Note, this is part 5 of the American History series.
"If it be asked, What is the most sacred duty and the greatest source of our security in a Republic? The answer would be, An inviolable respect for the Constitution and Laws — the first growing out of the last.... A sacred respect for the constitutional law is the vital principle, the sustaining energy of a free government. "
Alexander Hamilton, Essay in the American Daily Advertiser, Aug 28, 1794
"Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."
Alexis De Tocqueville
"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."
James Madison, Federalist No. 48, February 1, 1788
"Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. "
Dwight D. Eisenhower
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America and is the oldest written national constitution still in force. It was completed on September 17, 1787, with its adoption by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and was later ratified the original thirteen American states. It took effect in 1788, creating a more unified government in place of all the independent states.
Although the Constitution has changed in many respects since it was first adopted, the same principles remain the same now as they did in 1789.
There are three main branches of government—executive, legislative, and judicial—and they are meant to be separate and distinct from one another. The powers given to each are also meant to be balanced and checked by the powers of the other two. Each branch is suppose to be as a check on potential excesses of the others.The Constitution, along with laws passed and treaties entered into by the president and approved by the Senate, is above all other laws, executive acts, and regulations. The Federal courts can be asked to examine what public officials do, (including enacted laws), and, if they are found to be unconstitutional, they are supposed to be overturned. All states and all people are equal and no one should receive special treatment from the federal government. Within the limits of the Constitution, each state must recognize and respect the laws of the others. State governments, like the federal government, must be republican in form, with final authority resting with the people.
The Preamble to the United States Constitution consists of one sentence which states the purpose and reason of the document. Note that the Preamble itself neither gives any powers or stands in the way of any actions. It explains the reason only behind the Constitution. The preamble, especially the first three words "We the people", is one of the most often-quoted sentences of the Constitution, and being so, many people seem to have forgotten the original meaning. What did the Founders mean by We the people?
Part of this can be found from Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Paper No. 84 where he states, "Nothing need be said to illustrate the importance of the prohibition of titles of nobility. This may truly be denominated the corner-stone of republican government; for so long as they are excluded, there can never be serious danger that the government will be any other than that of the people. " So long as the new government remained as Republic, the government would be operated under the direction of the citizens of the country. If the republican form of government failed or fell, the Founders knew that under a tyranny, the power would be taken from the people, and under the authority of a few.
Again, from the same Federalist Paper, Hamilton writes, " It has been several times truly remarked that bills of rights are, in their origin, stipulations between kings and their subjects, abridgements of prerogative in favor of privilege, reservations of rights not surrendered to the prince... " He gives examples of past constitutional documents, such as the Magna Charta, Petition of Right, the Declaration of Right, and the British Bill of Rights. He continues, "It is evident, therefore, that, according to their primitive signification, they have no application to constitutions professedly founded upon the power of the people, and executed by their immediate representatives and servants. Here, in strictness, the people surrender nothing; and as they retain every thing they have no need of particular reservations. "WE, THE PEOPLE of the United States, to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ORDAIN and ESTABLISH this Constitution for the United States of America." Here is a better recognition of popular rights, than volumes of those aphorisms which make the principal figure in several of our State bills of rights, and which would sound much better in a treatise of ethics than in a constitution of government."
To the Founders, the basic right to fair and limited government for the people and by the people was made to be recognised from the first words of the Constitution. All the principals of the Founding Fathers are woven into and throughout the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the main being that all people have certain unalienable rights- liberties, given to each by God Himself and not to be taken by the government or anyone else. The basic liberties as written in the Declaration, of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are enshrined in the laws of the Constitution. Notice however, it is stated the "pursuit of happiness" and not just "happiness". As the United States and her people have drifted so far from God and what the Founders meant, people have seemed to expect, and demand that it is constitutional for anything which makes them happy.
In the next post, keep that phrase "the pursuit of happiness" in mind, as I want to compare the Founder's intents by their own words, to our government today, again using their own words. We will see just how far off track of the original purpose of the new colonies, and how far away from the Constitution we have really come.
Until then, study the Constitution. It is vital to the people to know such a document, to know our rights as by the original intent that those in Washington are supposed to be working for We the People- not the other way around.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
The Reasons Behind the Federalist Papers
Note, this is part 4 of the series on American History.
"Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords."
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, April 16, 1776
"I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God’s mandate. I don’t think it’s healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them."
Mr. Obama
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."
Patrick Henry
"For the Statist, liberty is not a blessing but the enemy. It is not possible to achieve Utopia if individuals are free to go their own way. " Mark Levin, Liberty and Tyranny pg. 16
The Federalist Papers were a series of formal writings on free government. They were written in support of the ratification of the Constitution. In Philadelphia, the delegates were opposed to the existing Articles of Confederation and looked to the states, not the existing government, for ratification and approval of the new government. Not everyone agreed with the new Constitution, so much argument was given for both sides as to the finalized document. After the convention, Tench Coxe became the coordinator in Philadelphia for those who supported the constitution while George Mason became the coordinator for New York for those who opposed it. Hundreds and hundreds of letters were written regarding the constitution. Pen names, "Cato" and "The Federal Farmer" attacked while "Caesar" replied. Both George Washington and Ben Franklin supported the Constitution.
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York were the states important for the success or failure of the Constitution. Of these four states, New York was the state where doubts were high for the failure of a new Constitution . The state's delegation didn't approve the draft in Philadelphia because two of its three delegates left during the protest Alexander Hamilton never got a vote. The governor of New York, opposed the new government and New York had become an independent nation under the Articles of Confederation, making itself rich through tariffs on trade with its neighboring states.
Alexander Hamilton decided that a huge campaign was needed in New York, much more than in any other states. This new plan meant a constant pouring of arguments in newspapers four times a week. Because of the massive work, Hamilton decided that he needed two co-authors to help him write under the pen name of "publius." Although he originally had asked others to help him, but thankfully, James Madison helped because the Continental Congress was sitting in New York during that time. John Jay was also asked because of his foreign diplomatic experience. John Jay was injured shortly after the project started and was able to only finish six papers. That left Hamilton and Madison to finish the rest. Eventually, the books were published in different newspapers in New York (four out of five of the major newspapers of the time) as well as republished in book form near the end of the series.
Eventually, New Yorkers only were able to ratify the constitution after Delaware was the ninth state to approve ratification and would have rendered New York as the only state to be against a Constitution. James Madison took the published books to assist in the ratification debate in Virginia. The Federalist Papers are the best source for interpreting the Constitution, the best explanation of what the Founding Fathers purpose was in the passing of the Constitution the United States of America.
The time of the revolution was made up to find security from foreign nations, for peace in America, and for individual freedom. These values, the Founders knew could be won by hard work and resisting the tyranny of the Crown of Britain. Earlier plans of a union were motivated by a desire for security and peace, but also for freedom and liberties which the Founders recognised could only come from God, not the government. These are the reasons behind the writings of the Federalist Papers, and eventually the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
All aspects of our liberties were debated on until the final Constitution was ratified. The men who fought, who debated and wrote the Constitution and our Bill of Rights knew that certain Unalienable Rights were so important that they needed a permanent place in these documents, lest government try to take them away. It's interesting how much these men realized government would eventually move to tyranny, because they had seen it in their own times. They wanted to make sure it did not happen again in the future and they did their best to warn us through their words:
"[I]t is the reason alone, of the public, that ought to control and regulate the government."
James Madison, Federalist No. 49, February 5, 1788
"There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence. I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men and become the instruments of their own undoing." -Daniel Webster
"A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.”
– Benjamin Franklin
"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If `Thou shalt not covet’ and `Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."
- John Adams, A Defense of the American Constitutions, 1787
"[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. "
Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, Circa 1749
"As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see the Senate has no
similitude to nobles. First, not being hereditary, their collective knowledge, wisdom, and virtue are not precarious. For by these qualities alone are they to obtain their offices, and they will have none of the peculiar qualities and vices of those men who possess power merely because their father held it before them. "
Tench Coxe, An American Citizen, No.2, September 28, 1787
"What is to be the consequence, in case the Congress shall misconstrue this part [the
necessary and proper clause] of the Constitution and exercise powers not warranted by its true meaning, I answer the same as if they should misconstrue or enlarge any other power vested in them...the success of the usurpation will depend on the executive and judiciary departments, which are to expound and give effect to the legislative acts; and in a last resort a remedy must be obtained from the people, who can by the elections of more faithful representatives, annul the acts of the usurpers."
James Madison, Federalist No. 44, January 25, 1788
Next article- The Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
"Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous then their arms. Let us then renounce all treaty with them upon any score but that of total separation, and under God trust our cause to our swords."
Samuel Adams, letter to James Warren, April 16, 1776
"I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God’s mandate. I don’t think it’s healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism, or dialogue with people who disagree with them."
Mr. Obama
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."
Patrick Henry
"For the Statist, liberty is not a blessing but the enemy. It is not possible to achieve Utopia if individuals are free to go their own way. " Mark Levin, Liberty and Tyranny pg. 16
The Federalist Papers were a series of formal writings on free government. They were written in support of the ratification of the Constitution. In Philadelphia, the delegates were opposed to the existing Articles of Confederation and looked to the states, not the existing government, for ratification and approval of the new government. Not everyone agreed with the new Constitution, so much argument was given for both sides as to the finalized document. After the convention, Tench Coxe became the coordinator in Philadelphia for those who supported the constitution while George Mason became the coordinator for New York for those who opposed it. Hundreds and hundreds of letters were written regarding the constitution. Pen names, "Cato" and "The Federal Farmer" attacked while "Caesar" replied. Both George Washington and Ben Franklin supported the Constitution.
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Virginia, and New York were the states important for the success or failure of the Constitution. Of these four states, New York was the state where doubts were high for the failure of a new Constitution . The state's delegation didn't approve the draft in Philadelphia because two of its three delegates left during the protest Alexander Hamilton never got a vote. The governor of New York, opposed the new government and New York had become an independent nation under the Articles of Confederation, making itself rich through tariffs on trade with its neighboring states.
Alexander Hamilton decided that a huge campaign was needed in New York, much more than in any other states. This new plan meant a constant pouring of arguments in newspapers four times a week. Because of the massive work, Hamilton decided that he needed two co-authors to help him write under the pen name of "publius." Although he originally had asked others to help him, but thankfully, James Madison helped because the Continental Congress was sitting in New York during that time. John Jay was also asked because of his foreign diplomatic experience. John Jay was injured shortly after the project started and was able to only finish six papers. That left Hamilton and Madison to finish the rest. Eventually, the books were published in different newspapers in New York (four out of five of the major newspapers of the time) as well as republished in book form near the end of the series.
Eventually, New Yorkers only were able to ratify the constitution after Delaware was the ninth state to approve ratification and would have rendered New York as the only state to be against a Constitution. James Madison took the published books to assist in the ratification debate in Virginia. The Federalist Papers are the best source for interpreting the Constitution, the best explanation of what the Founding Fathers purpose was in the passing of the Constitution the United States of America.
The time of the revolution was made up to find security from foreign nations, for peace in America, and for individual freedom. These values, the Founders knew could be won by hard work and resisting the tyranny of the Crown of Britain. Earlier plans of a union were motivated by a desire for security and peace, but also for freedom and liberties which the Founders recognised could only come from God, not the government. These are the reasons behind the writings of the Federalist Papers, and eventually the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
All aspects of our liberties were debated on until the final Constitution was ratified. The men who fought, who debated and wrote the Constitution and our Bill of Rights knew that certain Unalienable Rights were so important that they needed a permanent place in these documents, lest government try to take them away. It's interesting how much these men realized government would eventually move to tyranny, because they had seen it in their own times. They wanted to make sure it did not happen again in the future and they did their best to warn us through their words:
"[I]t is the reason alone, of the public, that ought to control and regulate the government."
James Madison, Federalist No. 49, February 5, 1788
"There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence. I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men and become the instruments of their own undoing." -Daniel Webster
"A nation of well-informed men who have been taught to know and prize the rights which God has given them cannot be enslaved. It is in the region of ignorance that tyranny begins.”
– Benjamin Franklin
"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If `Thou shalt not covet’ and `Thou shalt not steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."
- John Adams, A Defense of the American Constitutions, 1787
"[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. "
Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, Circa 1749
"As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see the Senate has no
similitude to nobles. First, not being hereditary, their collective knowledge, wisdom, and virtue are not precarious. For by these qualities alone are they to obtain their offices, and they will have none of the peculiar qualities and vices of those men who possess power merely because their father held it before them. "
Tench Coxe, An American Citizen, No.2, September 28, 1787
"What is to be the consequence, in case the Congress shall misconstrue this part [the
necessary and proper clause] of the Constitution and exercise powers not warranted by its true meaning, I answer the same as if they should misconstrue or enlarge any other power vested in them...the success of the usurpation will depend on the executive and judiciary departments, which are to expound and give effect to the legislative acts; and in a last resort a remedy must be obtained from the people, who can by the elections of more faithful representatives, annul the acts of the usurpers."
James Madison, Federalist No. 44, January 25, 1788
Next article- The Constitution, and Bill of Rights.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
The signers
Note, this is part 3 in the History series.
"I answered that the die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon.Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country was my unalterable determination."--
John Adams Source: Mr. Adams, describing a conversation with Jonathan Sewall in 1774
"We celebrate the principles that are timeless, tenets first declared by men of property and wealth..."
Barack Obama, 4th of July, 2010
To understand that our Country as of the time of our founding fathers was truly a nation in which relied upon God and recognized the need to seek His wisdom, we need to understand what kind of men they were, those who signed the Declaration of Independence. We have all heard the revised versions of these men. Great men such as Jefferson, Franklin, Adams. To believe the modern humanist version of history, these men were Deists at best, and believed that religion had no place in the public square, and especially not in our government. To hear modern scholars speak of the Founders, they were all wealthy, white and owned plantations. Who were they really?
Because of the number of men who signed the Declaration, I can't give whole biographies here. I have, however, provided a link if anyone is interested in learning more about these men.
Fifty-six men from each of the original 13 colonies participated in the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. Pennsylvania sent nine delegates to the congress, Virginia sent seven and Massachusetts and New Jersey all sent five. Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and South Carolina each sent four delegates. Delaware, Georgia, New Hampshire, and North Carolina each sent three. Rhode Island sent two delegates as it was the smallest of the colonies.
On the whole most of the signers were less wealthy than the Loyalists, although some were quite wealthy. They all had strong educational backgrounds. Some, like Franklin, were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship. Others gained their education from private tutors or at academies. About half of the men had attended or graduated from college in the colonies or Britain. Some of the men went on to get their medical degrees or studied advanced theology. Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and four were doctors. Forty-two of the men had served in their own legislatures. Twenty-two were lawyers nine were judges. One man, Stephen Hopkins had been Governor of Rhode Island.Although two others had been in the clergy, John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend. Almost all were Protestant. Most were either Episcopalian (Anglican) or Presbyterian and one Roman Catholic.
Seventeen of the signers served during the American Revolution, fighting at the Battle of Yorktown, Saratoga and New York among others. Five of the signers were captured by the British during the war. Captains Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton (South Carolina) were all captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780; Colonel George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey never recovered from his imprisonment and died in 1781.
Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote to John Adams, saying that he was "hunted like a fox," by the enemy. He was forced to "move my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna . . . and they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians."
Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war. The son of John Witherspoon, a major in the New Jersey Brigade, was killed at the Battle of Germantown.
Vandals or soldiers or both looted the properties of some. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Francis Lewis's home was destroyed and his wife was taken prisoner. John Hart's farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey and he died while escaping instead of being captured. Carter Braxton and Thomas Nelson gave large amounts of their personal fortunes to support the war, and were never repaid. At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. told that the British General Cornwallis had taken over his family home for his headquarters. Nelson urged General George Washington to open fire on his own home. This was done, and the home was destroyed. Nelson later died bankrupt. Others also suffered serious financial reverses that left them in or near bankruptcy.
Most of the men continued on in public service, mostly to the new government they had helped to create. They weren't war mongers, but these men clearly knew they were taking a huge chance in signing the Declaration. They even pledged, "For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They knew their Declaration would mean war and possibly death.
They remained strong in their reliance on God.
Patrick Henry declared during his famous speech given to the House of Burgesses in Virginia, "There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
"We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our won Country's Honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions." George Washington, General Orders, July 2, 1776.
Often times we can get a glimpse of a person by the thoughts by others. In closing, a few more quotes by and about some of the men who, were faithful to God and to the Nation they wished to create- one of liberty and freedom, with limited government. One in which they were willing to fight to the death, so the people could be free.
"Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they want a war let it begin here." Captain John Parker, commander of the militiamen at Lexington, Massachusetts, on siting British Troops (attributed), April 19, 1775
"It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Nathan Hale, before being hanged by the British, September 22, 1776
We know the Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the Strong. Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?" John Page, letter to Thomas Jefferson, July 20, 1776
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776
“ He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.”- "American Independence," August 1, 1776. Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia, John Quincy Adams
"There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come."
Peter Muhlenberg, from a Lutheran sermon read at Woodstock, Virginia, Jan, 1776
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 4, September 11, 1777
I hope some future day will bring me the happiness of seeing my family again collected under our own roof, happy in ourselves and blessed in each other."
Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams, March 15, 1784
"Every person seems to acknowledge his greatness. He blends together the profound politician with the scholar." William Pierce, on James Madison, 1787
"An honorable Peace is and always was my first wish! I can take no delight in the effusion of human Blood; but, if this War should continue, I wish to have the most active part in it." John Paul Jones, letter to Governor Morris, Sept 2, 1782
First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private charter gave effulgence to his public virtues. Such was the man for whom our nation morns. " John Marshall, official eulogy of George Washington, delivered by Richard Henry Lee, December 26, 1799
"[He] will live in the memory and gratitude of the wise & good, as a luminary of Science, as a votary of liberty, as a model of patriotism, and as a benefactor of human kind." James Madison, on Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Nicholas P. Trist, July 6, 1826
Next up, The Federalist Papers.
"I answered that the die was now cast; I had passed the Rubicon.Swim or sink, live or die, survive or perish with my country was my unalterable determination."--
John Adams Source: Mr. Adams, describing a conversation with Jonathan Sewall in 1774
"We celebrate the principles that are timeless, tenets first declared by men of property and wealth..."
Barack Obama, 4th of July, 2010
To understand that our Country as of the time of our founding fathers was truly a nation in which relied upon God and recognized the need to seek His wisdom, we need to understand what kind of men they were, those who signed the Declaration of Independence. We have all heard the revised versions of these men. Great men such as Jefferson, Franklin, Adams. To believe the modern humanist version of history, these men were Deists at best, and believed that religion had no place in the public square, and especially not in our government. To hear modern scholars speak of the Founders, they were all wealthy, white and owned plantations. Who were they really?
Because of the number of men who signed the Declaration, I can't give whole biographies here. I have, however, provided a link if anyone is interested in learning more about these men.
Fifty-six men from each of the original 13 colonies participated in the Second Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. Pennsylvania sent nine delegates to the congress, Virginia sent seven and Massachusetts and New Jersey all sent five. Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and South Carolina each sent four delegates. Delaware, Georgia, New Hampshire, and North Carolina each sent three. Rhode Island sent two delegates as it was the smallest of the colonies.
On the whole most of the signers were less wealthy than the Loyalists, although some were quite wealthy. They all had strong educational backgrounds. Some, like Franklin, were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship. Others gained their education from private tutors or at academies. About half of the men had attended or graduated from college in the colonies or Britain. Some of the men went on to get their medical degrees or studied advanced theology. Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and four were doctors. Forty-two of the men had served in their own legislatures. Twenty-two were lawyers nine were judges. One man, Stephen Hopkins had been Governor of Rhode Island.Although two others had been in the clergy, John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend. Almost all were Protestant. Most were either Episcopalian (Anglican) or Presbyterian and one Roman Catholic.
Seventeen of the signers served during the American Revolution, fighting at the Battle of Yorktown, Saratoga and New York among others. Five of the signers were captured by the British during the war. Captains Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton (South Carolina) were all captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780; Colonel George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey never recovered from his imprisonment and died in 1781.
Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote to John Adams, saying that he was "hunted like a fox," by the enemy. He was forced to "move my family five times in a few months, and at last fixed them in a little log house on the banks of the Susquehanna . . . and they were soon obliged to move again on account of the incursions of the Indians."
Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons captured by the British during the war. The son of John Witherspoon, a major in the New Jersey Brigade, was killed at the Battle of Germantown.
Vandals or soldiers or both looted the properties of some. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Francis Lewis's home was destroyed and his wife was taken prisoner. John Hart's farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey and he died while escaping instead of being captured. Carter Braxton and Thomas Nelson gave large amounts of their personal fortunes to support the war, and were never repaid. At the Battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. told that the British General Cornwallis had taken over his family home for his headquarters. Nelson urged General George Washington to open fire on his own home. This was done, and the home was destroyed. Nelson later died bankrupt. Others also suffered serious financial reverses that left them in or near bankruptcy.
Most of the men continued on in public service, mostly to the new government they had helped to create. They weren't war mongers, but these men clearly knew they were taking a huge chance in signing the Declaration. They even pledged, "For the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." They knew their Declaration would mean war and possibly death.
They remained strong in their reliance on God.
Patrick Henry declared during his famous speech given to the House of Burgesses in Virginia, "There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
"We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die: Our won Country's Honor, all call upon us for vigorous and manly exertion, and if we now shamefully fail, we shall become infamous to the whole world. Let us therefore rely upon the goodness of the Cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands Victory is, to animate and encourage us to great and noble Actions." George Washington, General Orders, July 2, 1776.
Often times we can get a glimpse of a person by the thoughts by others. In closing, a few more quotes by and about some of the men who, were faithful to God and to the Nation they wished to create- one of liberty and freedom, with limited government. One in which they were willing to fight to the death, so the people could be free.
"Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they want a war let it begin here." Captain John Parker, commander of the militiamen at Lexington, Massachusetts, on siting British Troops (attributed), April 19, 1775
"It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not." John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776
I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Nathan Hale, before being hanged by the British, September 22, 1776
We know the Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the Strong. Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?" John Page, letter to Thomas Jefferson, July 20, 1776
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 1, December 19, 1776
“ He who made all men hath made the truths necessary to human happiness obvious to all… Our forefathers opened the Bible to all.”- "American Independence," August 1, 1776. Speech delivered at the State House in Philadelphia, John Quincy Adams
"There is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray, but those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come."
Peter Muhlenberg, from a Lutheran sermon read at Woodstock, Virginia, Jan, 1776
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it."
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, No. 4, September 11, 1777
I hope some future day will bring me the happiness of seeing my family again collected under our own roof, happy in ourselves and blessed in each other."
Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams, March 15, 1784
"Every person seems to acknowledge his greatness. He blends together the profound politician with the scholar." William Pierce, on James Madison, 1787
"An honorable Peace is and always was my first wish! I can take no delight in the effusion of human Blood; but, if this War should continue, I wish to have the most active part in it." John Paul Jones, letter to Governor Morris, Sept 2, 1782
First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private charter gave effulgence to his public virtues. Such was the man for whom our nation morns. " John Marshall, official eulogy of George Washington, delivered by Richard Henry Lee, December 26, 1799
"[He] will live in the memory and gratitude of the wise & good, as a luminary of Science, as a votary of liberty, as a model of patriotism, and as a benefactor of human kind." James Madison, on Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Nicholas P. Trist, July 6, 1826
Next up, The Federalist Papers.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
American History- Man’s Law Based on God’s Law
Note, this is part 2 of the series. For part 1, please see previous article.
Please keep these quotes in mind as you read below.
"Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both."
James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence
"We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
Barack Obama
We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment [in the First Amendment] to an indifference to religion in general, and especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution)"“At the time of the adoption of the constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under consideration [i.e., the First Amendment], the general, if not the universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state, so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious worship. Any attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation.” Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, and A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States
Who was Blackstone?
William Blackstone was the 18th Century English legal scholar whose writings were based on Judeo-Christian principles. The Ten Commandments were at the center of Blackstone's philosophy, and he taught that man is created by God and granted fundamental rights by God. He knew that man’s law must be based on God’s law.
Blackstone's lectures were published in England between 1765 and 1769. An American edition was published in Philadelphia between 1771-72. The Founding Fathers realized the importance of Blackstone's Commentaries and he was a person who had a huge influence on the thinking of our founding fathers. Blackstone’s writings, called Commentaries on the Laws of England, was the basis to the U. S. Constitution, and were the basic textbook of America’s early lawyers.
Blackstone’s influence on both English and American law was largely recognized until well into the Twentieth Century, when the so called progressive/humanist enlightenment started marching through America's government and education institutions. It was only in the mid-Twentieth Century that American law, being re-written by the U. S. Supreme Court, refused to acknowledge Blackstone's writings. The modern court and progressive government had no need for a legal authority which acknowledged higher Law from God, because they wanted to push the idea that man is the giver of liberties and that natural and moral law is evolving. If people began to believe that man was his own authority, and that liberties came from government, there would no longer be any need for God. We could become our own salvation through federal government.
United States Supreme Court Justice John Marshall and other early American justices built the American legal system which was based on Blackstone's Commentaries. In fact, the most important of Marshall’s decisions, he cited Blackstone several times to promote the concept of Constitutional supremacy over the power of judges. Our early SCOTUS recognized the importance of the Judeo Christian foundation. Appointed to the Supreme Court by James Madison, the author of the First Amendment to the Constitution, Justice Joseph Story commented on this basis,"The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects [denominations] and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of the national government."
Back to Blackwell
Here are the basic principals of his Commentaries. As you read the summery below, keep in mind the quotes above and the extent to which American law has done away with much if not most of what Blackstone and our Founders believed.
Law as the order of the universe. “Thus when the Supreme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of nothing, He impressed certain principles upon that matter, from which it can never depart, and without which it would cease to be. When he put the matter into motion, He established certain laws of motion, to which all movable bodies must conform . . . .”
Law as a rule of human action. “. . . the precepts by which man, the noblest of all sublunary beings, a creature endowed with both reason and free will, is commanded to make use of those faculties in the general regulation of his behavior.”
Law of nature. “These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all His dispensations conforms; and which He has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions.”
Revealed law. “The doctrines . . . delivered [by an immediate and direct revelation] we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures . . . . Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”
Law of nations. [A]s it is impossible for the whole race of mankind to be united in one great society, they must necessarily divide into many . . . . [the regulation of their interaction] is the law of nations . . . [it] depends entirely upon the rules of natural law, or upon mutual compacts, treaties, leagues, and agreements . . . .”
Municipal law. “[This is] a rule of civil conduct, prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong. But no human authority can act without limits.”
There are three primary personal rights:
Personal security. The right …consists in a person’s legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health, and his reputation.
Personal liberty. This personal liberty consists in the power of locomotion, of changing situation, or removing one’s person to whatsoever place one’s own inclination may direct; without imprisonment or restraint, unless by due course of law.
Right of private property: law of the land. [This right] consists in the free use, enjoyment, and disposal [by man] of all his acquisitions, without any control or diminution, save only by the laws of the land.
You can see by Blackstone's philosophies why the modern progressive humanists would want to cut any mention of his commentaries from our courts and education. Clearly his views on personal properties, personal liberty and societal laws based on revealed and natural law given by our creator has no place in a society where man, not God is the master and giver of all things.
As for the man, William Blackstone, in 1761 he was appointed king’s councilor, elected to the house of commons, where he was a hard line Tory. He voted against, much of the time, interests important to the colonies, including the Stamp Tax. In 1770, he was knighted and appointed as a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Little did he know how much of an influence he had on those men who brought about the American Revolution.
In the next article, we'll learn about the men behind the signatures of The Declaration of Independence.
Until then, You can read Blackstone's Commentaries here, at the Avalon Project at Yale University.
Please keep these quotes in mind as you read below.
"Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both."
James Wilson, signer of the Declaration of Independence
"We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
Barack Obama
We are not to attribute this prohibition of a national religious establishment [in the First Amendment] to an indifference to religion in general, and especially to Christianity (which none could hold in more reverence than the framers of the Constitution)"“At the time of the adoption of the constitution, and of the amendment to it, now under consideration [i.e., the First Amendment], the general, if not the universal sentiment in America was, that Christianity ought to receive encouragement from the state, so far as was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience, and the freedom of religious worship. Any attempt to level all religions, and to make it a matter of state policy to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation.” Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States, and A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States
"[T]he government may not favor one religion over another, or religion over irreligion, religious choice being the prerogative of individuals under the Free Excersise Clause." Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. Grumet 512 U.S. 687, 703 (1994)
"You have an obligation to yourself. Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation."
Barack Obama
Who was Blackstone?
William Blackstone was the 18th Century English legal scholar whose writings were based on Judeo-Christian principles. The Ten Commandments were at the center of Blackstone's philosophy, and he taught that man is created by God and granted fundamental rights by God. He knew that man’s law must be based on God’s law.
Blackstone's lectures were published in England between 1765 and 1769. An American edition was published in Philadelphia between 1771-72. The Founding Fathers realized the importance of Blackstone's Commentaries and he was a person who had a huge influence on the thinking of our founding fathers. Blackstone’s writings, called Commentaries on the Laws of England, was the basis to the U. S. Constitution, and were the basic textbook of America’s early lawyers.
Blackstone’s influence on both English and American law was largely recognized until well into the Twentieth Century, when the so called progressive/humanist enlightenment started marching through America's government and education institutions. It was only in the mid-Twentieth Century that American law, being re-written by the U. S. Supreme Court, refused to acknowledge Blackstone's writings. The modern court and progressive government had no need for a legal authority which acknowledged higher Law from God, because they wanted to push the idea that man is the giver of liberties and that natural and moral law is evolving. If people began to believe that man was his own authority, and that liberties came from government, there would no longer be any need for God. We could become our own salvation through federal government.
United States Supreme Court Justice John Marshall and other early American justices built the American legal system which was based on Blackstone's Commentaries. In fact, the most important of Marshall’s decisions, he cited Blackstone several times to promote the concept of Constitutional supremacy over the power of judges. Our early SCOTUS recognized the importance of the Judeo Christian foundation. Appointed to the Supreme Court by James Madison, the author of the First Amendment to the Constitution, Justice Joseph Story commented on this basis,"The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects [denominations] and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of the national government."
Back to Blackwell
Here are the basic principals of his Commentaries. As you read the summery below, keep in mind the quotes above and the extent to which American law has done away with much if not most of what Blackstone and our Founders believed.
Law as the order of the universe. “Thus when the Supreme Being formed the universe, and created matter out of nothing, He impressed certain principles upon that matter, from which it can never depart, and without which it would cease to be. When he put the matter into motion, He established certain laws of motion, to which all movable bodies must conform . . . .”
Law as a rule of human action. “. . . the precepts by which man, the noblest of all sublunary beings, a creature endowed with both reason and free will, is commanded to make use of those faculties in the general regulation of his behavior.”
Law of nature. “These are the eternal, immutable laws of good and evil, to which the Creator Himself in all His dispensations conforms; and which He has enabled human reason to discover, so far as they are necessary for the conduct of human actions.”
Revealed law. “The doctrines . . . delivered [by an immediate and direct revelation] we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures . . . . Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered to contradict these.”
Law of nations. [A]s it is impossible for the whole race of mankind to be united in one great society, they must necessarily divide into many . . . . [the regulation of their interaction] is the law of nations . . . [it] depends entirely upon the rules of natural law, or upon mutual compacts, treaties, leagues, and agreements . . . .”
Municipal law. “[This is] a rule of civil conduct, prescribed by the supreme power in a state, commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong. But no human authority can act without limits.”
There are three primary personal rights:
Personal security. The right …consists in a person’s legal and uninterrupted enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body, his health, and his reputation.
Personal liberty. This personal liberty consists in the power of locomotion, of changing situation, or removing one’s person to whatsoever place one’s own inclination may direct; without imprisonment or restraint, unless by due course of law.
Right of private property: law of the land. [This right] consists in the free use, enjoyment, and disposal [by man] of all his acquisitions, without any control or diminution, save only by the laws of the land.
You can see by Blackstone's philosophies why the modern progressive humanists would want to cut any mention of his commentaries from our courts and education. Clearly his views on personal properties, personal liberty and societal laws based on revealed and natural law given by our creator has no place in a society where man, not God is the master and giver of all things.
As for the man, William Blackstone, in 1761 he was appointed king’s councilor, elected to the house of commons, where he was a hard line Tory. He voted against, much of the time, interests important to the colonies, including the Stamp Tax. In 1770, he was knighted and appointed as a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Little did he know how much of an influence he had on those men who brought about the American Revolution.
In the next article, we'll learn about the men behind the signatures of The Declaration of Independence.
Until then, You can read Blackstone's Commentaries here, at the Avalon Project at Yale University.
Friday, July 9, 2010
To Know America, You Have to Start at the Beginning
Note- this is the first article of a series on America's Founders and the values and beliefs which America was founded on.
Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
Alexis de Tocqueville
The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Those of you who know me, know I immigrated here from Canada nearly 20 years ago. My husband and I were talking one day not too long ago about the state of things now. I said, I don't know who it's harder for, to see America being trashed. Those who were born here and having to see it, or those of us who came here to freedom, only to have it slipping away. Many millions have come to America to escape tyranny, oppression and poverty, have built families, lives and lively hoods. They had begun to see what freedom was- and now they are afraid because it is resembling too closely to what they thought they'd left behind.
I have for the past few years been interested in the history of America, and more so now. I have realized that too many people who have lived their entire lives here have no idea what the Country founding was all about. Many people love their country, but have no idea of the importance of History, and how if one does not know their history- they will not understand their liberties and freedoms. If they don't know where their liberties come from, and wrongly assume they are given by the government, they will lose them before they know it. I worry for the generations after mine who, if they are not taught the real History of America, they will never know how damaging the present state of our politics are to their own freedoms. It is for them that I am attempting to bring it out into the light for all to see and learn.
To know America's history, one must know before the beginning. Many people were taught about the Mayflower and the pilgrims and Thanksgiving Turkey. Mayflower Compact – What is it?The Mayflower Compact was a document written by a group of the new settlers arriving at New Plymouth in November of 1620. They had traveled across the ocean on the ship Mayflower which anchored near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. All of the adult male members on the Mayflower signed the Compact. Being the first written laws for the new land, the Compact set the authority within the settlement and established that the colony was to be free of English law. It was shaped to form a government of themselves and was written by those to be governed.
The Mayflower Compact reads:
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
I don't start this article with the Mayflower Compact just to show that America was in fact based on the Christian belief and for the purpose of spreading the Gospel, but to show a springboard onto the later documents which became the basis of the government and laws of America- The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. It is a fact that many of America's earlier historians referred to the Mayflower Compact as the foundation of the U.S. Constitution which was written more than 150 later.
The first Charter of Virginia was written on the solid basis which made up that of the Mayflower Compact. It was granted by King James I, on April 10, 1606, and states:
We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God…Instructions for the Virginia Colony (1606)
John Adams, one of the Founders more than a century later understood the ideals of the earliest settlers when he said, “ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
The foundation for the land which was to become the United States of America was the Gospel of the Bible. The founding fathers knew this, and learned from it. How they also understood that freedom and liberties are given by God and not the government is a large part of why a new government, separated from the Crown of England came about.
When after numerous grievances against the Crown brought nothing but contempt and misery, the founders felt it was time to declare a separation. They turned not only to their strong moral and religious beliefs in God, but also to the legal writings by a man named William Blackstone.
I aim for once, to keep these articles shorter, so I will end here. We will look more closely next time at William Blackstone, and why his legal writings were so important to the founders that much of what he wrote was woven into American history. Until next time- I invite you to read the Declaration of Independence again, as to understand what the early colonies were facing in a tyranny of the English Monarchy, and try and see if any could be compared with what we are facing these days.
Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.
Alexis de Tocqueville
The Americans combine the notions of religion and liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive of one without the other.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Those of you who know me, know I immigrated here from Canada nearly 20 years ago. My husband and I were talking one day not too long ago about the state of things now. I said, I don't know who it's harder for, to see America being trashed. Those who were born here and having to see it, or those of us who came here to freedom, only to have it slipping away. Many millions have come to America to escape tyranny, oppression and poverty, have built families, lives and lively hoods. They had begun to see what freedom was- and now they are afraid because it is resembling too closely to what they thought they'd left behind.
I have for the past few years been interested in the history of America, and more so now. I have realized that too many people who have lived their entire lives here have no idea what the Country founding was all about. Many people love their country, but have no idea of the importance of History, and how if one does not know their history- they will not understand their liberties and freedoms. If they don't know where their liberties come from, and wrongly assume they are given by the government, they will lose them before they know it. I worry for the generations after mine who, if they are not taught the real History of America, they will never know how damaging the present state of our politics are to their own freedoms. It is for them that I am attempting to bring it out into the light for all to see and learn.
To know America's history, one must know before the beginning. Many people were taught about the Mayflower and the pilgrims and Thanksgiving Turkey. Mayflower Compact – What is it?The Mayflower Compact was a document written by a group of the new settlers arriving at New Plymouth in November of 1620. They had traveled across the ocean on the ship Mayflower which anchored near Cape Cod, Massachusetts. All of the adult male members on the Mayflower signed the Compact. Being the first written laws for the new land, the Compact set the authority within the settlement and established that the colony was to be free of English law. It was shaped to form a government of themselves and was written by those to be governed.
The Mayflower Compact reads:
"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
I don't start this article with the Mayflower Compact just to show that America was in fact based on the Christian belief and for the purpose of spreading the Gospel, but to show a springboard onto the later documents which became the basis of the government and laws of America- The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution. It is a fact that many of America's earlier historians referred to the Mayflower Compact as the foundation of the U.S. Constitution which was written more than 150 later.
The first Charter of Virginia was written on the solid basis which made up that of the Mayflower Compact. It was granted by King James I, on April 10, 1606, and states:
We, greatly commending, and graciously accepting of, their Desires for the Furtherance of so noble a Work, which may, by the Providence of Almighty God, hereafter tend to the Glory of his Divine Majesty, in propagating of Christian Religion to such People, as yet live in Darkness and miserable Ignorance of the true Knowledge and Worship of God…Instructions for the Virginia Colony (1606)
John Adams, one of the Founders more than a century later understood the ideals of the earliest settlers when he said, “ The general principles upon which the Fathers achieved independence were the general principals of Christianity… I will avow that I believed and now believe that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.”
The foundation for the land which was to become the United States of America was the Gospel of the Bible. The founding fathers knew this, and learned from it. How they also understood that freedom and liberties are given by God and not the government is a large part of why a new government, separated from the Crown of England came about.
When after numerous grievances against the Crown brought nothing but contempt and misery, the founders felt it was time to declare a separation. They turned not only to their strong moral and religious beliefs in God, but also to the legal writings by a man named William Blackstone.
I aim for once, to keep these articles shorter, so I will end here. We will look more closely next time at William Blackstone, and why his legal writings were so important to the founders that much of what he wrote was woven into American history. Until next time- I invite you to read the Declaration of Independence again, as to understand what the early colonies were facing in a tyranny of the English Monarchy, and try and see if any could be compared with what we are facing these days.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Study Time
Hey folks- just wanted to say, I've been busy studying, and gathering information and thoughts for the next article. It will be in parts again, but too important to leave anything out. The only hint I'm giving, is it will have a lot to do with my previous post. If you haven't read it- now's the time!
God Bless and hopefully I'll have something ready soon~
God Bless and hopefully I'll have something ready soon~
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
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 shown 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.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;
For imposing taxes on us without our consent;
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;
For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
[Signed by] JOHN HANCOCK [President] New Hampshire
JOSIAH BARTLETT,
WM. WHIPPLE,
MATTHEW THORNTON.Massachusetts Bay
SAML. ADAMS,J
OHN ADAMS,
ROBT. TREAT PAINE,
ELBRIDGE GERRYRhode Island
STEP. HOPKINS,WILLIAM ELLERY.Connecticut
ROGER SHERMAN,
SAM'EL HUNTINGTON,
WM. WILLIAMS,
OLIVER WOLCOTT.New York
WM. FLOYD,
PHIL. LIVINGSTON,
FRANS. LEWIS,
LEWIS MORRIS.New Jersey
RICHD. STOCKTON,
JNO. WITHERSPOON,
FRAS. HOPKINSON,
JOHN HART,
ABRA. CLARK.Pennsylvania
ROBT. MORRIS
BENJAMIN RUSH,
BENJA. FRANKLIN,
JOHN MORTON,
GEO. CLYMER,
JAS. SMITH,
GEO. TAYLOR,
JAMES WILSON,
GEO. ROSS.Delaware
CAESAR RODNEY,
GEO. READ,
THO. M'KEAN.Maryland
SAMUEL CHASE,
WM. PACA,
THOS. STONE,
CHARLES CARROLL of Carrollton.Virginia
GEORGE WYTHE,
RICHARD HENRY LEE,
TH. JEFFERSON,
BENJA. HARRISON,
THS. NELSON, JR.,
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE,
CARTER BRAXTON.North Carolina
WM. HOOPER,
JOSEPH HEWES,
JOHN PENN.South Carolina
EDWARD RUTLEDGE,
THOS. HAYWARD, JUNR.,
THOMAS LYNCH, JUNR.,
ARTHUR MIDDLETON.Georgia
BUTTON GWINNETT,
LYMAN HALL,
GEO. WALTON.
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 shown 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.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasions from without and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution and unacknowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;
For imposing taxes on us without our consent;
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;
For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offenses;
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies;
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrection among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in our attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity; and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity.
We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
[Signed by] JOHN HANCOCK [President] New Hampshire
JOSIAH BARTLETT,
WM. WHIPPLE,
MATTHEW THORNTON.Massachusetts Bay
SAML. ADAMS,J
OHN ADAMS,
ROBT. TREAT PAINE,
ELBRIDGE GERRYRhode Island
STEP. HOPKINS,WILLIAM ELLERY.Connecticut
ROGER SHERMAN,
SAM'EL HUNTINGTON,
WM. WILLIAMS,
OLIVER WOLCOTT.New York
WM. FLOYD,
PHIL. LIVINGSTON,
FRANS. LEWIS,
LEWIS MORRIS.New Jersey
RICHD. STOCKTON,
JNO. WITHERSPOON,
FRAS. HOPKINSON,
JOHN HART,
ABRA. CLARK.Pennsylvania
ROBT. MORRIS
BENJAMIN RUSH,
BENJA. FRANKLIN,
JOHN MORTON,
GEO. CLYMER,
JAS. SMITH,
GEO. TAYLOR,
JAMES WILSON,
GEO. ROSS.Delaware
CAESAR RODNEY,
GEO. READ,
THO. M'KEAN.Maryland
SAMUEL CHASE,
WM. PACA,
THOS. STONE,
CHARLES CARROLL of Carrollton.Virginia
GEORGE WYTHE,
RICHARD HENRY LEE,
TH. JEFFERSON,
BENJA. HARRISON,
THS. NELSON, JR.,
FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE,
CARTER BRAXTON.North Carolina
WM. HOOPER,
JOSEPH HEWES,
JOHN PENN.South Carolina
EDWARD RUTLEDGE,
THOS. HAYWARD, JUNR.,
THOMAS LYNCH, JUNR.,
ARTHUR MIDDLETON.Georgia
BUTTON GWINNETT,
LYMAN HALL,
GEO. WALTON.
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