Posted on 07/04/2013 8:40:22 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
....I pray that Americans who want less government and more freedom stop seeking and trusting in political means for their salvation. I pray that they turn to God, covenanting with Him and binding their families, communities, states, form of government, and their republic itself to Him in a new National Covenant- one that is all ours....A covenant that comes from the bottom up, from the people, the "grassroots," to use a modern term....A covenant that binds us to God, signed in our national lifeblood. Without such a covenant, without such a restoration, commitment, and foundation, our national lifeblood, figuratively, and perhaps someday literally, will be spilled on the altar of tyranny, which is, as these great men understood, nothing other than the logical and inevitable outcome of a people's rejection of God.
Happy Presbyterian Rebellion Day! Ping the GRPL!
I don't think Presbyterians are like that anymore! :)
Yes, I think we can trace two basic “Christian” theories of governance, which reflect the theological divisions among Christians. Catholics, reflecting their top-down hierarchy and obedience to unquestionable authority, have usually favored monarchies. Protestants, reflecting their bottom-up communities of believers and adherence to a looser set of principles rather than immutable dogma, prefer republics and representative governments.
It seems like your generality is true.
As mankind become more liberal they will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct themselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to the protection of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality. And I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution, and the establishment of their government; or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed. - George Washington
Wow,,thank you for giving me a new topic to research and learn about!
bfl
Read Albion’s Seed—A study of four British Folkways, by David Hackett.
Great stuff on the Scot and Scots/Irish migrations to America and the way they affected the United States in the early years of the colonies and the Republic.
I agree!
You should find a good article and post a thread on it!
“One of my earliest ancestors in America got into a fight with the Presbyterians, Isle of Wight (I think) and they cut off his ear!
I don’t think Presbyterians are like that anymore!”.
uh...Yes, yes we are..He, your ancestor, got off light..
I have always felt that the “congregational” form of religion brought with it many principles that were foundational to our American notion of individual freedom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregational_polity
There is the basic concept of “covenant” - voluntary association and consent of the governed; a written constitution; individual responsibility; representative democracy; independence of local government within a union of like governments (confederation.)
This has always been in conflict with the model of the corporate structure that financed the new colonies. The joint-stock company or commercial corporation was licensed by the Crown, where investors pooled their money to share both risks and profits in a common enterprise. Several large trading companies secured charters from the Crown granting commercial favors in foreign trade, prescribing their form of organization and enabling them to raise money by selling stock. Among these were the Muscovy Company (Russia and central Asia,) the Eastland Company (Baltic,) the Levant Company (Mediterranean,) and the East India Company.
The form of organization prescribed for these companies usually vested control in a 6-20 member council, of which the original or “charter” officers were named. Sometimes the charter also provided for a governor as the head of the company, chosen by the council. Membership in the company, itself, was secured through stock ownership. The smaller stockholders had little to say about general policy, but they met periodically in a general court to elect members to vacancies in the council or occasionally to express their opinion on some major issue of policy.
The American colonies had their government imposed upon them by England following the joint stock company model. It has always been in tension with the congregational form, which is the organic form emanating from the people themselves. The form as continued in the US remains in tension with the spirit.
I was a member of a Presbyterian church for a couple of years. I never went back after the day the minister, from the pulpit, laughed when he announced that Clinton had been found “innocent” of the charges.
He wasn’t found innocent you jerk, he was found guilty but not removed from office. I didn’t say that to him but I wanted to stand up and say it right there in front of God and everybody!
BORN FIGHTING..by James Webb. Great read.
Crown rights of Christ indeed! No king but Jesus is creed of Scots Irish.
Seems to have some similarities to our “checks & balances” gridlock approach, in practice. If you must have a government, make it an ineffective one!
Ding-ding-ding-ding! You get the Cookie of Comprehension, my dear friend.
Good analysis
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