In`de*pend"ence (?), n.
[Cf. F. indépendance.]
1.
The state or quality of
being independent; freedom from dependence; exemption
from reliance on, or control by, others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one's own affairs
without interference.
Let fortune do her worst,
. . . as long as she never
makes us lose our honesty and our independence.
Pope. 2. Sufficient means for a comfortable livelihood.
Declaration of Independence (Amer. Hist.), the declaration of the Congress of the Thirteen United States of America, on the 4th of July, 1776, by which they formally declared that these colonies were free and independent States, not subject to the government of Great Britain.
Hear it pronounced