Thank you for this. I only wish you had included the role of pastors in the pulpits preaching unapologetically from the Scriptures and reminding their congregations of the role of government as stated by the One Who created it. Anyone not acquainted with Dave Barton and Wall Builders should check them out. They have over 100,000 primary source documents that show through the Founders own words their moral and Biblical motivations.
A superb reminder! I particularly liked the references to Jefferson and Dickinson.
At the risk of "cluttering" your in-box, I previously sent to all friends and associates, my own "reminder" of Jefferson's unprecedented Declaration. Here is what I chose to send.
“1776,” A PERSONAL INTERPRETATION
Jefferson’s unprecedented and profound Declaration of 1776 is actually two documents. The first, beginning with the words, “When in the course of human events,” ending with, “to alter their former systems of government,” is a moral document. The entirety of the second and much “larger” document, is a political one.
The first document presents a formal statement of “rights,” with the fundamental right to one’s own life as their foundation. Further, the first is an expression of the “Founder’s” formal educations - embodying the learning of “classical” liberal ideals discovered during what is termed The Enlightenment, together with their experience of living on the edge of a vast, unexplored, and unforgiving wilderness.
The second document represents an eloquent listing of grievances against the King and Crown – i.e., what history demonstrates always arises when government power is not restrained by adherence to the moral-political ideals discovered and expressed in Jefferson’s first document. Together, they comprise Jefferson’s entire Declaration.
Sadly, individuals have come to mistakenly believe America’s “Revolution” was its “War for Independence.” I argue that this war was but a typical war, not the actual revolution. The war had begun earlier, on April 19, 1775 (my birthday!), featuring the usual chaos and destruction that characterizes all wars. Replete with brutality, carnage, and injustice, it pitted “Redcoat” against a rag-tag gaggle of farmers, tradesmen, merchants – sprinkled with a larger array of “rebels.” Further, it encompassed a population composed of ~1/3 Rebel, against ~1/3 Tory, with the remaining ~1/3 trying to escape/hide from both, wishing only to be left alone!
After Benjamin Franklin had garnered utterly essential French support, the war would end in 1781 at Yorktown, with the military of the 13 colonies triumphant over Cornwallis and England’s King/Crown. The formal treaty acknowledging such would then become signed in 1783. By 1787, however, escape from the political clutches of England had led to an unsustainable colonial state-of-affairs.
Several colonies desired to withdraw their alliance with the rest. Another number wanted to return to “governance” under the King and Crown. Still others had various solutions to their inability/unwillingness to peacefully trade, prosper, and thrive with each other and the “old” world. Their on-going dilemma, however, was that they existed “together” on what remained the edge of a vast, unexplored, and hostile wilderness, with rulers of the old world still desirous of controlling the resources and colonists in the new one!
So, Washington (George) headed an effort to resolve colonial differences. The effort would become termed the “Constitutional Convention,” held in Philadelphia, in 1787. What the delegates subsequently created was, in effect, a “Robert’s Rules of Order” for governance. Significant and unprecedented in its political procedural devices, it purposely made it cumbersome to wield government power. Of far greater consequence, however, it also failed to heed the moral ideals of its “founding” document – i.e., the first passages of Jefferson’s Declaration.
It was an unprecedented attempt at self-governance via a Constitutional Republic, with Democratic institutions! However, it was a “flawed” creation. I often note that the word “rights” appears nowhere in the body of the Constitution, save in its “afterthought” – i.e., in its Bill of Rights. One can only shudder at what would have likely transpired had the adoption of the Constitution by the States occurred without those first 10 Amendments becoming part of it!
In summary, the Constitution fails to adhere to the moral ideals embodied in “Part I” of Jefferson’s Declaration of July 4, 1776, though the first 10 Amendments to it - and others since, would lead one to believe otherwise. Once again 250 years later, ~1/3 of us fearfully look "Right," ~1/3 angrily "Left," the remainder of us look away or "afar."
We had best start looking "back" before it becomes impossible to "look" at all! Look back at Jefferson’s unprecedented Declaration and this time, take its initial passages seriously. Because we have not yet done so (AA, EO, DEI), the tragic reminders in the remainder of Jefferson’s Declaration will only alarmingly continue to, once again, run their tragic course. One with "President and Congres" replacing "King and Crown."
Two comments. First, the list of grievances seems almost petty compared to today's long train of abuses. It was certainly shorter as today's problems began in 1965 or 1936 or 1913 or 1861. Second, that first sentence would seem to have universal application like the second. I can cite Ireland or Israel or more controversially, the Confederacy or the Donbas. Indeed the entire anti-colonialism movement is based on similar logic.
Clearly, We The People have not been very vigilant.
Thank you for this. I only wish you had included the role of pastors in the pulpits preaching unapologetically from the Scriptures and reminding their congregations of the role of government as stated by the One Who created it. Anyone not acquainted with Dave Barton and Wall Builders should check them out. They have over 100,000 primary source documents that show through the Founders own words their moral and Biblical motivations.
A superb reminder! I particularly liked the references to Jefferson and Dickinson.
At the risk of "cluttering" your in-box, I previously sent to all friends and associates, my own "reminder" of Jefferson's unprecedented Declaration. Here is what I chose to send.
“1776,” A PERSONAL INTERPRETATION
Jefferson’s unprecedented and profound Declaration of 1776 is actually two documents. The first, beginning with the words, “When in the course of human events,” ending with, “to alter their former systems of government,” is a moral document. The entirety of the second and much “larger” document, is a political one.
The first document presents a formal statement of “rights,” with the fundamental right to one’s own life as their foundation. Further, the first is an expression of the “Founder’s” formal educations - embodying the learning of “classical” liberal ideals discovered during what is termed The Enlightenment, together with their experience of living on the edge of a vast, unexplored, and unforgiving wilderness.
The second document represents an eloquent listing of grievances against the King and Crown – i.e., what history demonstrates always arises when government power is not restrained by adherence to the moral-political ideals discovered and expressed in Jefferson’s first document. Together, they comprise Jefferson’s entire Declaration.
Sadly, individuals have come to mistakenly believe America’s “Revolution” was its “War for Independence.” I argue that this war was but a typical war, not the actual revolution. The war had begun earlier, on April 19, 1775 (my birthday!), featuring the usual chaos and destruction that characterizes all wars. Replete with brutality, carnage, and injustice, it pitted “Redcoat” against a rag-tag gaggle of farmers, tradesmen, merchants – sprinkled with a larger array of “rebels.” Further, it encompassed a population composed of ~1/3 Rebel, against ~1/3 Tory, with the remaining ~1/3 trying to escape/hide from both, wishing only to be left alone!
After Benjamin Franklin had garnered utterly essential French support, the war would end in 1781 at Yorktown, with the military of the 13 colonies triumphant over Cornwallis and England’s King/Crown. The formal treaty acknowledging such would then become signed in 1783. By 1787, however, escape from the political clutches of England had led to an unsustainable colonial state-of-affairs.
Several colonies desired to withdraw their alliance with the rest. Another number wanted to return to “governance” under the King and Crown. Still others had various solutions to their inability/unwillingness to peacefully trade, prosper, and thrive with each other and the “old” world. Their on-going dilemma, however, was that they existed “together” on what remained the edge of a vast, unexplored, and hostile wilderness, with rulers of the old world still desirous of controlling the resources and colonists in the new one!
So, Washington (George) headed an effort to resolve colonial differences. The effort would become termed the “Constitutional Convention,” held in Philadelphia, in 1787. What the delegates subsequently created was, in effect, a “Robert’s Rules of Order” for governance. Significant and unprecedented in its political procedural devices, it purposely made it cumbersome to wield government power. Of far greater consequence, however, it also failed to heed the moral ideals of its “founding” document – i.e., the first passages of Jefferson’s Declaration.
It was an unprecedented attempt at self-governance via a Constitutional Republic, with Democratic institutions! However, it was a “flawed” creation. I often note that the word “rights” appears nowhere in the body of the Constitution, save in its “afterthought” – i.e., in its Bill of Rights. One can only shudder at what would have likely transpired had the adoption of the Constitution by the States occurred without those first 10 Amendments becoming part of it!
In summary, the Constitution fails to adhere to the moral ideals embodied in “Part I” of Jefferson’s Declaration of July 4, 1776, though the first 10 Amendments to it - and others since, would lead one to believe otherwise. Once again 250 years later, ~1/3 of us fearfully look "Right," ~1/3 angrily "Left," the remainder of us look away or "afar."
We had best start looking "back" before it becomes impossible to "look" at all! Look back at Jefferson’s unprecedented Declaration and this time, take its initial passages seriously. Because we have not yet done so (AA, EO, DEI), the tragic reminders in the remainder of Jefferson’s Declaration will only alarmingly continue to, once again, run their tragic course. One with "President and Congres" replacing "King and Crown."
Dave Walden
Two comments. First, the list of grievances seems almost petty compared to today's long train of abuses. It was certainly shorter as today's problems began in 1965 or 1936 or 1913 or 1861. Second, that first sentence would seem to have universal application like the second. I can cite Ireland or Israel or more controversially, the Confederacy or the Donbas. Indeed the entire anti-colonialism movement is based on similar logic.