Human rights in the United States prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and black sites, and extrajudicial targeted killings (Disposition Matrix). Some observers give the U.S. high to fair marks on human rights, while others charge it with a persistent pattern of human rights violations. The first human rights organization in the Thirteen Colonies of British America, dedicated to the abolition of slavery, was formed by Anthony Benezet in 1775. A year later, the Declaration of Independence announced that the Thirteen Colonies regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. The Declaration stated "that all men are created equal, that they are
United States Declaration of Independence individual colonies, such as the Rhode Island legislature declaring its independence from Great Britain on May 4, the first colony to do so. Many "declarations" were resolutions adopted at town or county meetings that offered support for independence. A few came in the form of jury instructions, such as the statement issued on April 23, 1776, by Chief Justice William Henry Drayton of South Carolina: "the law of the land authorizes me to declare ... that "George" the Third, King of "Great Britain" ... has no authority over us, and we owe no obedience to him." Most of these declarations