21G 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
GEORGE WASHINGTON 
“First in War,—First in Peace —First in tlie Hearts of his Countrymen.” 
To all who venerate the great and good, 
it will seem most proper that, on the Anni¬ 
versary of American Indopencenco, mention 
should first be made of him who was, emphat¬ 
ically, “First in War, First in Peace, and 
First in the Hearts of his Countrymen.’’ At 
such a time, it is a sacred yet pleasant duty 
for Americans to revert to the history of the 
early days of the Republic—to celebrate in 
an appropriate manner, the Glorious Events 
which gavo birth to our now prosperous and 
widely extended Nation. The occasion is 
one which will naturally arouse the love of 
Country, and quicken the pulse in every 
patriotic heart—including emotions of joy, 
congratulation and thanksgiving for the 
privileges vouchsafed to the people of this 
highly favored land. 
Onsuch an occasion, next to a proper ven¬ 
eration for Him who governs and controls 
ill, should be held in sacred remembrance 
die memory and deeds of the man who com¬ 
bined the best traits of the Hero, the States- 
i man and tho Christian—who is, and will bo 
I for all time, the Patron Saint of America— 
! the immortal Washington. To recount, 
hero, the history of one whose exemplary 
life and noble deeds are familiar to almost 
every reader, would perhaps be a work of 
supererogation. And yet, did space permit, 
wo would gladly trace tho career of him of 
whom it has been well said, “ God ordained 
ho should be childless, that the country 
might call him Father.” Indeed we hold it 
to bo the duty of the Journalist to omit no 
proper occasion, like the present, of com¬ 
memorating this illustrious man—of reca¬ 
pitulating the events of the “times that tried 
men’s souls,” and enjoining upon all, their 
obligations to Washington and his compat¬ 
riots for the freedom and unexamplod pros- 
perit of our People and Nation. May tho 
story of his heroic deeds, wisoacts and judi¬ 
cious counsels, be graven upon the hearts 
of his countrymen, and annually impressed 
upon the minds of the rising generation ! 
DECLARATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE, 
Unanimously Adopted July 4, 1776. 
When, in the course of human events, it 
becomes necessary for one people to dis¬ 
solve the political bands which have con¬ 
nected them with another, and to assume 
among the powers of the earth the separate 
and equal station to which the laws of na¬ 
ture and nature’s God entitle them, a de¬ 
cent respect to the opinions of mankind 
requires that they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. 
We hold these truths to be self-evident— 
that all men are created equal; that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain 
inalienable 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 be¬ 
comes destructive to these ends, it is the 
right of the people to alter or abolish it, 
and to institute a new goverment. laying its 
foundation on such principles, and organiz¬ 
ing 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 shown 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, pur¬ 
suing invariably tho same object, evinces a 
design to reduce them under absolute des¬ 
potism, 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 col¬ 
TIIOMAS JEFFERSON. 
Author of the Declaration of American Independence. 
onies; and such is now the necessity which 
constrains them to alter their former sys¬ 
tems 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 ab¬ 
solute tyranny over theso States. To prove 
this, let facts be submitted to a candid world: 
He has refused his assent to laws the most 
wholesome and necessary for the public 
good. 
lie has refused to pass other laws, for tho 
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. 
lie has called together legislative bodies 
at places unusual, uncomfortable, and dis¬ 
tant from the depository of their public re¬ 
cords, for tho sole purpose of fatiguing 
them into compliance with his measures. 
He has dissolved representative houses 
repeatedly, for opposing with manly firm¬ 
ness his invasions on tho rights of the peo¬ 
ple. 
He has refused, for a long time after such 
dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; 
whereby tho legislative powers, incapable of 
annihilation, havo returned to the people at 
large, for their exercise; the state remain¬ 
ing in the meantime, exposed to all the 
danger of invasion from without and con¬ 
vulsions within. 
He has endeavored to prevent the popu¬ 
lation of these States ; for that purpose ob¬ 
structing the laws for the naturalization of 
foreigners, refusing to pass others to en¬ 
courage thoir migration hither, and raising 
tho condition of new appropriation of lands. 
He has obstructed tho administration of 
justice, by refusing his assent to laws for es¬ 
tablishing 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 har- 
rass our population and eat out their sub- 
stanco. 
He has kept among us, in time of peace, 
standing armies, without the consent of the 
legislature. 
He has affected to render the military in¬ 
dependent of, and superior to, the civil 
power. 
He has combined with others to subject 
us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitu- 
WASHINGTOX MONUMENT. 
tion, and unacknowledged by our laws, giv¬ 
ing 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 Eng 
lish laws in a neighboring province, estab¬ 
lishing therein an arbitrary government, 
and enlarging its boundaries, so as to ren¬ 
der it at once an example and fit instru¬ 
ment for introducing tho same absolute rule 
into these colonies: 
For taking away our charters, abolishing 
our most valuable laws, and altering funda¬ 
mentally the forms of our government. 
For suspending our own legislatures, and 
declaring themselves invested with power to 
legislate for us in all cases whatsoever : 
lie has abdicated government here, by de¬ 
claring 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 complete 
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 tho 
head of a civilized nation. 
lie has constrained our fellow-citizens, ta¬ 
ken captive on the high seas, to bear arms 
against their country, to become the execu¬ 
tioners of thoir friends and brethren, or fall 
themselves by their hands. 
He has excited domestic insurrection 
among us, and has endeavored to bring on 
the inhabitants of our frontiers the merci¬ 
less Indian savages, whose known rule of 
warfare is an undistinguished destruction of 
all agos, sexes, and conditions. 
In every stago of these oppressions we 
have petitioned for redress in tho most 
humble terms ; our repeated petitions have 
been answered only by repeated injury. A 
prince whose character is thus marked by 
1 The thunders of a mighty age, 
May drown the voices of the past, 
But thou, the Printer and the Sage, 
Shall speak thy wisdom to the last.” 
every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit 
to be tho ruler of a free people. 
Nor have we been wanting in attention to 
our British brethren. We have warned 
them, from time to time, of attempts made 
by their legislature to extend an unwarrant¬ 
able jurisdiction over us. We havo remind¬ 
ed them of the circumstances of our emi¬ 
gration and settlement hero. Wo have ap¬ 
pealed to their native justico and magnan¬ 
imity, and we have conjured them by the 
ties of our common kindred, to disavow 
theso usurpations which would inovitably 
interrupt our connexion and correspond¬ 
ence. They, too, have been deaf to tho 
voice of justice and consanguinity. We 
must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity 
which denounces our separation, and hold 
them as wo hold tho rest of mankind—en¬ 
emies in war—in peace, friends. 
We, therefore, the representatives of the 
Unitod States of America, in general Con¬ 
gress assembled, appealing to the Supreme 
Judge of tho world for the rectitude of our 
intentions, do, in the name and by tho au¬ 
thority of the good people of these colonies, 
solemnly publish and doclaro that these 
united colonies are, and of right ought to 
be, free and independent States; that thoy 
are absolved from all allegiance to the Brit¬ 
ish crown, and that all political connexion 
between them and the Siato of Great Brit¬ 
ain 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 com¬ 
merce, and to do all other acts and things 
which independent States may of right do. 
And for support of this Declaration, with a 
firm reliance on the protection of Divine 
Providence, we mutually pledge to each 
other our hives, our fortunes and our 
sacred honor. 
JOHN ADAMS'S LETTEB. 
The following is an extract from the 
memorable and prophetic letter of John 
Adams, written the day after tho Declara¬ 
tion of Independence was passed by Con¬ 
gress : 
Philadelphia, July 5th, 1776. 
“Sir:— Yesterday the greatest question 
was decided which was ever debated in 
America, and greater, perhaps, never was or 
will be decided by men. A resolution was 
passed without a dissenting colony, that j 
these United States are, and of pjgat < 
ought to be free and independent states, j 
The day is passed. The 4th of July, ) 
1776, will he a memorablo epoch in the his- ( 
tory of America. I am apt to believe iticill ; 
be celebrated by succeeding generations as a, ) 
great Anniversary Festival. It ought to < 
bo commemorated as the Day of Deliver- s 
ance, bv solemn acts of devotion to Al- ( 
mighty God. It ought to be solemnized with } 
pomp, shows, sports, guns, bells, bon- s 
fires, and illuminations from one end of the ; 
Continent to the other, from this time forward ( 
forever. 0 
You will think me transported with on- ( 
thusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware ( 
of the toil, and blood, and treasure that it ( 
cost to maintain this Declaration, and sup- ) 
port and defend these States, yet through / 
all the gloom, I can see tho rays of Light ( 
and Glory—I can see that the end is worth ( 
more than all tho means, and that posterity ^ 
will triumph, although you and I may rue, ( 
which I hope we shall not. ( 
I am, &c., John Adams.” £ 
THE AMERICAN UNION. 
1607—Virginia first settled by tho English. ) 
1614—New York first settled by tho Dutch. / 
1620—Massachusetts settled by the Puritans < 
1623—New Damp, settled by the Puritans. £ 
1625—New Jersey settled by the Dutch. ) 
1627—Delaware by the Swedes and Fins. < 
1634— Maryland settled by Irish Catholics. s 
1635— Connecticut settled by the Puritans. > 
1736—Rhode Island by Roger Williams. ) 
1650—N. Carolina settled by the English. < 
1670—S. Carolina settled by tho English. | 
1682—Pennsylvania settled by Wm. Penn. ( 
1733—Georgia settled by Gen. Oglothropo. ( 
1791— Vermont admitted into the Union. 
1792— Kentucky admitted into the Union. ( 
1796—Tennessee admitted into the Union. ? 
1802—Ohio came into the Union as a Stato. s 
1811—Louisiana admitted into tho Union. ( 
1816— Indiana admitted into tho Union. t 
1817— Mississippi admitted into tho Union. ( 
1818— Illinois admitted into the Union. ; 
1819— Alabama admitted into the Union. ( 
1824—Mainecameinto theUnion as a State, s 
1821—Missouri admitted into tho Union. . 
1836—Arkansas admitted into the Union. /, 
1845—Florida admitted into the Union. ( 
1845—Texas admitted into the Union. { 
1848—Iowa admitted into tho Union. £ < 
1848—Wisconsin admitted into tho Union. ( < 
j 1850—California admitted into the Union. \ J 
JOHN ADAMS. 
