| Author | Message | ||
     Fb1 |
"This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take." --Thomas Jefferson "All that I have, and all that I am and all that I hope to be in life I am now ready to stake upon it; and I leave off as I began, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the declaration." --John Adams at the signing of the Declaration of Independence "In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example ... of charters of power granted by liberty. This revolution in the practice of the world, may, with an honest praise, be pronounced the most triumphant epoch of its history, and the most consoling presage of its happiness." --James Madison "The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity." --George Washington "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 "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home 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 "It is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own." --Benjamin Franklin "Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigues of supporting it." --Thomas Paine "The flames kindled on the 4 of July 1776, have spread over too much of the globe to be extinguished by the feeble engines of despotism; on the contrary, they will consume these engines and all who work them." --Thomas Jefferson The Declaration of 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. 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 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 & 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. Signed: John Hancock, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton, William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn, Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward Jr., Thomas Lynch Jr., Arthur Middleton, Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross, Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean, William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris, Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark, Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery, Roger Sherman, Samual Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott, Matthew Thornton.  | ||
| Etennuly |
Salute! Thank you for posting that! | ||
| Fb1 |
You're welcome; I'm feeling particularly patriotic tonight. | ||
| Reindog |
On this egregious acceleration of the separation of the Government from its People, our American future is troubled. It is now the Eve of the Fourth of July which is perhaps one of the greatest events in Mankind. It is time to celebrate our Heritage and forget about the despots with smiling faces. For a day. Check out Bill Whittle's latest Afterburner, "A Glorious Fourth" for some cheering up. I thank and love our Founding Fathers for giving this gift of freedom which we seem to be intent on throwing against the wall like a spoiled baby. | ||
| Fb1 |
+1 Tom. Thanks for the heads-up re: Bill Whittle's "The Glorious Fourth." I've embedded the video below. Happy Independence Day, amigo. FB | ||
| Fb1 |
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| Reindog |
I just left work after telling my Chinese and Indian co-workers the story of our American Revolution and the greatness of our Founding Fathers. Whether they become Americans, they can see that America has bestowed upon them great opportunity and a vision to see things differently than their homogenous "back home" way of doing things. These are fantastic people and hopefully will become great Americans. Several of my friends have the homework assignment of reading the Declaration of Independence in return for the "day off". It was particularly fun to rub it in with my Indian friends that America was the first to poke the King in the eye, almost 200 years before India followed suit. | ||
| Slaughter |
Last week Paul Taylor http://www.racetaylormade.com got sworn in as a US Citizen (formerly British) Sometimes this DOES matter to a few people. | ||
| Brumbear |
I must admit I have a couple in me but I'll type this anyway. Tonight inspired or brought on by this thread I sat and tried to put my feelings in this reply. I am an American, I was born free in a changing time for my country. In my life I have seen the end of Vietnam the goverment coulda handled that one better but our troops pulled us through. The gas shortage odds and evens remember that it was a friggen lie. The spirit of 76 the Carter administration ooofffff. Ronald Reagan, I was part of the Army when we stood face to face with the mighty Soviet Army and gave America back it's swagger. I saw the next generation of soldiers American soldiers achieve the greatest military victory since WW II in the Gulf. I bore witness to and lost friends on 9/11. I saw our brave sons and daughters go to the gulf again this time as a father with a son getting near military age and painfully watching some of them never come home. I never ever ever wavered from my faith in my country through all of that not once. Tonight I am typing this with my youngest in the background playing Xbox it's a holiday he can stay up late tonight. Tonight I am thinking what is happening to my country where is it going WHAT AM I LEAVING FOR MY YOUNGEST SON!!!!!!! I am wavering,I am scared for him. My faith in GOD will never waver but I am for the first time in my life wavering for my and your America.But I do have a message I will fight for, MY COUNTRY and anyone I mean anyone who tries to take it away from US better know that, be they Foreign or DOMESTIC it is my RIGHT. I better get some sleep now Goodnight you guys Happy 4th GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! WE MUST TAKE IT BACK!!!!!!! | ||
| Reindog |
Thanks for that Brumbear. Get mad. Get active. Donate to Romney. Vote all Liberals and Progressives who have caused this mess out of office. But don't be mad tomorrow. Celebrate the greatness of America. | ||
| Jb2 |
Celebrate indeed! | ||
| Geedee |
So through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm— A cry of defiance, and not of fear— A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo forever-more; For borne on the night wind of the past, Through all our history to the last, In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear The hurrying hoof beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere. from Paul Revere's Ride by Henry W. Longfellow Happy 4th July to you all. Gary. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
I spent a career looking at the enemy, watching what they do, what they wrote, what they said, how they did their operations, listened over their shoulders, read their literature, studied their culture, analyzed their past and predictive analysis of their trends.... And I NEVER thought I would see the same tendancies, policies and behaviors out of our Capital that for all intents and purposes are the EXACT Same. It is the New Soviet. The Oktobre Red Revolution actually occured on 11/7 (adjusting for Gregorian Calendar) This year 11/7 will be the day that we make the realization if there will be an America left on this continent - or something branded more insideous. If he gets reelected - and I fear he does - they will push to celebrate a 100 year Annivesary of the Communist Revolution in Washington. The vote matters - but who counts it matters more. Remember they had 'elections' in Soviet Russia - mere voting is not Freedom. Stay awake, keep vigilant, never let the Bastards Rest. Happy Fourth of July; Lock and Load. | ||
| Moxnix |
Red, white and blue bunting on the front door, two flags out, and my "God Bless America" yard sign at the corner. Watermelon in the fridge, I'm set. Last week in DC, drove past Arlington 3 days in a row, rounding the curve past the Iwo Jima memorial, taking the long route once to past the Pentagon. Heading downtown, past the memorials, the marble buildings, the stone and brick arena of a great international city, 10,000 spies at work everyday of the week. Some on our side. Still, it was great to have my son see it all. My best snapshot is of our First Lady's vegetable garden at the WH, strategically placed near the tourist viewing area. The long view to the WH itself, sharpshooters on the roof. Personally, my childhood 4th's of July were pretty good. No "Patriot Act," no Obamacare, just fireworks we were able to set off ourselves, an ingrained appreciation for our military, a ingrained knowledge that there will never be another country offering the freedom and opportunity. Love ya', Uncle Sam. Keep on truckin'. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
You with the fireworks, hot-dog and American Flag - TERRORISTS ! apparently http://www.infowars.com/homeland-security-report-l ists-liberty-lovers-as-terrorists/ | ||
| Davegess |
Happy Fourth to all. A grand day to celebrate our great country. Let's set aside out bickering and say "Happy ?Birthday USA!" |
