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 invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations 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 harrass 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 offences:
For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring 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 Legislature, 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, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat 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 insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured 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 attention to our Brittish 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 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 to 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.
John Hancock
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
Geo. Walton
Wm. Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thos. Heyward, Junr.
Thomas Lynch, Junr.
Arthur Middleton
Samuel Chase
Wm. Paca
Thos. Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Th. Jefferson
Benja. Harrison
Thos. Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Robt. Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benja. Franklin
John Morton
Geo. Clymer
Jas. Smith
Geo. Taylor
James Wilson
Geo. Ross
Caesar Rodney
Geo. Read
Tho. Mckean
Wm. Floyd
Phil. Livingston
Frans. Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richd. Stockton
Jno. Witherspoon
Fras. Hopkinson
John Hart
Abra. Clark
Josiah Bartlett
Wm. Whipple
Saml. Adams
John Adams
Robt. Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Step. Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Wm. Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton
Whew, that's a lot of crimes. And I've read that this is the revised condensed version. Apparently Thomas Jefferson had quite the memory and had a rather extensive list.
"He has refused his Assent to Laws..." I actually looked this up to make sure I understood. The King had refused to agree to Colonial laws that were to the benefit of the Colonies. Sounds like Obama and Arizona.
"He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance..." Again, Obama.
Well, I could make this entire post about Obama. But, in all fairness, this isn't about him. This is about an oppressive government overstepping its bounds and suppressing the rights of its citizens. And that same government taking away the right of the citizens to govern themselves.
Part of the brilliance of our original form of government was the idea of separate, but united States. These States would have the right to govern themselves in the manner they best sought fit to benefit their citizens. And these States would benefit from the protection of the Federal government. But our current system has made a mockery of that original concept. The Federal goevernment now makes decisions for every United States citizen, whether those decisions work for every citizens benefit. We have given up the ability to govern ourselves to "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."
We as United States citizens must re-assert our rights to self governance. We must stand up for the ability to make those decisions that best suit the needs of our States. If that means that California decides to legalize Marijuana, or Vermont wants to legalize Gay Marriage, or Nevada wants to offer Gaming and Prostitution, those matters should be for the citizens of those States to decide, not the Federal government.
We as citizens need to make sure that we are voting in every election, that we participate, that we make sure that our representatives are representing our rights. And we need to remember that local elections are just as important as the Presidential election, that our local representatives can have as much of an impact on our daily lives as that of any individual in a far removed seat of power.
May The Force Be With You.
God Bless America.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Independence!
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
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 shewn, 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.
These words open one of the most famous documents in the history of the world. And they also give us great insight in to the ideas and ideals of the founders of our great nation. These great men did not take this act of rebellion lightly or hastily.
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;" They did not consider overthrowing the rule of the British Empire to be the first option or the easiest solution. Just as overthrowing our current government should not be considered as the first or 31st or even 301st option.
"...and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." We have to ask ourselves if the evils of today are sufferable and if we can change things within the current forms to which we 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." Are the abuses and usurpations that we have endured leading us to absolute despotism? Is it a plan, a conspiracy? And can we stop it? And would that require throwing out the government?
I, for one, am of the opinion that, while some may scheme and plot, that the system of government that our founders built was the best form of government ever created. Not perfect, but the best.
I also believe that we should fight very hard to keep this form of government. By non-violent methods if at all possible. Our system of government has many avenues of making changes (as evidenced by the many negative changes made by the current administration).
Our founding fathers were wise men who did not want violent revolution. They had little else available to them. But they created our current government to avoid that lack of options.
We can fight the abuses and usurpations.
May The Force Be With You.
God Bless America.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
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 shewn, 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.
These words open one of the most famous documents in the history of the world. And they also give us great insight in to the ideas and ideals of the founders of our great nation. These great men did not take this act of rebellion lightly or hastily.
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;" They did not consider overthrowing the rule of the British Empire to be the first option or the easiest solution. Just as overthrowing our current government should not be considered as the first or 31st or even 301st option.
"...and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." We have to ask ourselves if the evils of today are sufferable and if we can change things within the current forms to which we 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." Are the abuses and usurpations that we have endured leading us to absolute despotism? Is it a plan, a conspiracy? And can we stop it? And would that require throwing out the government?
I, for one, am of the opinion that, while some may scheme and plot, that the system of government that our founders built was the best form of government ever created. Not perfect, but the best.
I also believe that we should fight very hard to keep this form of government. By non-violent methods if at all possible. Our system of government has many avenues of making changes (as evidenced by the many negative changes made by the current administration).
Our founding fathers were wise men who did not want violent revolution. They had little else available to them. But they created our current government to avoid that lack of options.
We can fight the abuses and usurpations.
May The Force Be With You.
God Bless America.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Welcome back!
Hello all!
I've taken some time away from the blog to collect my thoughts and re-assess my goals for the blog. I wanted to find a clear focus for this blog and what it should accomplish.
There are plenty of sites out there that can offer you the news. And there are plenty of opinions available. And, while I will occasionally share my take on current issues, I wanted to make this blog something a little more unique. I wanted this blog to have value to you, the reader. I wanted some educational value, not only for your sake, but mine as well.
It is my intention to provide to you an article at a rate of approximately once a week. And in each of those articles to discuss the ideas that started this country and how I believe they can be applied today. To that end I will start by discussing our founding documents. I will start with Declaration of Independence, continue with the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, etc.
So check back every Thursday for your weekly class on the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.
May The Force Be With You
God Bless America
I've taken some time away from the blog to collect my thoughts and re-assess my goals for the blog. I wanted to find a clear focus for this blog and what it should accomplish.
There are plenty of sites out there that can offer you the news. And there are plenty of opinions available. And, while I will occasionally share my take on current issues, I wanted to make this blog something a little more unique. I wanted this blog to have value to you, the reader. I wanted some educational value, not only for your sake, but mine as well.
It is my intention to provide to you an article at a rate of approximately once a week. And in each of those articles to discuss the ideas that started this country and how I believe they can be applied today. To that end I will start by discussing our founding documents. I will start with Declaration of Independence, continue with the Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, etc.
So check back every Thursday for your weekly class on the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.
May The Force Be With You
God Bless America
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