变了我们的政府形式；
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Powers to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
中止我们自己的立法机构，宣称他们自己在任何情况下都有权为我们立法。
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
他宣布我们已不在他的保护之下，并向我们开战，从而放弃了这里的政权。
He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
他在我们的海域大肆掠夺，蹂躏我们的海岸，焚烧我们的市镇，残害我们人民的生命。
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 and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
此时他正在运送大批外国佣兵来完成屠杀、破坏和肆虐的勾当，这种勾当早就开始，其残酷卑劣甚至在最野蛮的时代也难出其右。他完全不配做一个文明国家的元首。
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.
他强迫在公海被他俘虏的我们公民同胞充军，反对自己的国家，成为残杀自己朋友和亲人的刽子手，或是死于自己朋友和亲人的手下。
He has excited domestic Insurrections among 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.
他在我们中间煽动内乱，并且竭力挑唆那些残酷无情的印第安人来杀掠我们边疆的居民。众所周知，印第安人的作战方式是不分男女老幼，一律格杀勿论。
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.
在这些压迫的每一阶段中，我们都曾用最谦卑的言辞请求救济，但我们一再的请愿求所得到的答覆却是一再的伤害。这样，一个君主，在其品行格已打上了可以看作是暴君行为的烙印时，便不配做自由人民的统治者。
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. 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.
我们不是没有顾念我们英国的弟兄。我们一再警告过他们，他们的立法机关企图把无理的管辖权横加到我们的头上。我们也提醒过他们，我们移民并定居来这里的状况。我们曾经呼唤他们天生的正义感和侠肝义胆，我们恳切陈词，请他们念在同文同种的份上，弃绝这些必然会破坏我们彼此关系和往来的无理掠夺。对于这种来自正义和基于血缘的呼声，他们却也同样置若罔闻。迫不得已，我们不得不宣布和他们分离。我们会以对待其他民族一样的态度对待他们：战时是仇敌，平时是朋友。
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 the 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 the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
因此，我们，集合在大陆会议下的美利坚联合邦的代表，为我们各项正当意图，吁请全世界最崇高的正义：以各殖民地善良人民的名义并经他们授权，我们极为庄严地宣布，这些联合殖民地从此成为、而且是名正言顺地成为自由和独立的国家；它们解除效忠英国王室的一切义务，它们和大不列颠国家之间的一切政治关系从此全部断绝，而且必须断绝；作为自由独立的国家，它们完全有权宣战、缔和、结盟、通商和采取独立国家理应采取和处理的一切行动和事宜。为了强化这篇宣言，我们怀着深信神明保佑的信念，谨以我们的生命、财富和神圣的荣誉，相互保证，共同宣誓。
