Framed Declaration of Independence document (14×17 image) with storyboard

Framed 14×17 antiqued print of  The Declaration of Independence with 8×10 storyboard. The frame is 2-inch scooped beaded mahogany frame. The image is floated on a charcoal background — FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $50, $4.95 for orders under $25, and $9.95 for orders between $25 and $50. Please allow three weeks for production and shipping.

The opening statement of the Declaration of Independence is as follows:  “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.”

The next paragraph is even more important as it reads: “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 to abolish it, and to institute 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.” 

The Declaration of Independence is more than an historical artifact–a document from a bygone period of our nations past. In fact, it is our first legal document that not only declared our independence from Great Britain but also established the principles for which our country would be founded. It has never been altered, amended, or abolished.

The preamble to the Declaration of Independence declares that our right to independence comes from “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and that some truths are so obvious the are “self-evident.” Some of these self-evident truths are “that all Men are created equal.” People are equal because “they are endowed [given] by their Creator with certain unalienable [unalterable] Rights.”

Some of our unalienable rights are “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Life is the right to live without the threat of death from tyrannical forces. Liberty means the ability to choose for oneself (while freedom means to be free of oppression). The pursuit of happiness means we have a right to pursue happiness as long as it does not infringe upon another person’s pursuit of happiness.

The Declaration of Independence is made up of the following four parts: 1) The Preamble. Here we find the fundamental doctrine of government the frames used as a blueprint for the Constitution. 2) List of 27 Abuses. They delineate the tyranny of Great Britain and later served as a checklist for safeguards built into the Constitution. 3) Petitions to Great Britain. The colonists bore oppressions for 10 years as they repeatedly petitioned the king for their grievances. 4) Declaration of Independence. Here in the last paragraph is the actual declaration establishing independence.