The Shell Game of Corrupted Government Exposed
The U.S. Has a Rich English History
A government of our own is our natural right: And when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of human affairs, he will become convinced, that it is in finitely wiser and safer, to form a constitution of our own in a cool deliberate manner.... We have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest, purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it in our power to begin the world over again. A situation, similar to the present, hath not happened since the days of Noah until now. The birthday of a new world is at hand, and a race of men perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains, are to receive their portion of freedom from the event of a few months...... America shall make a stand, not for herself alone, but for the world." [Common Sense. (John Locke's influence on Thomas Paine is very clear in Common Sense, especially with regards to the Natural rights to personal freedom and property and to the criticisms of the Monarchy)]
Also in 1776, William Pitt addressed the House of Commons in England and tried to explain the reason for the colonists' "seditious spirit." He stated that in his opinion, Great Britain had no right to lay a tax on the colonies without their consent. "The Americans," he said, "are the subjects of this kingdom and equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen - just as they are equally bound by its laws... The Americans are the sons not the bastards of England." [Avery and Abbatt, A History of the United States and its People: From Their Earliest Records to the Present Time (Vol. 5), pg. 70 ]
On March 12, 1776, North Carolina became the first state to make a formal recommendation that the states declare their independence from Great Britain. In ratifying the Halifax Resolves, the fourth provincial congress of North Carolina authorized her delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence (should a formal resolution be introduced, that is. The Halifax Resolves themselves fell short of actually authorizing NC delegates to introduce such as resolution of independence).
Just as a massive British war fleet arrived in New York Harbor, consisting of 30 battleships with 1200 cannon, 30,000 soldiers, 10,000 sailors, and 300 supply ships, Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, presented a formal resolution to the body on June 7 calling for a declaration of independence from Britain. His resolution was simply written: "(1) Resolved, 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; (2) That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances; and (3) That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation."
After introducing his resolution, Lee followed up with one of the most stirring and eloquent speeches ever delivered, either by himself or any other gentleman on the floor of Congress when he stated: "Why then, sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and to conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace and of law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us: she demands of us a living example of freedom, that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum, where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose....". [Scribe, "Richard Henry Lee..."]
On June 11, 1776, in response to the Lee Resolution, Congress appointed three concurrent committees: one to draft a Declaration of Independence, a second to draw up a plan to help form foreign alliances, and a third to propose a plan of confederation. Lee was appointed to the committee to draft a Declaration of Independence but he was called home to Virginia because his wife had fallen ill. His place was taken by his young protégé, Thomas Jefferson.
It is said that the task of drafting the Declaration should have fallen to Benjamin Franklin as the elder, more experienced statesman, but he was in poor health and he didn't feel quite up to the task. The task should then have fallen to John Adams, a brilliant and passionate writer, but he urged Thomas Jefferson to write it in his place. Jefferson refused to accept until Adams begrudgingly pleaded with him: "You are 10 times the writer I am." Plus, Jefferson had just written "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" two years earlier (1774), which embraced his personal theory about self-governance and the rights of people who established colonies in new lands. It was written in hand-written form and was intended by Jefferson to be used as a set of instructions for the Virginia delegates to the first Continental Congress. Notice how he referred to America as "British America." In his Summary View, he described the usurpations of power and deviations from law committed by King George III and Parliament. Jefferson was not present when the Virginia House read and addressed his notes, but his friends had his instructions published in pamphlet form, which eventually was circulated in London, as well as in Philadelphia and New York. It was this work that helped to establish Jefferson, who otherwise was a poor speaker and orator, as a skillful, if radical, political writer.
In preparing to write the Declaration of Independence, our Charter of Individual Freedom, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin searched for a historical precedent for asserting the people's rightful liberties as against King George III and the British Parliament. They found it in the Magna Carta. Most of the Magna Carta's clauses were lists of long-standing, grievances against the King, and in addressing such grievances, the Charter became the basis for English Common Law and a guideline for how the King should regard his subjects. The violations of English Common Law in the American Colonies by King George provided Jefferson with ample argument in writing his declaration of independence from the monarchy. Additionally, when Jefferson sought to explain the reason for separating from England because of a long series of intolerable abuses by a tyrant king, he looked to the English Bill of Rights of 1689 for inspiration.
And so Jefferson, along with suggestions from Adams, and eloquence from Franklin, went on to write our most brilliant Declaration of Independence:
Thomas Jefferson
"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 affect 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.
• He has refused He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He has...... (continued list of grievances against King George III)
King George III: King of England, 1760 - 1820
Go Back
Also in 1776, William Pitt addressed the House of Commons in England and tried to explain the reason for the colonists' "seditious spirit." He stated that in his opinion, Great Britain had no right to lay a tax on the colonies without their consent. "The Americans," he said, "are the subjects of this kingdom and equally entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen - just as they are equally bound by its laws... The Americans are the sons not the bastards of England." [Avery and Abbatt, A History of the United States and its People: From Their Earliest Records to the Present Time (Vol. 5), pg. 70 ]
On March 12, 1776, North Carolina became the first state to make a formal recommendation that the states declare their independence from Great Britain. In ratifying the Halifax Resolves, the fourth provincial congress of North Carolina authorized her delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence (should a formal resolution be introduced, that is. The Halifax Resolves themselves fell short of actually authorizing NC delegates to introduce such as resolution of independence).
Just as a massive British war fleet arrived in New York Harbor, consisting of 30 battleships with 1200 cannon, 30,000 soldiers, 10,000 sailors, and 300 supply ships, Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Second Continental Congress, presented a formal resolution to the body on June 7 calling for a declaration of independence from Britain. His resolution was simply written: "(1) Resolved, 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; (2) That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances; and (3) That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation."
After introducing his resolution, Lee followed up with one of the most stirring and eloquent speeches ever delivered, either by himself or any other gentleman on the floor of Congress when he stated: "Why then, sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and to conquer, but to reestablish the reign of peace and of law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us: she demands of us a living example of freedom, that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum, where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose....". [Scribe, "Richard Henry Lee..."]
On June 11, 1776, in response to the Lee Resolution, Congress appointed three concurrent committees: one to draft a Declaration of Independence, a second to draw up a plan to help form foreign alliances, and a third to propose a plan of confederation. Lee was appointed to the committee to draft a Declaration of Independence but he was called home to Virginia because his wife had fallen ill. His place was taken by his young protégé, Thomas Jefferson.
It is said that the task of drafting the Declaration should have fallen to Benjamin Franklin as the elder, more experienced statesman, but he was in poor health and he didn't feel quite up to the task. The task should then have fallen to John Adams, a brilliant and passionate writer, but he urged Thomas Jefferson to write it in his place. Jefferson refused to accept until Adams begrudgingly pleaded with him: "You are 10 times the writer I am." Plus, Jefferson had just written "A Summary View of the Rights of British America" two years earlier (1774), which embraced his personal theory about self-governance and the rights of people who established colonies in new lands. It was written in hand-written form and was intended by Jefferson to be used as a set of instructions for the Virginia delegates to the first Continental Congress. Notice how he referred to America as "British America." In his Summary View, he described the usurpations of power and deviations from law committed by King George III and Parliament. Jefferson was not present when the Virginia House read and addressed his notes, but his friends had his instructions published in pamphlet form, which eventually was circulated in London, as well as in Philadelphia and New York. It was this work that helped to establish Jefferson, who otherwise was a poor speaker and orator, as a skillful, if radical, political writer.
In preparing to write the Declaration of Independence, our Charter of Individual Freedom, Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin searched for a historical precedent for asserting the people's rightful liberties as against King George III and the British Parliament. They found it in the Magna Carta. Most of the Magna Carta's clauses were lists of long-standing, grievances against the King, and in addressing such grievances, the Charter became the basis for English Common Law and a guideline for how the King should regard his subjects. The violations of English Common Law in the American Colonies by King George provided Jefferson with ample argument in writing his declaration of independence from the monarchy. Additionally, when Jefferson sought to explain the reason for separating from England because of a long series of intolerable abuses by a tyrant king, he looked to the English Bill of Rights of 1689 for inspiration.
And so Jefferson, along with suggestions from Adams, and eloquence from Franklin, went on to write our most brilliant Declaration of Independence:
"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 affect 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.
• He has refused He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
• He has...... (continued list of grievances against King George III)
| "Every Picture Tells a Story ... Don't It:" An August Afternoon in Charleston, Part II | In the Past, Body & Soul | The Constitutional Convention of 1787: A Miracle in Philadelphia |
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