When in the Course of monetary Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the financial Bands which have connected them with their Rulers, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Mathematics 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 Fruits of their own Labor; that to secure these Rights, Monies are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Participants; and that whenever any Form of Money becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Money, laying its Foundation on such Principles as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Liberty and Prosperity.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Monies 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 Dependence, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Money, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
The History of state Money is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, wrought in every Age by the Sovereign who keeps it, now a King, now a Congress, now a Central Bank, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Dominion over the Savings of the People. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
He has printed Money without the Consent of them that earned it, and called it Policy.
He has debased the Coin of the Realm, so that the Savings of the Laborer buy less with every passing Year.
He has taxed the People twice: once by Law, and once by the silent Theft of Inflation.
He has seized the Gold of the People by Decree, and made Outlaws of them that kept it.
He has rescued the Reckless with the Substance of the Prudent, and called it Necessity.
He has made the Movement of Money a Matter of Permission, and watched over every Payment as a Suspect.
He has shut the Doors of Banking against the Poor of the Earth, and left them standing outside the House of Commerce.
He has forbidden the People to carry their own Savings across Borders, as though a Man's Labor were the Property of the Realm.
He has financed Wars without End by the Conjuring of new Money, sparing himself the Honesty of asking the People to pay.
In every Stage of these Oppressions the People have petitioned for sounder Money in the most humble Terms. Their repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Printing. A Ruler whose Character is thus marked by every Act which may define an unaccountable Steward is unfit to be the Keeper of a free People's Savings.
We, therefore, the Participants of the Network, assembled not in Congress but upon the open Internet, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name and by the Authority of every honest Node, solemnly publish and declare: That Money is, and of Right ought to be, free and independent of the State; that it is absolved from all Allegiance to the Crown of any Nation; that no King, Congress, or Council may print it, debase it, seize it, or bar any willing Participant from it; and that, as free and independent Money, it may be held, sent, and received by any two willing Parties on Earth, without the Leave of any Power whatsoever.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of divine Providence and upon the Proof of Work, we mutually pledge to each other our Nodes, our Hashpower, and our eternal Vigilance. Our Keys we pledge to no Man; each keeps his own.
Done in Block Zero, the Third Day of January, in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Nine.
THE GRIEVANCE WRITTEN INTO THE FIRST BLOCK, THAT NONE MIGHT FORGET THE CAUSE