Posted on 11/06/2001 11:09:07 AM PST by dixie sass
The Following Speech Reflects the Heart and Soul of THE SOUTH CAROLINA CHAPTER OF THE FREE REPUBLIC
Many Americans are concerned that something is wrong in their country today. While the economy is good and personal income is on the rise there is an undercurrent of rising uneasiness that seems to permeate the atmosphere.
Various minority groups cry out to the Federal Government for attention; demanding preferential treatment and demanding exclusive laws that protect their narrow view of just what a "free" country is all about.
Our Federal Government, our Federal Government. You know it is said that when Patrick Henry heard that a central government was to be formed his comments were: "Methinks I've smelt a rat." I can tell him today that the stench is unbearable!
Our Federal Government, once viewed apart from the siren's song of the national media, is totally awash in corruption. Sexual scandals, extortion, bribes, payoffs, and even, dare I say it, crimes that are so heinous as to be unmentionable. Blatant, overt, in your face, crimes, committed by those who asked for the privilege to represent us, crimes that are ignored by those charged with seeking justice. Any person who would attempt to expose this corruption is persecuted, reviled and if possible, prosecuted, and imprisoned in a "government-gone-mad" fantasy scenario of stark reality. Just ask Billy Dale. Just ask Linda Tripp.
Once America was a noble country. There was a time, in my lifetime, when our leaders were RESPONSIBLE men; Men who perceived it their DUTY to serve this nation in an HONORABLE manner. Duty, Honor and Responsibility were words that, were at the heart of the foundations of our government and we gave them purposeful meaning in our lives. Despite vast differences in opinions, beliefs, and even certain lifestyles, America's diverse people lived together in relative harmony, prosperity and most of all, peace. Sadly they seem to have been forgotten in today's turbulent times, and as a result we have confusion and chaos run rampant in our society. Most people simply tune out the reality, and live in a world of denial; yet that feeling of foreboding cannot be dismissed.
What has happened to us? Why are things the way they are today? I asked myself that question over and over again as prepared this text, and quite suddenly it came to me. Very simple. We have lost our sense of history and we have rejected our Heritage.
Like it or not America was founded on Christian principles.
John Adams said: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion….. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." The main reason we are in this current deficiency of any morality in this nation is because we have allowed the Socialists, the Liberals, the godless Communists to undermine our beliefs. We have allowed them positions of power in our government and in our schools, and now we are paying the price.
It is impossible to separate this nation from its Christian past. The reminders of our heritage are carved in our buildings and monuments and preserved in our historical documents. It is our HISTORY
I speak of the gift of freedom that our ancestors bequeathed to us. Our inheritance; which we have squandered because we appear to be too lazy to do anything about preserving that freedom. Do we really understand what it cost them to procure and preserve freedom? I don't think we do. Allow me to refresh your memory just a little.
Robert Drummery tells us in his tribute to the Founders that: The beginning of the storm was the passage of the Stamp Act in 1765, not so much at the amount of the taxes exacted as at the realization that this was only the opening move in a program of confiscatory taxation. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, argued "If Parliament may take from me one shilling in the pound, what security have I for the other nineteen?"
Though the Stamp Act was repealed there were other measures enacted that had the cumulative effect of "the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states."
Finally on June 7th, 1776 Richard Henry Lee put before the congress the following resolution:
RESOLVED, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.
On June 28th the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was put before Congress. On July 2nd the vote for Independence was approved and on July 4th the, now revised, Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed by the President of the Congress John Hancock of Massachusetts.
The formal signing took place on August the 2nd. Who were these men? They ranged in age from 26 to 70. Eleven were prosperous merchants, nine were wealthy farmers or landowners, and 24 were lawyers or judges. The colonies' most respected doctors, educators, and clergymen were numbered among their ranks. Were they so different from those of us here today?
It was reported that that John Hancock said as he signed his name in large bold letters, "There! His Majesty can now read my name without spectacles, and can now double his reward of 500 pounds for my head. That is my defiance."
Hancock is also reported to have said, "we must be unanimous. There must be no pulling different ways; we must all hang together." To which the witty Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania gave the quote that is now so familiar: "Yes, we must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."
As the official signing was about to take place William Ellery of Rhode Island said he moved close to the signing table "to see how they all looked as they signed what might be their death warrants." And said that "undaunted resolution was displayed on every countenance."
Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island, was afflicted with palsy, and in his sixties said as he signed. "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."
Charles Carroll, a new delegate from Maryland and one of the wealthiest men in America, replied as he was asked by Hancock if he would sign: "Most willingly," certainly knowing that he was signing away his fortune.
Whatever they were that day they were under no illusions. They knew they were committing an act of high treason against the Crown and that the penalty for doing so was death by hanging. They understood quite clearly that they were indeed pledging "to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."
In point of fact, disaster and ruin was the lot of many of the signers. Nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were jailed and brutally treated.. Seventeen signers lost everything they owned, and all of them were hunted as traitors, with most separated from their homes and families.
The first signer to die was John Morton of Pennsylvania. Morton must have been a "fuzzy liberal" because he had been sent to Philadelphia to oppose independence, but once faced with the facts changed his mind. After having done so he was ostracized by his family and friends. Morton, was deeply hurt particularly when he was ignored even after he fell gravely ill early in 1777. On his deathbed, John Morton sent these final words to those who had rejected him: Concerning the signing of the Declaration he said "Tell them that they will live to see the hour when they shall acknowledge it--- to have been the most glorious service that I ever rendered to my country."
New York signers - William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, and Lewis Morris - were particularly vulnerable to British retaliation. On August 22nd, the British began landing 22,000 troops on Long Island and the Redcoats laid waste to most of the countryside, destroying in the process the homes and lands of the four who signed for New York.
The wife of William Floyd escaped with her children by boat across Long Island Sound into Connecticut and died in 1781 without ever again seeing her home.
Philip Livingston lost two homes and much of his business property, but was able to sell some of his remaining holdings. And what did he do with the money? Renounce his allegiance? Betray his friends? NO! He used the proceeds to help maintain the credit of the United States. He died in 1778 while separated from his family by the war.
New Jersey. John Hart, at the insistence of his dying wife, finally left her bedside to flee as a party of Hessians approached his farm. He was hunted by soldiers and dogs and was forced to hide in the woods and caves of the Sourland Mountains. When at last he was able to return to his home, John Hart found that his wife had died and his 13 children were scattered throughout the countryside or in captivity. His own health began to deteriorate and he was dead by the third anniversary of the signing of the Declaration, never having seen any of his children.
Richard Stockton was betrayed and seized by the British, who subjected him to beatings and starvation. When he was finally freed in a prisoner exchange, he was an invalid who died a short time later at the age of 51.
During the siege of Yorktown in 1781, the British forces were under heavy attack from some 16,000 American troops, 3,000 Virginia militia, and the French fleet. The militia commander was signer Thomas Nelson Jr., who noticed that the artillery gunners were shelling everything in the vicinity except his own stately brick mansion, which was being used as British headquarters. "Why do you spare my house?" Nelson demanded of the gunners. "Sir, out of respect to you," an artilleryman replied. "Give me the cannon," Nelson shouted. The next round from the gun went through the mansion, killing the British officers inside and destroying the Nelson home.
Nelson, said he was only honoring a pledge he had made six years before. In the House of Burgesses he had declared, "I am a merchant of Yorktown, but I am a Virginian first, Let my trade perish. I call to God to witness that if any British troops are landed in the County of York, of which I am Lieutenant, I will wait no orders, but will summon the militia and drive the invaders into the sea!" Nelson raised more than 2 million for the Revolutionary cause by pledging his own estates. When those loans came due a newer, peacetime congress refused to honor them. And Nelson's property was forfeited. He was never reimbursed. He died in poverty a few years later at the age of 50. It would appear that the government began stealing and cheating the people as soon as it was formed.
Joseph Hewes of North Carolina was a Quaker with a long pacifist heritage, opposed to .independence. After much soul-searching, Hewes decided that his belief in liberty outweighed his pacifist convictions, and he joined those urging independence. During the war he devoted a super-human effort to outfitting the Continental Navy, activity which alienated him from his fellow Quakers. "My country is entitled to my services, and I shall not shrink from the cause, even though it should cost me my life," he declared. And so it did, Joseph Hewes died in 1779, literally from overwork, still separated by principle from his friends and family.
Despite all the hardships, despite all the death, the destruction, the poverty, the sacrifice; not one, of the signers ever betrayed his pledged word. There were no defectors. No one changed his mind. Lives and fortunes were lost, but their sacred honor was never sacrificed.
And what of the common man, the common soldier; nameless faces that followed those leaders? Let us take a look.
Washington attacked Trenton on Dec. 26th 1776. Do you know how many men he lost? Three were wounded; do you know how many died? Two. Do you know how they died? They froze to death on the march.
John Stoudt, a civilian merchant, wrote in his journal on Feb. 16th 1777:
For some days there has been little less than a famine in the camp. Naked and starving as they are, we cannot enough admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the soldiery, that they have not been excited ere this by their suffering, to a general mutiny and dispersion, Indeed, the distress of this army for want of provisions is perhaps beyond anything you can conceive.
Washington himself, ever given to understatement, said of his men.
No history now extant can furnish an instance of an army's suffering such uncommon hardships as ours had done and bearing them with the same patience and fortitude. To see men without clothes to cover their nakedness, without blankets to lie on, without shoes (for the want of which their marches might be traced by the blood from their feet) and submitting without a murmur, is a proof of patience and obedience which in my opinion can scarce be paralleled.
That is our heritage. Freedom given to us by Men of HONOR, Men of SACRIFICE, Men of GREATNESS!
I find in the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms from July 6, 1775 statements which sums up the heart of our Founders:
We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. -- Honour, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.
Where is honor? Where is our pledge? Where is our resolve to retain at all costs that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us? What have we become that we can so basely ignore the almost total loss of the freedoms that these men died to give to us?
Closer to home and our present day, there is a long, black, granite wall in Washington DC with the names of 58 thousand plus Americans who were sacrificed because of the unscrupulous ambitions of sorry self-serving politicians. Those men and women forever etched in that wall answered the call to defend America's freedom. Regardless of the truth behind their sacrifice the stepped forward as Americans to battle tyranny.
They gave their lives that we might be here today. For us to fail to act, to organize, to petition, to give our all in the struggle to return America to its greatness is to dishonor their sacrifice. It is to dishonor our Founders. And it dishonors ourselves.
How do you stand face to face with those Heroes and explain to them why you did nothing when your country need you the most? How do you tell a man who froze to death fighting to give you freedom that you just couldn't quite muster the energy to do anything? How could you explain that, in this day of comfort and convenience that his sacrifice helped to make possible you did nothing, nothing, to preserve his gift to you? There is no honorable answer. There is no reason. There is no excuse.
Many years ago a wise man said: "We must do more than hear, we must listen. We must do more than listen, we must understand. We must do more than understand, we must act.
We, the members of the South Carolina Chapter of Free Republic have heard, have listened, and fully understand the sacrifices that our Founders so bravely suffered to give us the gift of freedom. We will be silent no longer.
Join us for we shall fight to restore a sense of responsibility in the people. Fight to restore a sense of duty to those that ask to serve us. Fight to restore honor to the people, our government and our nation.
The South Carolina Chapter of the Free Republic
"Conservative Americans united in restoring the Constitutional Principles of our Founding Fathers."
The South Carolina Chapter meets the 3rd Saturday of each month at Ryan's, St. Andrews Blvd, Columbia, SC at 1 o'clock PM. You may contact us at SCFreeRepublic@angelfire.com
Oh - John, heard from my son. He is fine as well as his boss and his bosses family. Thank you again!
What am I to make of this post?
One of the latter paragraphs speaks of duty and responsibility. To what or to whom?
IIRC our previous dialogue, my interest in a single issue, as bellwether of the Bill of Rights, was somehow damned. Why and for what?
Was it mere happenstance that the Right To Keep And Bear Arms is second only to the most vital of the enumerated rights?
Is my contention, that this most vital enumerated Right is anile, a contention too controversial for discussion? Is it too strongly stated or in language too erudite for SC-inians?
Where to take the first bite of the elephant?
That being said in answer to your quite patronizing statement, no Amendment in the Bill of Rights is any more important than the other, with the possible exception to the Tenth which is universally accepted by Constitutional scholars around the country as the single Amendment which guarantees the other nine within the sovereignty of states. You ignore the First and it impacts the Second. That impact on the Second directly affects and effects the Third . . . and so on. Each relies heavily on the other. They are a body in toto, not to be taken singularly.
This speech is part and parcel of our chapter's Mission Statement. I am of the opinion that dixie sass posted it here to remind everyone of just exactly what example of bravery we're trying to live up to these days.
Also, it would be refreshing if you chose a few new words to replace "erudite" and "anile". Looking back over the locale, you've used those two to death.
W7NCD "quibble...an evasion of or shift from the point : EQUIVOCATION ... a minor objection or criticism."
This really isn't about YOU. If you've nothing to add then why contribute? Or do you believe that an appeal to authority is a strong rhetorical argument? I was taught that PhD was an acronym for Piled Higher and Deeper.
I like the word ANILE because you don't
This is a fine example of why conservatives can't and will never make any headway in politics - fighting and jockying for position - meantime forgetting what and were we stand has caused us to lose more elections.
The men and women who so willing gave up everything for the cause of liberty would look at these flame wars with disgust.
Responsibility to GOD, FAMILY, COUNTRY
BUT I KINS UNDERSTAND ITS REAL GOOD /SMARTALEC OFF/
REALLY A GREAT POST DIXIE KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK
RESPONSIBILITY
It is a unique concept.
It can only reside and inhere in a single individual.
You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished.
You may delegate it, but it is still with you.
You may disclaim it, but you cannot divest yourself of it.
Even if you do not recognize it, or admit its presence, you cannot escape it.
If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion of ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else.
Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.
It's too bad that we are still bent on destroying the culture he founded.
If there is any place that nuclear waste of any description should reside then it is here in South Carolina. Here is likely the largest concentration of radiological knowlege and experience in the world.
Instead we are fed daily pap by the media, local and national, of the hazards of technology.
Then I guess that shouldn't be surprising considering that we just authorized a lottery. Surprising coincidence of numbers, isn't it, that the risks of nuclear power, the risks from BIG-Anthrax and the possibility of winning the lottery are all the same sized numbers.
Truly...The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.
Reading this is wonderful, but it doesn't give it the justice of alligator eye's emotional presentation it that first morning....
Well good for you. Whatever helps your ego.
Now why not try discussing the gist of this speech and stop the puerile comments toward me. I think Dixie posted Alligator Eye's speech because she loves this country and wanted very much to have people understand what these men went through to leave it to us. Try focusing on that.
Was he not incredible that morning? His voice choking, the palpable emotion that permeated the room as he spoke? That's why I made it a part of our chapter's Mission Statement - lest we ever forget.
RESPONSIBILITY . . . It can only reside and inhere in a single individual.
Let's talk about this briefly. As the lottery eats up the state, which it will surely do, how do we make the voters who helped to vote this into being realize the resonsibility of their single, individual action - the single vote they cast - and its eventual impact on the state. There must be a way to wake them up to the thing they've released. It's not a bad project for the SCFreepers to take on. We've certainly delegated projects out for each individuals specific passion. A lottery educational process without benefit of government input.
I'm sure as they cast that lottery vote they actually thought the next morning they could rush out and purchase their lottery ticket and within the week hit the jackpot. They're still waiting. They can't all be unreachable.
It much preceeds your FR screen name/membership. It is a synthesis of my reading these
The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray (Free Press, NY, 1994 ISBN 0-02-914673-9) It is in this work and its reception that I find the "conspiracy"
Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science by Alan Sokal and Jean Bricmont (Picador, NY, 1998 ISBN 0-312-19545-1). Herein a copy of Sokal's Social Text essay "Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity."
A House Built on Sand: Exposing Postmodernist Myths About Science edited by Noretta Koertge (Oxford, NY, 1998 ISBN 0-19-511725-5).
The Flight From Science and Reason edited by Paul R. Gross, Norman Levitt and Martin Lewis (NY Acad. Sci., NY, 1997 ISBN 0-8018-5676-0) and others by Gross and Levitt, not least, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science (JHU, Baltimore, 1994).
Your ad hominem comments are, indeed, tiresome. This is the big pond, Froggy! I welcome debate and dialogue but it should be conducted logically, rationally and with polite rhetoric.
The speech is a fine historical exposition with which I have no quarrel. The rub is in advancing words, like the words of the speech or mine, into effective action.
Waving a flag like the Stars and Bars or the Stars and Stripes is a fine rallying cry but unless it is in front of the troops and unless it leads then it only stirs the blood to passion.
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