The Declaration of Independence Read by Thespians: Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Renee Zellweger & More

Some­where along the line today, take a break from the fes­tiv­i­ties and remind your­self what we’re actu­al­ly cel­e­brat­ing here in Amer­i­ca — the sign­ing of Amer­i­ca’s found­ing doc­u­ment 239 years ago. Draft­ed by Thomas Jef­fer­son, The Dec­la­ra­tion of Inde­pen­dence remains per­haps the best state­ment of our coun­try’s aspi­ra­tions. And after the Supreme Court’s recent Oberge­fell v. Hodges deci­sion, many would say that the doc­u­ment — pro­claim­ing that “all men are cre­at­ed equal” and have inalien­able rights, “Life, Lib­er­ty and the pur­suit of Hap­pi­ness” — feels more alive than it has for some time. But no mat­ter where you sit on the polit­i­cal spec­trum, it’s help­ful to return to The Dec­la­ra­tion and its core prin­ci­ples. You can read the open­ing lines below, and the full text here.

Above, we have some very rec­og­niz­able Hol­ly­wood celebs (includ­ing eight Oscar win­ners) read­ing The Dec­la­ra­tion. (Beneath it, we’ve includ­ed a grainier ver­sion that fea­tures a nice pref­ace by Mor­gan Free­man). For the sake of mak­ing this worth­while, pre­tend it isn’t the infa­mous Mel Gib­son read­ing the very first lines.

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.

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.–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.

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Relat­ed Con­tent:

Free Online His­to­ry Cours­es

Bertrand Russell’s Ten Com­mand­ments for Liv­ing in a Healthy Democ­ra­cy

Hear John­ny Cash Deliv­er Lincoln’s Get­tys­burg Address

John Wayne Recites the Pledge of Alle­giance


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Comments (3)
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  • Andy says:

    Freeman,Spacey,Zellweger,Goldberg„etc & etc.The last thing these lib­er­al nut­cas­es know is the mean­ing of our found­ing fathers documents.„pathetic video„,

  • PiedType says:

    Won­der­ful to have seen this right after the “Sons of Lib­er­ty.” Thanks so much for post­ing. Had nev­er seen this before.

  • BT Login says:

    WHAT DOES IT MATTER IF SHE WAS A STEP OR A BLOOD RELATIVE.A BEAUTIFUL TALENTED YOUNG WOMAN IS DEAD.FOUND IN THE STREET WHERE SHE FELL.
    MR. FREEMAN’ FAMILY MUST BE IN TOTAL SHOCK.
    OUR PRAYERS AND CONDOLANCES GO OUT TO THE FAMILY AT THIS TIME.

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