On Kings, Patriots, and Declarations
An Independence Day reflection on tyranny, both old and new
After years of mounting tensions between colonialists and the mother country—probably the most enduring and well known issue being that of taxation without representation—the Founding Fathers voted for independence from the British Crown on July 2, 1776 and ratified a formal written explanation of separation on July 4, 1776. That document, the Declaration of Independence, was more than a breakup letter; it was a manifesto of first principles, as underscored in perhaps the most oft repeated part of the Declaration:
“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.”
But it wasn’t taxation without representation alone that compelled the Founders to vote for independence. In fact, the Declaration lists 27 specific charges of tyranny against King George III—each of which are directly antithetical to rights the Founders understood as being essential to ensure Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
As the anniversary of Independence Day approaches it’s worth asking: what did the Founders consider tyrannical enough to justify political separation?
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, 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, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime 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 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.
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 offices, 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 superior to the Civil power.
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:
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 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.
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 & 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 Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.
If any of those seem particularly prescient it’s because they absolutely are. Donald Trump and his administration have so far, either by enacted policy or expressed intent and desire, mirrored King George III in no fewer than 14 of the 27 charges listed by our Founders:
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. > Trump politicizes rulings, threatens judges (click here) | Trump declines to promise peaceful transfer of power (click here) | Trump ignores the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution (click here)
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... > Trump threatens birthright citizenship (click here) | Trump uses viscious anti-immigrant rhetoric (click here)
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. > Trump administration ignores judge’s order (click here) | Trump defies Supreme Court (click here)
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. > Trump created DOGE to cut health and education services, and gut consumer protections (click here) | Trump allows DOGE to target agencies investigating his biggest donor (click here)
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. > Trump sends National Guard and active duty Marines to Los Angeles (click here) | Trump activates military to occupy public land on southern border (click here) | Trump uses military to detain migrants (click here) | Trump issues executive order to use military in police functions (click here)
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. > Trump issues executive order invoking possible use of the Insurrection Act of 1807 (click here)
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: > Trump discusses sending U.S. citizens to foreign prisons (click here) | Trump administration falsley claims it cannot recover people sent in error to foreign prisons (click here)
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: > Trump disrupts and hinders free trade (click here) | Trump triggers trade war (click here)
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: > Trump’s tariffs are taxes on consumers (click here)
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: > Trump administration deports without due process or trials, resulting in legal residents and citizens being detained or deported (click here and click here)
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: > Trump discusses sending U.S. citizens to foreign prisons (click here)
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: > Trump issues executive order to dismantle parts of the Civil Rights Act, including protections against discrimination (click here) | Trump and his administration consistently seek to undermine the judiciary (click here and click here)
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. > Under direction from Trump, GOP lawmakers plan to plunder millions of acres of public land, selling it to fund his tax cuts for the wealthy (click here)
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us > Trump’s involvement in the January 6 US Capitol attack (click here) | Trump pardons January 6 attackers who violently attacked police, signalling approval of their actions (click here) | Trump escalates tension in L.A. and issues executive order to preemptively label adverse protests as “rebellion,” hoping to justify stronger use of force (click here and click here)
Too many Americans who claim to be patriots today are failing the open-book test on tyranny laid down by the Founders. This is due in no small part to a successful years-long campaign by profiteering sociopolitical agitators who have substituted red-white-and-blue spectacle for civic vigilance, party loyalty for Constitutional fidelity, and grievance for principle.
But true patriotism is not mere performance. True patriotism is commitment—to first principles and to the duty of recognizing, naming, and resisting tyranny.
That duty is clear:
When a ruler systematically targets the vulnerable, defies checks and balances, and governs only for the benefit of himself and his loyalists, we should not hesitate to proudly declare, like the patriots of 1776—against title, against dynasty, against authoritarian rule—
“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.”
—NO KINGS.