The Declaration of Independence

Two-hundred and thirty-four years ago on July 4, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was signed.  However, unknown to most is the fact that only two individuals signed this most sacred document on the fourth day of July in 1776.  Those two people were John Hancock, who at the time was the president of the Continental Congress, and the Secretary of the congress who was Charles Thomson.  The rest of this sacred document was signed on August 2, 1776 and a few signatures came even later.  

The debate on whether to become independent states went on for a while before that July of 1776.  The vote took place on the second of July in which all of the colonies agreed upon independance.  John Adams wrote the following about that day in a letter to his wife:

"The second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.... It ought to be comemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solomnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires, and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other, from this Time forward forever more."

He was right, well, except for the July second part.  Americans all over the nation have celebrated Independence Day for years with: great fireworks shows, barbeques, parades, and other festivities. The Declaration of Independence is notably one of America's most sacred documents. So, do we as Americans know what it truly meant?

The Declaration of Independance was written by one of our most essential founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson.  Along with John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, Jefferson was commisioned by congress to draw up a declaration of independence.

Thomas Jefferson, as Chairman, wrote the Declaration of Independence with only slight revisions by members of the committee.  Jefferson was a man of study and great knowledge.  He had studied the works of some of the most famous philosophers of his time (John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, etc).  Calling on these ideas, his own knowledge, and most notably Divine Guidance, the Declaration of Independence was penned.

Included in the Declaration are four sections: The Preamble, A Declaration of Rights, A List of Grievances, and the Statement of Independence.  The Preamble is the introduction of this heavenly document and it states the reasoning behind the document.  The Declaration of Rights, as the title says, declares the rights given by God.  The List of Grievances lists the reasons for Independence from Great Britan as it states the atrosities commited by King George.  Last of all, the Statement of Independence states that, "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 the authority of the good people of these colonies, solomly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states.

The Declaration of Independence contains many basic governing principles.  As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "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 amoung these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  The idea of unalienable rights was written about by John Locke and it explains the simple fact that we are born with God given rights.  These rights are those given to us by God and it is only through tyranny and oppression that they are taken.  Jefferson also wrote about the fact that, "whenever any form of government becomes destructive... it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government." That is exactly what our founders planned to do and that is exactly what they did and we now enjoy the blessings of it.  Also, when Jefferson penned the words, "[G]overnments are instituted amoung men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed", he established the basic principle of rule by the people that is an essential to success in our Republican form of government.

In the end, the words penned by Thomas Jefferson in The Declaration of Independence were not of man, but came from that "Supreme Judge", our God.  May we as Americans stay true to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of our great country as well as continuing to place our trust in God.

Jefferson vs. Hamilton and the Start of Political Parties in the United States

Thomas Jefferson wrote the following about Alexander Hamilton while he was Secratary of State to President George Washington:

"He succeeded in doing this, not only beyond their reach, but so that he at length he could unravel it himself.  He gave to the dept in the first instance, in funding it, the most artificial and mysterious form he could devise... until the whole system was involved in impenatrable fog; and while he was giving himself the airs of providing for the payment of the dept, he left himself free to add to it continually, as he did in fact, instead of paying for it." (The Real Thomas Jefferson pg. 167-168)

In this instance Jefferson attributes Hamilton with wanting to grant more control to the federal government and, as Jefferson belived, adding more to the United States' national dept. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were bitter rivals in the cabinet of our county's first president.  Jefferson, who was the author of the Decleration of Independance, was a very wise Philosopher who also tended to favor smaller federal government influence while Hamilton, who was at one time an aid to General Washington during the Revolutionary War, was a businessman who believed in a larger federal government. Alexander Hamilton believed that the rich and well born members of America's society should make most of the decisions while Thomas Jefferson had more respect for state's rights and wanted the everyday citizen to be involved in decisions through, for example, voting. Jefferson beleived that the United States should be friendlier with France than with Great Britan as Hamilton believed. Oftentimes Thomas Jefferson would sometimes have to excuse himself from cabinet meetings in the first executive administration because plain and simply Hamilton drove him up the wall.  The fued between Jefferson and Hamilton led to the begining of two-party politics in America with the Republican party forming around the ideals of the Secretary of State and the Federalist party forming their views to coincide with the Secretary of the Treasury.

The Overton Window

I finished Glenn Beck's new book, The Overton Window, a few days ago.  I thought it was a great book. My Dad read through it in about two or three days.  It was a hard book to put down once you started into it.  It was however somewhat scary because of how closely to our present time it was written. It included a "tea party" type movement and there were other elements that reminded me of today and our current political and economical situation.  It was an interesting book no matter how you look at it.

If you haven't heard, Senator Robert Byrd died this morning.  That's too bad but it is one way to get him out of office, isn't it.

Immigration Proposal

The Obama Administration is supposedly talking about a "Plan B" on immigration if congress does not pass legislation which accomplished Obama's objectives.  "Plan B" would consist of granting amnesty to all illegal immigrants in our country.  Sounds great doesn't it?  I am amazed that our President and his advisors would want to basically make a crime legal.  It just goes to show that common sense and wise leadership is very rare in the American government of today.

Way to Go Governor Brewer!

The Obama administration has decided to sue Arizona over their new law which makes being an illegal immigrant, illegal.  In response the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, said, "I will ensure the immigration laws we passed are vigorously defended all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary, where this reasonable law will ultimatly be found constitutional... We'll meet them in court... and will win."  Wow!  Here is a Governor who knows how to stand up to controversy.  We need more Governors and States to make laws such as this.  Can you imagine the results if they did? 

First, what is the reason Arizona even had to create these immigration laws?  Humm.  Maybe because the United States Government is not enforcing the law and Arizona is sick of the disregard for the law.  Those states that border Mexico right now must be having a horrible time with crime in relation to drug trafficing and murder.  I would imagine that since Arizona has created this law many illegal immigrants have left.  It is rediculous to think that our Federal Government is sueing one of the States over a law which just reinforces one of the Federal Governments own laws.  It is illigal to be an illegal immigrant anywere in the United States.  The state of Arizona has just cracked the whip and reinforced the law.  The Obama Administration finds the new Arizona law to be racial profiling or discriminatory.  Well I've got news for them, there is nothing wrong with being discriminatory towards criminals.  That is what illegal immigrants are, no matter how hard of workers they are, no matter how poor or needy, they are still criminals.

"[W]hen the evils that arise have been foreseen (which it is given to a wise man to see), they can be quickly redressed, but when through not having been foreseen, they have been permitted to grow in a way that every one can see them, there is no longer a remedy."

-From The Prince by Niccolo' Machiavelli