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.