America's Founding Documents
Declaration of Independence
Constitution
Bill of Rights
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs
Discussion
SHARED FROM PREPSTEADERS I love how she goes through each and every step and explains things so thoroughly! And, at her left side, is her Bible! Major points! https://youtu.be/ss5ykkaucNM
@Edward Healy first thanks for the share. It's interesting to me to see these listed the way they are. Maybe this is better discussed over a beer around a campfire, but I'll adapt. The founding document, declaration of Independence is a declaration of war against our Government, the British empire and it's King, King George the third. We were founded by war. Second the Constitution wasn't ratified until 1788, and our government didn't officially operate under this until the following year 1789. Then they list the Bill of Rights as if it's a separate document all together, which is absurd due to the fact that after all the established articles of the actual Constitution comes out the amendments. The first ten of which are normally referred to as the Bill of Rights, but what about the 13,14,15th amendments are they not rights as well. How about the 21st amendment, definitely a part of the aforementioned document rather than a separate act of Congress such as a Bill.
My point? Be vigilant friends, words have power. when was this nation a Democracy instead of a Constitutional Representative Republic? When did the first ten amendments get separated from the Constitution and put in a "Bill"?
Silently witnessing the 2nd amendment go the way of the 18th amendment and or the 4th amendment under the Patriot Act is not enough. We need to be active enough for politicians to have it clear in their heads how serious Americans are about their constitutional rights. All gun owners should get in touch with their representatives and voice as much.
“A Republic, if you can keep it “
Unfortunately, we stopped being a Republic almost 120 years ago. Our nation has become a Corporate Oligarchy, and since the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights is in the way of that...
@TyMoore Sorry, I should have been clear. The quote “A Republic if you can keep it “ was Benjamin Franklin in response to a ladie‘s Questions about the United States after a dinner party in France . Most people I talk to have NO idea our Country is in bad shape. My own daughter is visiting from the Left Coast and she told me she does not follow the news from ANY source. She has no concerns about Food scarcity or plans for
any type of disaster. Wow. Asleep!
@Cherie unfortunately there's a lot of people like that. Much more than FEMA could ever hope to respond to. Look how they "responded" to "manage" the emergency of big hurricanes, Andrew, Katrina, Sandy just to name a few. On a brighter side, your daughter still has an innocence in that she is blissfully unaware of the dangers of the world in which she lives and so I hope you are at least attempting to get a plan to contact her should she ever finds a need to "call" home without a dial tone.
All i can say is: when everything goes sideways, and we start to rebuild, that when we write the new laws that we spell out exactly what we mean, so that 300 hundred years later, there is no confusion as to just what we meant.
If you get an attorney to write that up, there will still be considerable “Language “ that will need interpretation.!! LOL Have you ever had to write an instruction manual? We did this in High School. Got into groups of 2-4 and then gave our directions and materials to another group. It was beyond frustrating and Funny! Most gave up! We all experience and interpret our world through our own lenses. I believe that writing Law meant to be clear this year or for years to come,must have a basic agreed upon foundation. Foundational Truths. God gave us the Ten Commandments. Clear and straight forward. Foundational yes, but when we as a Nation do not share this belief system, the interpretation changes based on World view. Challenging times the founding fathers could never have imagined. I hear and share your frustration.
@Cherie I agree. Writing instructions for making peanut butter cookies is hard enough: creating a recipe for a Republic to last, well, I think the Founding Fathers did a marvelous job. "We" as a society have frittered most of it away. And as I get older, the more I appreciate the teachings of Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. I find it incredible that in all that time, despite all of the cultural and social changes that have happened, and all the technological progress that has been made, that Benjamin Franklin's casual comment during an after dinner party in a parlor in France about what form of government the new United States has hold's true: "...a Republic if we can keep it!"
@JS Badger hate to be a doomsayer but I think what I am about to say will hold truth. When the SSHHtuff goes sideways regardless of it's form and Victor this nation as it stands will cease to exsit. As the victor seeks to never allow it to repeat itself. Just for simplicity, if the "left" wins they will seek to prevent armed rebellion limit the publication of contradictory thoughts and opinions, etc. If the "right" is the victor, they will seek to do the same making anti-constitutional opinions criminal. Gun laws, hate speech laws, warrantless searches and those who suggest them "domestic enemies" of the Constitution. One of the things our founders did not actually define is who is or what constitutes a enemy of the United States Constitution?
Abraham was right when in light of the Civil War, a house divided against itself cannot stand.
This is a great thread of thoughts, to which most of us follow the same beat. Even today, we need a historian or linguistic to attempt to understand the original meanings. I’ll use my most frustrating term of the day. “Democratic“ is moving from being a dogma or political foundation, to being something that only the democrat political party can claim. Admittedly, I frequently attempt to educate those using the term incorrectly, advising them that President Trump is actually a democratic president. The response is often, “you know what I meant” or something of that nature. When in fact the major news media outlets don’t really care to hear from me whilst continuing to change the meaning of words, and phrases by using them incorrectly.
I was grateful to see @TyMoore make reference to Franklin and Jefferson. I was trying to have a conversation with a younger adult, whom should we say attended one of those founding universities. Many of our individual beliefs were different. I made references to some of the works of these men, and was told I was referring to rich, men of property and slavery. All four of those words were displayed as offensive, even though the person referencing them was, shall we say, in a much different tax bracket than myself. I am a proud Christian, American, Male, whose decedents came from NW Europe. I can be proud of who I am, as well as being proud of my heritage. If not for those rich, men of property and slavery having the courage to rebel against the British crown, we, as a new country, may not have been able to finance and encourage a revolution against the most powerful country in the world. Thank God!
We Mutually Pledge To Each Other Our Lives, Our Fortunes And Our Sacred Honor
Those words should never be taken so lightly as they are almost unknown to so many of us. Our founders knew exactly what they were doing. They knew the risks and in many ways knew they would forsake those things that they pledged and much more. General Washington once said that the thing that separates the American Christan apart from all others, is they would rather die on their feet than live on their knees. Thomas Paine talked about the shackles of slavery to the crown and though he didn't know what course others would take he knew that "as for me, Give me Liberty, or Give me Death". Our Citizens who were well to do had the ability to facilitate the change that needed to be done. They could lead others to accept the price for freedom that was being demanded of them. Those who followed did so because they too knew the cost and price it took to be free. Through out our history, Americans have fought for their own Independence as well as others, we've expanded our own freedoms in some ways and restricted them in others. But we've always strived to be better than we were. Blacks as equal, when they were slaves, women as equals when they had no say. Sure we have our problems, homeless, veterans without medical care, elderly without food. And for want of nothing our politically entitled squandering away that which could work to fix our own issues to give to those who give us nothing... Our government is not ours, our Representatives no longer fulfill the role yet they tax us and that is exactly what King George of England did 243 years ago. Taxation without Representation. Our founders knew what they were risking, they understood the cost. So they pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor to bring forth a new nation where it's Government derives it's just power's by the consent of the People.
In closing, I'll quote Thomas Paine, and I pray it inspires you...
Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it.
Thomas Paine
@Patriotic Trucker can we say rampant laziness and stupidity? Oh and for good measure let's throw in a big dose of indifference.
@Haunted55 anyone remember Shay's rebellion, or the Whiskey Rebellion? Both lessons in history taking place shortly after the British rebellion, err American Revolution. We've been conditioned to trust that our government is benevolent, and that it's been repeated that "our founders would have been shooting by now" but those who would dare call upon a Rebellion against our government have committed treason. Yet it is right there in our founding that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish such Government that is tyrannical...
I say to those who are here, the difference between a Rebellion and a Revolution is merely the difference between winner and looser.
@Patriotic Trucker I’ve been sitting here pondering your response, thinking how much we have changed as a people, yet, how much we remain the same as a nation. I fear our test of both approaches.
Of that I have absolutely no doubt.
Like a run-a-way freight train.
North Creek News
Wednesday, February 23, 1949
It's not that life is too short, death is just too freaking long.