 | Declaration of Independence | |
| 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 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. 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 out 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 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, 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 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 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, President Attest. CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary. SIGNERS Adams, John MA Lawyer Adams, Samuel MA Political leader Bartlett, Josiah NH Physician, Judge Braxton, Carter VA Farmer Carroll, Charles of Carrollton MD Lawyer Chase, Samuel MD Judge Clark, Abraham NJ Surveyor Clymer, George PA Merchant Ellery, William RI Lawyer Floyd, William NY Soldier Franklin, Benjamin PA Printer, Publisher Gerry, Elbridge MA Merchant Gwinnett, Button GA Merchant Hall, Lyman GA Physician Hancock, John MA Merchant Harrison, Benjamin VA Farmer Hart, John NJ Farmer Hewes, Joseph NC Merchant Heyward, Thomas Jr. SC Lawyer, Farmer Hooper, William NC Lawyer Hopkins, Stephen RI Judge, Educator Hopkinson, Francis NJ Judge, Author Huntington, Samuel CT Judge Jefferson, Thomas VA Lawyer Lee, Francis Lightfoot VA Farmer Lee, Richard Henry VA Farmer Lewis, Francis NY Merchant Livingston, Philip NY Merchant Lynch, Thomas Jr. SC Farmer McKean, Thomas DE Lawyer Middleton, Arthur SC Farmer Morris, Lewis NY Farmer Morris, Robert PA Merchant Morton, John PA Judge Nelson, Thomas Jr. VA Farmer Paca, William MD Judge Paine, Robert Treat MA Judge Penn, John NC Lawyer Read, George DE Judge Rodney, Caesar DE Judge Ross, George PA Judge Rush, Benjamin PA Physician Rutledge, Edward SC Lawyer Sherman, Roger CT Lawyer Smith, James PA Lawyer Stockton, Richard NJ Lawyer Stone, Thomas MD Lawyer Taylor, George PA Ironmaster Thornton, Matthew NH Physician Walton, George GA Judge Whipple, William NH Merchant, Judge Williams, William CT Merchant Wilson, James PA Judge Witherspoon, John NJ Educator Wolcott, Oliver CT Judge Wythe, George VA Lawyer
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
The Signers of The Constitution
On July 4, 1776, delegates to the Continental Congress voted to accept the declaration of Independence in Philadelphia’s Independence Hall. On August 2, fifty-six men signed their names to the historic document, giving birth to a new nation as they declared their independence from Great Britain.
Have you ever wondered what happened to the men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Who were these "super-patriots"? Most were well-educated, prosperous businessmen and professionals. Two dozen were lawyers or judges; nine were farmers or plantation owners; eleven were merchants. Among them were also physicians, politicians, educators, and a minister; several were sons of pastors.
Here is the documented fate of that gallant fifty-six.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags.
Thomas Nelson, Jr., of Virginia, raised $2 million to supply our French allies by offering his property as collateral. Because he was never reimbursed by the struggling new government, he was unable to repay the note when it came due – wiping out his entire estate. In the final battle of Yorktown, Nelson urged George Washington to fire on his home as it was occupied by British General Cornwallis. Nelson’s home was destroyed, leaving him bankrupt when he died.
Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals and enemy soldiers looted the properties of Bartlett, Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Gwinnet, Walton, Heward, Rutledge, and Middleton; the latter four captured and imprisoned.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed and his wife imprisoned. She later died from the brutal treatment she received.
After signing the Declaration, Richard Stockton, a State Supreme Court Justice, rushed back to his estate near Princeton in an effort to save his wife and children. Although he and his family found refuge with friends, a Tory betrayed him. Judge Stockton was pulled from bed in the night and beaten by British soldiers. Then he was jailed and deliberately starved. After his release, with his home burned and all of his possessions destroyed, he and his family were forced to live off charity.
John Hart was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their thirteen children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart
Lewis Morris and Philip Livingston suffered fates similar to Hart’s.
John Hancock, one of the wealthiest men in New England, stood outside Boston one terrible evening of the war and said, "Burn, Boston, though it makes John Hancock a beggar, if the public good requires it." He lost most of his fortune during the war, having given over $100,000 to the cause of freedom.
Caesar Rodney, Delaware statesman, was gravely ill with facial cancer. Unless he returned to England for treatment, his life would end. Yet Rodney sealed his fate by signing the Declaration of Independence. He was one of several who fulfilled their pledge with their lives.
As a captain in the Continental Army, Nathan Hale volunteered to penetrate enemy lines to spy for the American cause. He was captured by the British. On the day of his execution by hanging in September 1776, Hale spoke these last words: "I regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."
In all, five of the fifty-six were captured by the British and tortured. Twelve had their homes ransacked, looted, confiscated by the enemy, or burned to the ground. Seventeen lost their fortunes. Two lost their sons in the army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six lost their lives in the war, from wounds or hardships inflicted by the enemy.
These were only a few of the examples of the sacrifices made by those fifty-six courageous men who boldly pledged their all to support the Declaration of Independence. Of those who took the pledge to defend the sovereignty of their nation and the liberty of its people, many were forced to pay a heavy price before that bold vision could be realized.
It is important to remember this about them: despite the hardships they encountered -- regardless of the heavy price exacted by that pledge -- not a single one of them defected or failed to honor his pledge. These men of means, prosperity, and security, who enjoyed much ease and luxury in their personal living, considered liberty to be so much more important than security that they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. And they fulfilled that pledge. And freedom was born.
“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.” - James Madison
“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.” - Theodore Roosevelt (April 19, 1906)
“The real rulers in Washington are invisible and exercise power from behind the scenes.” - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter (1939-1962)
“There is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so pervasive that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” - Woodrow Wilson
“In politics there are no accidents. If it happens you can bet it was planned that way.” - Franklin D. Roosevelt
“In short, the 'house of world order' will have to be built from the bottom up rather than from the top down. It will look like a great 'booming, buzzing confusion'...but an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old fashioned frontal assault.” - Richard Gardner (member of the Trilateral Commission, 1974)
“What will have to take place is a gradual adaptation of the social, economic and political system of the United States to the imperatives of World Order.” - Harvard professor Stanley Hoffman
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin Franklin
The Bill of Rights of The United States of America, Amendment II states:“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
The first ten amendments to the Constitution, adopted 4 March 1789, ratified 15 December 1791.
Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American...[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people. [emphasis added]
--- Tenche Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.
The constitutions of most of our States assert, that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved,) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed;
--- Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824. Memorial Edition 16:45, Lipscomb and Bergh, editors.
Militias, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms....[W]hereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them;...
--- Richard Henry Lee, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.
No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
--- Thomas Jefferson: Draft Virginia Constitution, 1776.
That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United states who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms....
--- Samuel Adams, in "Phila. Independent Gazetteer", August 20, 1789
The right of self-defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.
--- Henry St. George Tucker (in Blackstone's Commentaries)
Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms under our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?
--- Patrick Henry [3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836]
[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
--- James Madison, The Federalist, on The New Constitution, 1818, p. 300.
Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them unjust and oppressive.
--- Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia 1787).
A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.
--- Thomas Jefferson to Peter Carr, 1785. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors.
One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them.
--- Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors.
Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.
--- Patrick Henry [3 J. Elliot, Debates in the Several State Conventions 45, 2d ed. Philadelphia, 1836]
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
--- Benjamin Franklin, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Benjamin Franklin, London, 1818
[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually....
--- George Mason, speech of June 14, 1788, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Vol. III, p. 380
Why should we not provide against the danger of having our militia, our real and natural strength, destroyed? The general government ought, at the same time, to have some such power. But we need not give them power to abolish our militia.... They may effect the destruction of the militia, by rendering the service odious to the people themselves, by harassing them from one end of the continent to the other, and by keeping them under martial law.
--- George Mason, speech of June 14, 1788, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Vol. III, p. 380
One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms, and by substituting a regular army in the stead of a resort to the Militia. The friends of a free Government cannot be too watchful, to overcome the dangerous tendency of the public mind to sacrifice to mere private convenience this powerful check upon the designs of ambitious men.
--- Constitutional scholar and Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story (The Constitutional Class Book by Joseph Story LL. D., 1834, p. 149)
Adolf Hitler understood this concept well and used it to control and slaughter millions of people. After having occupied Russian territory Hitler said: The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to permit the conquered Eastern peoples to have arms. History teaches that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by doing so.
--- Adolf Hitler, April 11, 1942, quoted in Hitlers Tischegesprache Im Fuhrerhauptquartier 1941-1942. [Hitler's Table-Talk at the Fuhrer's Headquarters 1941-1942], Dr. Henry Picker, ed. (Athenaum-Verlag, Bonn, 1951) (Hitler's Secret Conversations 403 (Norman Cameron and R.H. Stevens trans., 1961)
Even the father of non-violent resistance, Mahatma Gandhi, understood the dangers of a ban on possessing arms and spoke out against gun-control: Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.
--- Mahatma Gandhi, GANDHI: An autobiography. The story of my experiments with Truth, p. 446
No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to Congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both.
--- William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States of America, 2nd Ed., 1829, pp. 125, 126
As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the article in their right to keep and bear their private arms.
--- Tench Coxe in 'Remarks on the First Part of the Amendments to the Federal Constitution' under the Pseudonym 'A Pennsylvanian' in the Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789 at 2 col. 1)
Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped;
[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people, while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights...
--- Alexander Hamilton speaking of standing armies in Federalist 29, The Federalist, on The New Constitution, 1818, p. 175
The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.
--- Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story of the John Marshall Court, (A Familiar Exposition of The Constitution of The United States by Joseph Story LL. D., 1840, p. 265)
And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms....The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
--- Thomas Jefferson in a letter to William S. Smith in 1787. Taken from Jefferson, On Democracy 20, S. Padover ed., 1939
If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government, our Country will stand in Need of its experienced Patriots to prevent its Ruin.
--- Samuel Adams, Letter to James Warren, 12 February 1779, The Writings of Samuel Adams - Volume 4
If we love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude, than the animating contest of freedom—go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
--- Samuel Adams, Speech at the State House of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1 August 1776, Orations of American Orators, 1900
Roger Sherman, during House consideration of a militia bill (1790), [C]onceived it to be the privilege of every citizen, and one of his most essential rights, to bear arms, and to resist every attack upon his liberty or property, by whomsoever made. The particular states, like private citizens, have a right to be armed, and to defend, by force of arms, their rights, when invaded.
--- 14 Debates in the House of Representatives, ed. Linda Grand De Pauw. (Balt., Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1972), 92-3.
Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of the citizens to keep and bear arms. [...] the right of the citizens to bear arms is just one guarantee against arbitrary government and one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proved to be always possible.
--- Hubert H. Humphrey, 1960
According to the National Crime Survey administered by the Bureau of the Census and the National Institute of Justice, it was found that only 12 percent of those who use a gun to resist assault are injured, as are 17 percent of those who use a gun to resist robbery. These percentages are 27 and 25 percent, respectively, if they passively comply with the felon's demands. Three times as many were injured if they used other means of resistance.
--- G. Kleck, "Policy Lessons from Recent Gun Control Research," Law and Contemporary Problems 49, no. 1. (Winter 1986.): 35-62.
If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of criminal acts reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying -- that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 -- establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime.
--- Senator Orrin Hatch, in a 1982 Senate Report
The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of the second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner.
--- Report of the Subcommittee On The Constitution of the Committee On The Judiciary, United States Senate, 97th Congress, second session (February, 1982), SuDoc# Y4.J 89/2: Ar 5/5
In recent years it has been suggested that the Second Amendment protects the "collective" right of states to maintain militias, while it does not protect the right of "the people" to keep and bear arms. If anyone entertained this notion in the period during which the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were debated and ratified, it remains one of the most closely guarded secrets of the eighteenth century, for no known writing surviving from the period between 1787 and 1791 states such a thesis.
--- Stephen P. Halbrook, "That Every Man Be Armed", 1984
The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.
--- Patrick Henry, Pocket Patriot, 2005, p. 52
I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
--- James Madison (Speech in the Virginia Ratifying Convention on Control of the Military, June 16, 1788 in: History of the Virginia Federal Convention of 1788, vol. 1, p. 130 (H.B. Grigsby ed. 1890)
Congress....may carry on the most wicked and pernicious of schemes under the dark veil of secrecy. The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.
--- Patrick Henry Life, Correspondence and Speeches, Vol. 3, 1891
An appeal to arms and the God of Hosts is all that is left us! It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace -- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
--- Patrick Henry (Speech delivered before the Virginia Convention of Delegates, March 23, 1775 A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1839, p. 309)
GUN CONTROL IN AMERICA
ENGLAND GUN BAN UPDATE
GUN CONTROL IN CANADA
Alex Jones on Gun Control in The U.S.
Man Arrested For Asking A Question!
Man Arrested For Refusing To Thumbscan!
COLLAPSE OF U.S. ECONOMY & CIVIL WAR!
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The Worst Killers In History/ Croatian Nazis - Ustasha 1 of 2
The Worst Killers In History/ Croatian Nazis - Ustasha 2 of 2
THE GEORGIA GUIDE STONESNote: These next two links could be legitimate Constitution-loving Americans, or they could be anti-Constitution propaganda used as a tool to incite violence and give the radical socialist anti-Christian government an excuse to attack its own law-abiding freedom loving citizens. Remember to pray for the best and prepare for the worst. And, as always, use caution and beware of the unseen hands behind the curtain pulling the strings.
SOME IN U.S. MILITARY JOINING RESISTANCE TO DEFEND CONSTITUTION
OATH KEEPERS
The Constitution of The United States of America, Article VI, paragraph two, states:This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. [emphasis added]The following was taken from:
HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
by Henry Campbell Black
Constitutional Scholar and Author of Black's Law Dictionary
4th ed. 1927(Page 103)
LIMITATIONS ON JUDICIAL POWERThe judicial department can neither make nor execute the laws, nor interfere with either of the departments in the constitutional discharge of its powers and duties, nor can judges be charged with the performance of non-judicial duties.Courts Cannot Make or Amend Laws
The judicial department cannot legislate; its duty is to interpret and apply the statutes (if constitutional) exactly as they stand. Even in
(Page 104)
the performance of this duty the courts must not attempt to make law. A construction of a statute contrary to its obvious meaning is an encroachment on the legislature. Neither can the courts amend statutes, however worthy the object to be effected or however evil the consequences to be averted. Though a statute may be imperfect, lacking in detail, or impracticable, the courts have no power to remedy the defects. And a court must not write into a statute an exception which the legislature did not make, and on the other hand, a casus omissus [case omitted] does not justify judicial legislation. Nor can the courts inflict any penalties for acts which the legislature has not declared to be a crime.
(Page 105)
..., nor can they lawfully enjoin the passage of a statute or ordinance or undertake to prevent the enactment of unconstitutional laws.(Page 366)
THE POLICE POWERThe police power of a state is the inherent sovereign authority under which its legislature may, within constitutional limits, prescribe laws and regulations to safeguard the safety, health, and morals of the people, prevent fraud and oppression, and promote the public convenience, prosperity, and general welfare. [emphasis added](Page 370)
The police power is an attribute of government fundamentally necessary to the public safety, but so easily perverted as to be extremely dangerous to the rights and the liberty of the citizen. Even when properly defined and limited, it is so far-reaching in its importance and so paramount in its sway, even as against guarantied private rights, that its enlargement, by continual loose applications of the term to cases where it is neither needed nor appropriate, is a serious menace to personal freedom.
ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT: NEW WORLD ORDER
THE HISTORY OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER
MASONRY: BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
THE BIZARRE OCCULT RITUALS OF THE GLOBAL ELITE
ILLUMINATI and THE NEW WORLD ORDER
A CHRISTIAN LOOKS AT SKULL AND BONES INITIATION
THE BILDERBERGS AND OTHER SECRET SOCIETIES
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A POLICE STATE!
Presidential Executive Orders to be Issued in the case of Martial Law
This is list of the Executive Orders associated with FEMA that would suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. These Executive Orders have been on record for nearly 30 years and could be enacted by the stroke of a Presidential pen:
The Federal Register at The National Archives numeric codification of the Executive Orders
The Federal Register Presidential ProclamationsDefinition of Martial Law:
1. the law temporarily imposed upon an area by state or national military forces when civil authority has broken down or during wartime military operations.
2. the law imposed upon a defeated country or occupied territory by the military forces of the occupying power.EXECUTIVE ORDER 10990
Allows the government to take over all modes of transportation and control of highways and seaports.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10995
Allows the government to seize and control the communication media.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10997
Allows the government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10998
Allows the government to seize all means of transportation, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all highways, seaports, and waterways.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 10999
Allows the government to take over all food resources and farms.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11000
Allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11001
Allows the government to take over all health, education and welfare functions.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11002
Designates the Postmaster General to operate a national registration of all persons.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11003
Allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11004
Allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11005
Allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways and public storage facilities.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11051
Specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning and gives authorization to put all Executive Orders into effect in times of increased international tensions and economic or financial crisis.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11310
Grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11049
Assigns emergency preparedness function to federal departments and agencies, consolidating 21 operative Executive Orders issued over a fifteen year period.
EXECUTIVE ORDER 11921
Allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money in U.S. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation. General Frank Salzedo, chief of FEMA's Civil Security Division stated in a 1983 conference that he saw FEMA's role as a "new frontier in the protection of individual and governmental leaders from assassination, and of civil and military installations from sabotage and/or attack, as well as prevention of dissident groups from gaining access to U.S. opinion, or a global audience in times of crisis." FEMA's powers were consolidated by President Carter to incorporate the...
National Security Act of 1947
Allows for the strategic relocation of industries, services, government and other essential economic activities, and to rationalize the requirements for manpower, resources and production facilities.
1950 Defense Production Act
Gives the President sweeping powers over all aspects of the economy.
Act of August 29, 1916
Authorizes the Secretary of the Army, in time of war, to take possession of any transportation system for transporting troops, material, or any other purpose related to the emergency.
International Emergency Economic Powers Act
Enables the President to seize the property of a foreign country or national. These powers were transferred to FEMA in a sweeping consolidation in 1979.
Under the pretext of peace and safety America's leaders, at all levels of government, have violated their sacred oaths of office in failing to uphold and defend the United States Constitution, “the supreme Law of the Land” (U.S. Constitution, Article VI, paragraph II).The framers of our Constitution established a separation of powers to further protect the people from possible government abuse of power. In his Farewell Address in 1796, George Washington warned his nation against the usurpation of power by one department of government over another. Washington said, “It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking, in a free country, should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding, in the exercise of the power of one department, to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks, in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes.” (A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, L. Carroll Judson, 1839, p. 319).
George Washington also warned the people of the United States against “the insidious wiles of foreign influence”. Washington said, “As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils? Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.” Washington believed that America should have “as little political connection as possible” with foreign nations. Washington said, “The unity of government which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence;... But as it is easy to foresee, that from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed” (A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, L. Carroll Judson, 1839, pp. 315, 321, 322).
From the highest to the lowest levels of government, America's leaders have sold out their communities and their nation to the interests of foreign governments, world bankers and other foreign entities. Noah Webster defines treason as “the offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power.... In the United States, treason is confined to the actual levying of war against the United States, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” (American Dictionary of The English Language, 1828). Are the actions of our leaders not treasonous? Leaders who are willing to turn over U.S. sovereignty to foreign powers? Leaders who are willing to allow private U.S. citizens to be tried and convicted in the wicked tribunal of the “World Court”? Leaders who are passing unconstitutional “hate crime” legislation destroying our freedoms? Leaders who have “hijacked the role of our Grand Jury and the courtroom jury and, henceforth, embarked on a mission of misinformation, distortions, and blatant lies to convince the American people, and the entire legal community, that it is the government that determines what is right and what is wrong...” ? ("Runaway" Grand Juries vs. The Runaway State, Mark S. McGrew). Most of America's elected, hired and appointed officials have sold out their country for personal gain. As Patrick Henry said, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?”
Will patriotic Americans sit idly while our elected and appointed officials destroy our Constitution? Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, “Day by day, case by case, the Supreme Court is busy designing a Constitution for a country I do not recognize.” Will we allow Congress to continue to pass unconstitutional laws, such as “hate crime” laws, and revert back to the dark ages when it was a criminal offense, punishable by excommunication or death, to even utter a word that was not in conformity with the ruling political/religious hierarchy? Patrick Henry said, “I know of no way of judging the future but by the past.” (A Biography of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1839, p. 308). When Nero, Marcus Aurelius, Diocletion, the Saxons, the Danes, the Normans, Kings Henry the IV, V, and VIII, and Queen (Bloody) Mary, who were among the many Roman emperors, English monarchs and others that destroyed scriptures made from the time of the apostles, the charge against Christians and their scriptures was odio humani generis, Latin for ‘hate crimes’ (lit. hatred of the human race). There is an agenda behind “hate crime” laws. Hate-crime legislation is an attempt at thought control. It is another tool in the arsenal of the ruling elite to divide and conquer the nations and peoples of the world. It is one more nail in the coffin to bury our freedoms – freedom of thought, of conscience, of religion and of speech. Thanks to unconstitutional “hate crime” laws in our once free and enlightened nation, simple civil offenses are now considered felony crimes. A time of “gross darkness” is enveloping the earth (Jer. 13:16; Joel 2:2; Zeph. 1:15). Poet George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (The Life of Reason, George Santayana, 1917, p. 284).
The nineteenth century Constitutional scholar and Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story said, “This constitution of government, must perish, if there be not that vital spirit in the people which alone can nourish, sustain, and direct all its movements. It is in vain that statesmen shall form plans of government in which the beauty and harmony of a republic shall be embodied in visible order, shall be built upon solid substructions, and adorned by every useful ornament, if the inhabitants suffer the silent power of time to dilapidate its walls or crumble its massy supporters into dust, if the assaults from without are never resisted and the rottenness and mining from within are never guarded against. Who can preserve the rights and liberties of a people when they shall be abandoned by themselves? Who shall keep watch in the temple when the watchmen sleep at their post? Who shall call upon the people to redeem their possessions and revive the republic, when their own hands have deliberately and corruptly surrendered them to the oppressor and have built the prisons or dug the graves of their own friends ? This dark picture, it is to be hoped, will never be applicable to the republic of America. And yet it affords a warning, which, like all the lessons of past experience, we are not permitted to disregard.”(Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, 1864, p. 269)
In his famous speech at Richmond, Virginia, March 23, 1775, American patriot Patrick Henry said, “This is no time for ceremony. The question before the house is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.”(American Patriotism: Speeches, Letters, and Other Papers, 1880, p. 108)
In 1851 The Family Christian Almanac stated: “If truth be not diffused, error will be; if God and His Word are not known and received, the devil and his works will gain the ascendancy.” (The Family Christian Almanac for the United States, 1851, p. 34). Daniel Webster stated that “If we and our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion, —if we and they shall live always in the fear of God and shall respect his commandments,... —we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country;... But if we and our posterity neglect religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.”(Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States, 1864, p. 270). Alexis de Tocqueville, the French political philosopher who recognized America's source of liberty and greatness wrote, “...not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflamed with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good; and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Historian Charles A. Goodrich said in 1830, “Thus it is evident that wickedness and infidelity are certainly, though sometimes slowly, punished by Him who is just, although merciful: and if he has hitherto graciously refrained from visiting the sins of this nation with the punishment which they deserve, let us not be vain of that exemption: let us not attribute it to any merit of our own; but rather let it afford an additional motive to our gratitude and praise; let us unfeignedly thank him for his tender mercies daily vouchsafed to us;” (Book Of Martyrs, 1830, pp.66,67). The apostle Paul said, “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (I Thess. 5:3). The apostle Peter said, “Save yourselves from this untoward generation.” (Acts 2:40).
Our only hope is to uphold and defend the U. S. Constitution, “the supreme Law of the Land”, and repent of our sins and return to the God of our Founding Fathers, the God of the Bible. Our U.S. house of representatives summed it up well in a resolve passed in 1854: “The great and vital element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Daniel Webster said in a speech on June 3, 1834, “God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.” (Speeches and Forensic Arguments, Daniel Webster, Vol. II, p. 363).
FEMA Says Founding Fathers Were Terrorists!
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U.S./ Foreign Troops Gearing Up for Martial Law In America!
Marines Prepare For Martial Law in Indiana! Violate P.C.A.
Marines and Foreign Troops Training for Martial law!
What of 'Posse Comitatus'?
Feds Train Clergy To "Quell Dissent"
Feds Train Clergy To "Quell Dissent": Misuse of Romans 13
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In the book of Jeremiah the Lord is exhorting his people to “ask for the old paths” and “walk therein”. The people of our nation would do well to “ask for the old paths” and return to America's educational foundations. An important yet little known fact about public school education in American is that the primary purpose for establishing schools in America was to teach everyone to be able to read and understand the Holy Bible. Our first college, Harvard, in its original rules charged “every student” “to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.” and that “Every one shall so exercise himselfe in reading the Scriptures twice a day,”(A History of Harvard University, Benjamin Peirce, 1833, Appendix, p. 5). In fact, of the first one-hundred and eight colleges in America, one-hundred and six were founded by and for the Christian faith. “In founding Harvard, Yale, and other American colleges, the propagation of Christianity as a leading purpose of higher, as well as of popular education, was avowed by their founders, and by all provisions and grants of government.”(The Bible in Schools, W. W. Everts, 1870, p. 9). In 1647 the American Colony of Connecticut along with the Colony of Massachusetts passed the Old Deluder Satan Law to prevent the abuse of power over an illiterate population ignorant of the true scriptures. The Connecticut code of 1650 stated:
It being one cheife project of that old deluder, Sathan, to keepe men from the knowledge of the scriptures, as in former times, keeping them in an unknowne tongue [Latin], so in these latter times, by perswading them from the use of tongues [languages], so that at least, the true sence and meaning of the originall might bee clouded with false glosses of saint seeming deceivers; and that learning may not bee buried in the grave of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our indeavors;
It is therefore ordered by this courte and authority thereof, That every towneshipp within this jurissdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty howshoulders, shall then forthwith appointe one within theire towne, to teach all such children, as shall resorte to him, to write and read (The Code of 1650, 1822, pp. 92,93).
The following books were used in America's public schools throughout the United States. These books contained numerous scriptures from the Holy Bible and many references to God, Jesus Christ, sin and salvation. These public school text books plainly show that generation after generation of American children were educated in Biblical morals and the Christian religion was at the foundation of their learning. Other early school books with Biblical Christian contents were also used in American from the 1600's well into the 1900's, a period of more than 300 years. Read these early public school text books and you will have a better understanding of why the America of today is so morally corrupt compared to the America of the first European settlers, the America of our founding fathers, and the America of 100 years ago.
Some people are under the false impression that America's founding fathers were deists, those who believe in a generic god. Some people are under the false impression that our nation's religious foundations were not really Christian in nature but deistic or pantheistic, the belief that the universe is God. However, a quick perusal of nearly any of our early public school text books will reveal the fact that the God of the Holy Bible, the Judeo/Christian God, and the Christian religion was the foundation on which our Republic was formed, and the Lord Jesus Christ was the cornerstone, the very Rock on which our Republic was sustained. The 1803 edition of The New Instructor, Section VII, under the heading, “Directions respecting the Use of Capital Letters”, states:
It is, however, very proper to begin with a capital,...
3. The appellations of the Deity ; as, "God, Jehovah, the Almighty, the Supreme Being, the Lord, Providence, the Messiah, the Holy Spirit." (The New Instructor, 1803, pp. 131,132).
Note the absence of any reference to a Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, or Roman god or goddess, and the absence of any reference to Buddha, Krishna, Allah, or any other pagan divinity. Who then was this "Deity", "God", "Almighty", "Lord", "Supreme Being" alluded to in the school text book? Pages 40-41 and 188 says,
Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. (The New Instructor, 1803, pp. 40-41)
Humanity is, therefore, the characteristic of Christianity ; it is the badge and ornament of its professors ; it is the particular and frequent command of our Saviour, "As ye would that others should do unto you, even so do ye unto them." (The New Instructor, 1803, p. 188).
Note that this public school text book did not refer to the Lord Jesus Christ as “a” Savior, but as “our Saviour”. The 1811 edition of The American Preceptor of 1794, under the heading, “A Short Address To Parents”, reads:
5... "Give your hearts wholly to the Lord who made you." Lay the foundation of your lives here, on the firm ground of Christian faith; and build upon it whatever is just and good, worthy and noble, till the structure be complete in moral beauty.
6. The world, into which your children are entering, lies in wait for them with variety of temptations. Unfavorable sentiments of religion will soon be suggested to them, and all the snares of luxury, false honor and interest, spread in their way, which, with most of their rank, are too successful, and to many, fatal.
7. Happy the few, who in any part of life become sensible of their errors, and with painful resolution tread back the wrong steps which they have taken!
8. But happiest of men is he, who by an even course of right conduct, from the first, as far as human frailty permits, hath at once avoided the miseries of sin, the sorrows of repentance, and the difficulties of virtue; who not only can think of his present state with composure, but reflect on his past behaviour with thankful approbation; and look forward with unmixed joy to that important future hour, when he shall appear before God, and humbly offer to him a whole life spent in his service. (The American Preceptor, 1811, p. 224).
And under the heading, “A Serious Address From A Preceptor To His Scholars”, of this same edition reads:
5... The principal purpose of my frequent addresses is to promote the knowledge and the practice of the Christian religion; and in the performance of this purpose, I shall of necessity be led to recommend the purest system of morality. Ethics, improved and exalted by the Christian religion, become the guides to real wisdom and solid happiness, to which they could never attain when taught only in the schools of heathen philosophy.
6. In the religious part of your education, it is not expected that you should be engaged in the profound disquisitions of theology. The plain doctrines of the religion which you have been taught to profess must be explained to you; but the principal business is to open your hearts for the reception of those sentiments and precepts, which conduce to the direction of your actions in the employment and engagements of your subsequent life.
7. In the first place, I must then remind you of the necessity of reading the Scriptures; that is, of drinking the sacred waters at the fountain.
9. If you read the Old Testament with a taste for its beauties, you will accomplish two important purposes at the same time. You will acquire a knowledge of the Holy Bible, which is your duty; and you will improve your taste and judgment, which is your business as students in the course of a polite education.
13. It will however be proper that you should at an early age familiarize to your mind the language of the Scriptures, in all their parts, though you should not be able fully to comprehend them. You will thus treasure up many useful passages in your memory, which, on many occasions in the course of your lives, may be useful.
14. A very early acquaintance with the words of the Old and New Testament, even before any adequate ideas of their meaning have been obtained, has been found useful in subsequent life to the professed divine.
18. Make it a rule, never to be violated, to pray night and morning. It is indeed true that in this, and other schools, it is usual to begin and end the exercises of the day with prayer; but I am sorry to say, that this is often considered as a mere formality. You will pay attention to this duty, and you will also repeat other prayers at lying down on your pillow, and rising from it. (The American Preceptor, 1811, pp. 225, 226, 227).
The 1822 edition of The American Spelling Book For The Use of Schools In The United States, under the heading, “Lessons of easy words, to teach children to read, and to know their duty.”, reads:
NO man may put off the law of God: My joy is in his law all the day. O may I not go in the way of sin!... All men go out of the way. Who can say he has no sin?... The way of man is ill.... See not my sin, and let me not go to the pit. Rest in the Lord, and mind his word.... This life is not long; but the life to come has no end.... No man can say that he has done no ill. For all men have gone out of the way. There is none that doth good; no not one.... He who came to save us, will wash us from all sin; I will be glad in his name. A good boy will do all that is just; he will flee from vice; he will do good, and walk in the way of life. Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world; for they are sin. (The American Spelling Book, Noah Webster, 1822, pp. 43,44,45).
The 1842 edition of The Elementary Spelling Book stated:
Matrimony was instituted by God. – The devil is the great adversary of man. – All persons should wear a decent dress. – We are apt to live forgetful of our continual dependence on the will of God. – God governs the world in infinite wisdom; the Bible teaches us that it is our duty to worship him. It is a solemn thing to die and appear before God. – ‘If sinners entice thee, consent thou not,’ but withdraw from their company. – The chewing of tobacco is a useless custom. – Confess your sins and forsake them. – The wicked transgress the laws of God. – Liquors that intoxicate are to be avoided as poison. – Before you rise in the morning or retire at night, give thanks to God for his mercies, and implore the continuance of his protection. – Let all your words be sincere, and never deceive. – A mediator is a third person who interposes to adjust a dispute between parties at variance. Christ is the mediator between an offended God and offending man.” (The Elementary Spelling Book, 1842, pp. 52,58,66,69,72,74,76,77,79,80,82).
The following quotes are from the 1908 edition of The Elementary Spelling Book, an American public school text book for children:
The Holy Bible is the book of God. (The Elementary Spelling Book, 1908, p. 26).
Legislation is the enacting of laws, and a legislator is one who makes laws.
God is the divine legislator. He proclaimed his ten commandments, from mount Sinai.
In free governments, the people choose their legislators.
We have legislators for each state, who make laws for the state where they live. The town in which they meet to legislate, is called the seat of government. These legislators, when they are assembled to make laws, are called the legislature.
The people should choose their best and wisest men for their legislators.
lt is the duty of every good man, to inspect the moral conduct of the man who is offered as a legislator at our yearly elections. If the people wish for good laws, they may have them, by electing good man.
The legislative councils of the United States should feel their dependence on the will of a free and virtuous people.
Our farmers, mechanics and merchants, compose the strength of our nation. Let them be wise and virtuous, and watchful of their liberties. (The Elementary Spelling Book, 1908, pp. 98,99).
Unfortunately, many of our nation's citizens began to neglect their Christian duties and became un-watchful of their elected and appointed representatives and leaders, and certain subtitle elements in our society began to weave webs of deceit in order to subvert our free and independent nation. Slowly and methodically our nation's public school text books were infected with secular and pagan philosophies and spurious Christian doctrines which would eventually result in the total moral collapse of our public education system. For a better understanding of the causes and effects of this subversion of our government see God and America. It may well be that our nation will never be restored to it's former glory, as “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psa. 9:17). Nevertheless, we should not let our hearts be troubled or afraid, and we should never forget our nation's true history, but resolve to do what is right in the face of adversity “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life” (John 14:27; Phil. 2:15,16).
As we can see, the spirit of liberty permeated American society; and the Judeo/Christian foundations of our nation helped to spark and maintain these fires of liberty in the hearts and minds of our people. Generations of American children were taught the fundamentals of life from public school text books whose pages contained copious amounts of scriptures from the Holy Bible. The books most used in pursuing the studies were the New England Primer (first published circa 1690), Dixon's The English Instructor (first published in 1728), Dillworth's A New Guide to the English Tongue (first published in 1740), and Webster's American Spelling Book (first published in 1789), which were considered the standard. The New Testament was extensively used as a reading book; and the Protestant Tutor for Children (first published in 1685, the predecessor of the New England Primer), Grammatical Institute of the English Language (first published in 1783), American Preceptor (first published in 1794), Columbian orator (first published in 1799), and The English Reader (first published in 1800), also occupied places among the acknowledged text books of the public schools. Millions of copies and dozens of editions of these text books were printed and used for centuries to teach generation after generation of American children. In fact, more copies of Noah Webster's spelling book, commonly known as the "blue-back speller", have been sold than any other book except the Bible. More than eighty million copies of Webster's spelling book had been sold previous to 1880, and in 1900 it was selling at the rate of hundreds of thousands annually, being the most generally used of all school text-books (Early Schools & School-books of New England, 1904, p. 32). This is the true documented history of public school education in the United States of America. Don't let the so called 'historians' of today deceive you with their revisions of American history.