Posted on 06/16/2012 12:52:03 PM PDT by Jacquerie
Thank you, Pharmboy, for getting us all together. It is a dry desert here in the Chicago area, for lovers of this time period in our country's history. From the days of reading and collecting Colonial Homes magazines, decorating our home in 18th century style, loving this country and the famous men and women who made it so, wanting to visit the interesting museums and places of historical interest in the South and New England states...for the opportunity to read what other like-minded people have to say about the interests we share, I thank you.
I feel like if we ever had the opportunity, we need to list the things government cannot do as it pertains to current times. Things like unable to regulate the internet for any purpose, unable to regulate health care (because they obviously don’t know how), cannot regulate arms (not just firearms - the much broader tree of arms).
Though that would probably require a Constitutional Convention...
But he also was the most prominent face of Calvinism as represented by the Presbyterian Church in this country. '... Prime Minister Horace Walpole said in Parliament, "Cousin America has run off with a Presbyterian parson" (John Witherspoon, president of Princeton, signer of Declaration of Independence)'.
The Presbyterians and the Congregationalists (in NE), played a large role in catalyzing the Revolution (another Presbyterian minister, James Caldwell in NJ, used pages of the bible as wadding when that became scarce for the troops defending Springfield).
There are some that say that without Calvin, there would be no USA. And full disclosure from me: I am not a Presbyterian, although my grand daughter did just graduate from a Presbyterian Church Pre-K.
Thank you very much.
Your Humble & Obdt. Svt.,
P____y
A point I make every time the topic comes up. The Anti-Federalists were right.
Despite the occasional criticism I read here, I think that it is a miracle and evidence of God’s hand that we were so blessed to have a convergence of great minds and strong character just when we needed them: Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Monroe, Knox, Henry, and so many more. If we keep praying and working hard, perhaps God will bless us again and help us out of the disaster of the last 4 years.
Until the Civil War, the Federal Government exercised relatively little power over the people. The only federal official the average person saw was the post-master.
This is another point I often make. Abraham Lincoln set the standard for Federal Domination of the States, and we have never recovered from it. Much of our current misery can be traced directly back to his usurpation of many powers during the Civil War. He established the precedent, and others followed. Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Johnson, etc.
“To Antis, the Constitution guaranteed near term tyranny.”
Okay, so it didn’t come immediately. Depending upon what you think of the Bank of America, the Louisiana Purchase, the Jackson administration, etc., I think it’s fair to say it held out for 70 years at least. Maybe you wanna be generous and push it back. Fine, I can make arguments for 1898, 1913, 1917, 1932, 1941, 1947, and so on. Maybe it held out all the way until the present day. Whatever, the point is eventually it was superceded without being replaced as we did with the Articles of Confederation. It is a facade covering another sort of government, and that’s what the antis meant when they said, “I smell a rat!”
The Antis had plenty of time and wrote volumes in protest, yet couldn’t come up with an alternative to the Constitution. They illustrated the ease of criticizing and the difficulty of creating.
“The Antis had plenty of time and wrote volumes in protest, yet couldn’t come up with an alternative to the Constitution. They illustrated the ease of criticizing and the difficulty of creating.”
Wait a second, there was a constitution in place at the time. You remember, the one the Constitution illegally (according to it) superceded, called the Articles of Confederation. Which may not have been perfect, but the anti-federalist were under no compunction to come up with yet another system. I happen to think the case against the AofC is vastly overstated, but no matter how far we go in agreeing with its critics it didn’t fail. There was a national government in existence when the Constitution was written. Nothing’s to say it had to be replaced.
There was a confederation on paper, a series of treaties among independent republics. Said republics blew off their “constitutional” duties and responsibilities. They did not pay their taxes, they ignored the treaty of peace w/Britain, which was getting Americans killed on the frontier, and after 1783 hardly bothered to send delegates to Congress at all. What remained of the Confederation was dissolving from neglect. We owed an incredible sum of money and interest to repay war debt, but by 1787 did not have a dime in the treasury. We had no currency, no commercial laws, no navigation treaties with other countries. Western VA and NC counties over the mountains were cozying up to Spain. English troops occupied forts in the Northwest territory they were supposed to relinquish by treaty.
“the one the Constitution illegally (according to it) superceded”
So the people did not have the right to modify their government? What did we do in 1776?
Antis were appointed as delegates to the Philly convention. It was their duty to improve the Articles. About half couldn't be bothered to attend, the most famous being Patrick Henry. The convention determined early on that the Articles could not be improved to attain their goals of regulating commerce, navigation laws, national defense and adequate tax collection.
The grownups in attendance dealt with the situation.
Thanks for the ping. Good reading.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.