Posted on 11/29/2012 3:24:30 PM PST by Jacquerie
In 1765, Parliament added its North American colonists to those subject to the Stamp Tax. It seemed innocuous enough. Thought to raise about 60,000 pounds/year, it would amount to twenty percent or so of the cost to garrison a vast new country won from France in the war that concluded only two years earlier.
It was the wrong tax at the wrong time. It was wrong because direct taxes had been left to the individual colonies since 1607. Parliament’s timing was horrible because instead of prosperity with the conclusion of war, the colonies slipped into hard economic times. Regarded as a direct tax, it was detrimental to business, and opened the door to further abuse.
Sound familiar? Our nation is in recession, headed for Utopian hell, and the governing class will raise income taxes in a few weeks. A land of once freemen will also be taxed (or is it fined?) if they do not purchase health insurance that meets arbitrary government criteria. There is no hope our republic will be rescued by the class which drove us these past eighty years to societal and political catastrophe. A government designed to secure our unalienable rights has become a monster oppressor of them.
What to do? Perhaps the answer is in our history. Patrick Henry sparked a series of events that culminated in Independence. This rube, noobie Burgess from the backwoods of Virginia stood to be recognized as the bi-annual legislative session of 1765 was winding down. He was met with sighs of displeasure from the aristocratic planters who wanted to adjourn and get back to their plantations. By custom, new Burgesses sat quietly and learned for at least a session before asking to speak. This certainly applied to the hick dressed in homespun standing before them.
Patrick Henry didn’t get the memo. Not only did he demand recognition, he accused the Speaker of financial malfeasance. Five days later, he rose in opposition to the Stamp Act. In five resolutions, he spoke the words of republican liberty. In the fifth resolution, he roared that the only legitimate taxes were those passed by popularly elected representatives. Taxation by any other source was destructive of freedom.
He was met with shouts of “Treason!” Henry concluded with a phrase repeated through the ages, “If this be treason, make the most of it!”
Fast forward almost 250 years. Just as Patrick Henry convinced a shocked assembly of planter aristocrats to pass his resolutions, I suspect a Tea Party member of the House of Representatives may stand up and outrage a collection of pompous divas masquerading as representatives of a once free people. Departing Rep Ron Paul recently gave a rousing farewell speech that mirrored the language of our founding generation and set the table for further resistance. Witness the dozens of secession petitions. His plea for return to Constitutionalism did not, I think, fall on deaf ears.
As in 1765, there is a growing undercurrent of resistance. Is there a Henry to provide the spark in our political house to rouse the people from resistance to action? If so, he/she will not come from the elites, so very comfortable with their perks, adulation, power and enormous salaries and benefits. If there is such a person, it will be lead by one not only not beholding to the hapless John Boehner, but one despised by Boehner and his fellow elites.
The Tea Party movement, like the Sons of Liberty so long ago, need a rallying cry and nominal leaders willing to call out and resist the hard tyranny just over the horizon.
Our nation was founded in resistance to unlawful taxation and the threat it posed to our freedom. Lets start there. What if a respected and nationally known figure in the House of Representatives picked up Paul’s baton, stood before the cameras and espoused resistance to the unconscionable and unconstitutional Obamacare? I mean stand on the floor of the House and tell the world he will oppose Obamacare personally, and in the interest of freedom, urge the American people to follow!
It is my hope there is a latter day Patrick Henry in the people’s House, one willing to fan the smoldering kindling of resistance begun by the Tea Party, one willing to absorb the catcalls, cheap-shots and assaults from all sides, in the name of our nearly forgotten freedom.
Is this some kind of Boomer thing because I don’t get it? We are all Patrick Henry and the Constitution is set up for all of us to be just that. The Founders weren’t into the whole ‘raise up a leader’ thing.
This isn’t that hard: 1) Win state legislatures in ‘14, 2) Get voter ID on the books and defend it in court and end election day registration, as well as other voting related tweaks 3) limit union bargaining, make them pay their share for insurance and pensions, and stop the state from collecting dues, 4) balance state budgets and conduct major tax reform if necessary, 5) take any other step to cut off the Dems at the knees.
We all need to get off our butts and make it happen.
Excellent Post!
Is there a Henry to provide the spark in our political house to rouse the people from resistance to action?
I don’t know - I’m not heavy in the political realm - so if there is - I would hope that all would rally with him/her and turn the situation around. At the moment, it seems the majority is the lazy mob to worried about individual concerns than a nation that protects them and provides basic freedoms...I would say Reagan was the last of them...and I’m glad I grew up under his administration!
Thank you.
He’d be rewarded, either way.
Chapter VII, beginning on P. 249, of Frothingham's "The Rise of the Republic . . . ." focuses on "artibrary Royal Instructions" issued by the crown which, in effect, were viewed as making "the claim that the king's instructions had the force of law, or that the people were under a personal government." The Royal Instructions were "everywhere contested," according to Frothingham, and gave rise to widespread opposition through every means available among those who advocated for liberty.
It would be hard to imagine that any individual who reads this Chapter VII will not be able to see parallels between the 1700's actions of King George III, his "Royal Instructions," and recent actions of the current Administration which seems intent upon exerting extra-Constitutional edicts and powers over "the People's" rights and liberty.
The question is, as you have suggested here, will there be a Patrick Henry, or a collection of learned and deeply-devoted advocates for liberty who will arise and enlighten current and rising generation to their natural rights to life, liberty, property and "the Blessings of Liberty" protected by their Constitution?
Frothingham's Chapter VII recounts the leading role of Jefferson, the Adamses, Dabney Carr, Patrick Henry and others, in giving voice to sentiments of liberty and union of purpose, and in forming Committees of Correspondence to aid in the circulation of ideas favorable to that purpose.
Somewhere, a former contributor to this site, John Armor (Congressman BillyBob), must smile at this discussion, as we remember that his final published work was on the life and words of Patrick Henry.
Most excellent find. Henry, like Franklin, were quintessential Americans. Despite humble births, they rose to great heights of honor.
The Rise of the Republic . . . should be the text of a two semester class in every US High School.
How many more patriots rather than socialists would face their first Presidential ballot at age 18?
BTW, have you read Gordon S. Wood’s “The Creation of the American Republic?” He reads like a Mark Levin on steroids, down in the weeds of Whig philosophy.
“You’d think that with all the loudmouths, absolutism, declarative statements, and posturing that goes on on this site that there are 1000 FReeper Patrick Henrys out there, but there are not.”
I wouldn’t think that. I’m a keyboard warrior, same as most everybody else here.
I like the secession threads that totally overlook the fact that we can’t even manage to get a candidate we can agree on through a primary, and yet somehow we’re going to secede from the union.
I’m a middle aged white guy who has led a decent but mostly unremarkable life.
It’s fun to post here about revolution and secession and Patrick Henry because it’s a form of adult “Cowboys and Indians”
The reality is that I’m going to keep doing what I’ve always done and try to hold things together as best I can. Vote for the best option, pay my bills and try to put a little something back for a rainy day.
On another note, I’d be willing to bet that at least of the people here would be cheering these same policies if it were the GOP implementing them.
JMHO but a lot of this is just the same as sports rivalry and because it’s all anonymous it’s easy to daydream about what we would do if only.....(insert movie hero scenario here)
Another benefit of Frothingham's work is that his footnotes provide additional resources for study.
Have read some of Wood's histories and essays, although he dwells rather heavily on the idea of "democracy," instead of the "democratic republic" focus of JQA, or the "Republic, if you can keep it" insistence of Franklin.
In the Introduction to one of his books, he does, however, point out some of the issues related to what he called 20th Century "Progressive historians" like Beard, one of the most widely used texts for teaching students for many years.
It is "The American Ideal of 1776," by Hamilton Abert Long, first published in 1963, and republished for the 1776 Bicentennial.
Burke is superb. An Englishman was indeed the worst possible person to talk another into slavery. He illustrated how gentlemen could, in so many words call the king and his ministers a collection of idiots.
As for Beard, his “An Economic Interpretation . . . “ wasn't nearly as hamfisted as I expected it to be. It bothered me not that successful men held government securities. However, I do not doubt what the progressives did with his discoveries. They had far too much time to abuse the men of our Framing before McDonald challenged them so very well.
That is a terrific source.
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