Free Republic

In "Charters", James Madison wrote the following: In Europe, charters of liberty have been granted by power. America has set the example and France has followed it, of charters of power granted by liberty. This is what makes modern revolutionaries so backward. They are stuck on stupid in old-think - that is, that power grants liberty. If only government could get bigger, we could grant the rights to _________________ for whatever special interest group they have in mind at the moment. Like the "right" to healthcare. In the comment "America has set the example", he makes it clear that it's...

The American Revolution was almost contemporaneous with the French one, and politically the two were not unconnected; yet they were profoundly different in character. The American democracy is not founded upon the emancipated man bit. quite the contrary, upon the kingdom of God and the limitation of earthly powers by the sovereignty of God. It is indeed significant when, in contrast to the Declaration of the Rights of Man, American historians can say that the federal constitution was written by men who were conscious of original sin and of the wickedness of the human heart. Earthly wielders of power, and...

Do the citizens of the United States have an absolute right to, by force of arms if necessary, overthrow a government which has, with malicious deliberation, become destructive of those ideals of liberty granted by God and guaranteed by instruments such as the Constitution of the Unites States? Clearly the Founders believed in the existence of such a right. There could be no more axiomatic example than the American Revolution itself! And though these men warned against pursuing such a course for “light and transient causes”, rightly observing that “…mankind are more disposed to suffer…than right themselves by abolishing forms...

THIS IS WHAT A MOB LOOKS LIKE October 5, 2011 by ANN COULTER I am not the first to note the vast differences between the Wall Street protesters and the tea partiers. To name three: The tea partiers have jobs, showers and a point. No one knows what the Wall Street protesters want -- as is typical of mobs. They say they want Obama re-elected, but claim to hate "Wall Street."You know, the same Wall Street that gave its largest campaign donation in history to Obama,who, in turn, bailed out the banks and made Goldman Sachs the fourth branch...

Reflections on the signing of the Treaty of Paris by John F. Di Leo On September 3, 1783, a group of tired diplomats got together at the Hotel d’York, and signed the Treaty of Paris. It was a long time coming. Rumblings of dissatisfaction began to be noticeable during the French and Indian War, growing to a fever pitch in the Stamp Act Congress, then a few years of calm, and then Revolution. From shots fired at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 through the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, the fighting had lasted –...

There's little that's intelligent or informed about Time magazine editor Richard Stengel's article "One Document, Under Siege" (June 23, 2011). It contains many grossly ignorant statements about our Constitution. If I believed in conspiracies, I'd say Stengel's article is part of a leftist agenda to undermine respect for the founding values of our nation. Stengel says: "The framers were not gods and were not infallible. Yes, they gave us, and the world, a blueprint for the protection of democratic freedoms -- freedom of speech, assembly, religion -- but they also gave us the idea that a black person was three-fifths...

He rose to speak in the midst of a colonial war that would prove more than a colonial war but a whole Novus Ordo Seclorum, as it still says on the dollar bill, or A New Order for the Ages. Eloquent rhetorician, thoughtful student of history and insightful analyst of events in his own time, Edmund Burke had decided ideas about what made nations great and what undermined them. The member of parliament for Bristol understood very well what was at stake in the coming conflict over the nature of the British empire: the empire itself. Author, orator, thinker, and...

The words at the beginning of the Declaration of Independence are far more familiar than the closing sentence. “When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,…” are words we know from schooldays. They are the political poetry of our national founding. The words we have not heard enough about are …. closing sentence of this powerful document: “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes...

In February, the British Parliament declared the colony of Massachusetts to be in open rebellion and authorized British troops to kill the violent rebels. They were ordered to destroy all of the stores that had ammunition, rifles, or other arms. Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage, the commander-in-chief of the British Army in America, was given command to quell the rebellion. He gave the orders to the British troops to destroy stores and rebels. He thought that the citizens were planning to collect enough arms to form a rebellion. Some American spies learned of the British orders and sent word to the...

PARKERSBURG - A Meigs County native has written a book about the Battle of Point Pleasant and whether it was the first fought in the Revolutionary War. Charles S. Badgley of the Badgley Publishing Co., Canal Winchester, Ohio, says he often heard while growing up along the river in Meigs County that the battle was the first in the war, the basis of his most recent novel, "A Point of Controversy." Conventional wisdom was the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 were the first in the war of independence. "The controversy has been around a long time, it actually...

Christine O'Donnell describes the tea party movement as "the Second American Revolution" and analyzes the future of the tea party movement at the Northern Virginia Tea party Second Annual Banquet on December 7, 2010, in Falls Church, Virginia.

CARDINAL GIBBONS ON ARCHBISHOP CARROLL The address Cardinal Gibbons delivered the other day before the Catholic Club of Baltimore on the life and character of the first American Bishop afforded the Cardinal an opportunity of showing that the Catholic Church has not lost the impress stamped on her by the patriotic priest who has earned the title of " the Patriarch of the American Church." An American of Americans, Archbishop Carroll could not fail to thoroughly sympathise with his country in her efforts to throw off the English yoke under which she was groaning. The declaration of Independence appealed alike...

I didn't see any comments about Glenn Beck's 1st words on his Friday TV show. He talked about the "Black Robe Regiment", and said that Brits largely blamed churches/preachers for fomenting the Revolution. Then he said as a result, when the Redcoats came here upon the war starting, they burned churches because of this. Then he said they even "locked up people inside and burned them".

Yes, the Tea Party movement is overwhelmingly white. But this writer says the black community should stop being emotional and consider the facts. As a black woman in America, I have remained largely silent about the Tea Party movement and whether the movement itself is ''racist,'' as it is being charged by many in our community, including the leadership of the NAACP. As a community, we should take a step back for a moment and learn how to stop making emotional judgments and consider the facts about the Tea Party movement. I think we can all agree that the Tea...

All of us here support our troops in whatever way each of us can. Today, during this Independence Day weekend, I'd like to take a moment to remember the earlier heroes, the ones without whom we might not have this holiday. Men of character, strong will, and faith. The events of April 19, 1775, set in motion the founding of our great nation, which served as a beacon of freedom and land of hope for the whole world for over 200 years. Recent events have grieved us deeply as we see that ideal slipping away but that's a topic for...

The founder of a beer named after an American Revolutionary hero is pushing for Patriot’s Day to become a national holiday. Jim Koch, founder and owner of the Boston Beer Co., the maker of Sam Adams, says he is launching a personal campaign and starting a petition to begin a movement for the national holiday. Koch said if Patriot’s Day was a national holiday, more Americans would understand the nation’s "revolutionary spirit" and how much the Founder Fathers risked their lives.

George Santayana said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeating history. Today marks the 245 anniversary of the passing of The Stamp Act. It was repealed one year later, however the spark of the American Revolution was ignited. In this most timely hour, let us learn from our history, let us learn from the ways of the sons of liberty, let us be heartened by their example. A spark has been ignited and a new revolution is underway!

Legacy of Boston Tea Party Sullied by Sensationalist Politics By: Chloe Jenkins-Sleczkowski Posted: 2/3/10 The past year has brought on an inreased exposure of tea - not Earl Grey. I am speaking of the Tea Party Movement, the grassroots and conservative-minded (dis-)organization that has been making headlines with its latest shenanigans to reclaim the country for the intellectually lazy. Although some political diversity is a nice change, it does not need to be in the form of griping conservatives who are only making it harder on a president who has more than enough on his plate. The Tea Party...

Few could fathom why 55-year-old John Jay turned down President Adams’s nomination to rejoin the Supreme Court when his two terms as New York’s governor ended. What would lead him, in the hale prime of life, to retire instead to the plain yellow house he’d just built on a hilltop at the remote northern edge of Westchester County, two days’ ride from Manhattan, where visitors were few and the mail and newspapers came but once a week? After 27 years at the forge of the new nation’s founding, why would so lavishly talented a man give up his vital role...

Aleksandra's Note: If anyone has ever doubted the power of words and the ability of a writer of them to light fires under men and women, to embolden hearts, to move people to courageous action, and to inspire true change based on noble virtues and principles for the benefit of mankind, they need only learn the story of Thomas Paine's "Common Sense", a mere "pamphlet" that was published anonymously in 1776. It was this little pamphlet that kicked open the door to the American Revolution and the birth of America. To this day, "Common Sense" remains one of the greatest...

First and foremost, Grand Rants wishes to congratulate Scott Brown in his victory over Atty Gen. Martha Coakley in yesterday’s Massachusetts special election. We salute Sen. Brown, his staff, and his supporters state-wide for running a clean campaign. While a smug President Obama cruised into town last weekend to downplay the Brown threat, mocking Scott’s pickup truck, it was Brown who used his the truck to skillfully navigate through Coakley’s negative campaign, taking only the high roads. Obama and Coakley just didn’t get that this is what America wants and desperately needs at this time. Let them wallow in the...

On April 19, 1775, about 700 British Army regulars were confronted by a small band of armed, colonial farmers in Lexington, Massachusetts. The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising over Lexington Green. This, "shot heard 'round the world," began the first American Revolution. Tomorrow, on January 19th, 2010, the final day of the Usurper's first year, the Second American Revolution will commence in Massachusetts, where, once again, American Patriots, facing overwhelming odds, will strike a blow for American values and freedom. This will be a difficult task. The Massachusetts Democrats are highly skilled at manipulating the...

"This nationwide survey of American adults revealed that nearly every one of us cares about the American Revolution. More than nine in 10 Americans agreed that it is important for us to know the history of and principles forged during America’s War for Independence. This belief is shared by Americans across all demographic categories and political affiliations. Yet when tested on basic knowledge of the American Revolution and our Founding documents, 83 percent of Americans scored an average of 44 percent. We are failing our Founders."

Video from press conference: "America would not exist if it wasn't for the divine hand of providence in not only intervening to win the Revolutionary War but in writing the inspired words of the Constitution. To think that we can save the Constitution without God's help when the government of the United States is corrupt is absurdity," Idaho GOP gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell said.

Finally, Gen. Casimir Pulaski became an American, 230 years after the Polish nobleman died in Georgia fighting for what became the United States. President Barack Obama signed a joint resolution today of the Senate and the House of Representatives that made Pulaski an honorary citizen. Pulaski's contribution to the Americans' effort to leave the British Empire began with a flourish. He wrote a letter to Gen. George Washington, the Revolution's leader, with the declaration: "I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it." Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich, whose home city of...

As American colonists battled for independence, Gen. "Mad" Anthony Wayne captured a British fort in New York at midnight, earning a reputation as a brilliant strategist in the chaos of battle. George Washington rode on horseback to congratulate him in person. Soldiers who noticed his reckless bravery gave him his nickname. Later, the fiery leader trained a fearsome army outside of Pittsburgh in 1792, conquered the Indians and negotiated a treaty with them so the Northwest Territory could be settled.*** After he died at age 51 from an attack of gout, his body rested for 12 years in an oak...

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, Now Met in Congress at Philadelphia, Setting Forth the Causes and Necessity of Their Taking Up Arms.(1) If it was possible for men, who exercise their reason to believe, that the divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by his infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least require from the...

Afterburner with Bill Whittle  A Tale of Two Revolutions: The War of Ideas & the Tragedy of the Unconstrained Vision Sep 9 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   10min Bill Maher, Barack Obama and the Truth About American Exceptionalism Aug 31 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   15min MSNBC & The Great Liberal Narrative: The Truth About The Tyranny of Political Correctness Aug 24 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   13min The Power & Danger of Iconography: The Resistance Steals Obama's Weapons Aug 14 / Afterburner with Bill Whittle   8min Beyond the Angry Mobs: Only You Can Bring Congress...

Radicalism and rebellion can be vilified or canonized without much thought. In the context of the American Revolution, we view the radicalism and rebellion of our founding fathers as good, even sacred. Yet we often use the terms radical and rebel as pejoratives in a modern context. Why is that? Radicalism and rebellion are healthy when the system rebelled against acts to deprive free men of their natural rights. But radicalism and rebellion can also be used against a system which recognizes and preserves those rights. This is the situation we find ourselves in today, with radicals rebelling against the...

Pamela Geller of the Atlas Shrugs & American Thinker wrote a great article entitled: Palin's Commencement Address. She correctly tells us Governor Palin’s farewell Address was just the beginning and, unlike Øbama, an optimistic view of America as our better days are ahead. Øbama, whom sadly believes America’s standing in the world has diminished and our better days are behind us. She hit it on the nose and described perfectly the importance and meaning of Governor Palin. There is an new American Revolution and it is the American People led by Governor Palin verse the Socialist Elitest in the Hollywood-New...

One day in October 1778 as an 18 year old, my 4th great grandfather, picked up his gun and reported for duty with the 8th Albany Militia. He and his fellow citizen- soldiers went into battle against the mighty British Army which was backed up by a large number of Indians. They had no training. All they had was a burning desire to live free and a willingness to back it up with their lives if need be. And that “need be” came later in the week when they faced the British and their Indians at the Battle of Fort...

While reading the following news story: http://uk.reuters.com/article/motoringAutoNews/idUKTRE5406CF20090501 ---------------- I was reminded two very important quotes from John Adams about the American Revolution: * As to the history of the revolution, my ideas may be peculiar, perhaps singular. What do we mean by the Revolution? The war? That was no part of the revolution; it was only an effect and consequence of it. The revolution was in the minds of the people, and this was effected from 1760 - 1775, in the course of fifteen years, before a drop of blood was shed at Lexington. o Letter to Thomas Jefferson (1815-08-24),...

The Second American Revolution (VIDEO)

Flyers:  Available below Range:  Hartford Gun Club Address:  157 South Main St, East Granby, CT 06026 Website:  http://www.hartfordgunclub.com When: April 18-19, 2009 Range Fee:  $10 per shooter per day Camping available: We can pitch tents on the rifle range.  Ten RV/Electric hookups are also available at $10 per night.  There is a clubhouse with restroom and sink. Hotels: Many hotels to choose from near Bradley Intl Airport (Windsor Locks, CT) (~2 miles away)  Holiday Inn, Best Western, Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, LaQuinta Inn, Days Inn, Sheraton, Ramada. (avoid Motel 6!) Directions:    *  Take I-91 to Exit 40...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Largest Marksmanship Event on the Planet World Record Attempt to be Made Locally Contact: [local name and phone number] On April 18 and 19th, the Revolutionary War Veterans Association's "Project Appleseed" rifle marksmanship clinic will be in town at XYZ [location] for a history-making attempt at establishing a world record for the longest cumulative firing line spread over the largest land area in history - a total of 2.5 miles of firing line spread over the North American continent - from California to Florida, Texas to Minnesota, Arizona to Maine. It will be the biggest marksmanship event...

Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776 Back | EyeWitnesstoHistory.com Washington Crosses the Delaware, 1776 December 1776 was a desperate time for George Washington and the American Revolution. The ragtag Continental Army was encamped along the Pennsylvania shore of the Delaware River exhausted, demoralized and uncertain of its future. The troubles had begun the previous August when British and Hessian troops invaded Long Island routing the colonial forces, forcing a desperate escape to the island of Manhattan. The British followed up their victory with an attack on Manhattan that compelled the Americans to again retreat, this time across the Hudson River...

Following the withdrawal of the British army from Boston on 17th March 1776, Washington in the expectation that Howe would attack New York which was held for the Congress marched much of his army south to that city. In fact the British had sailed north to Halifax in Nova Scotia. It was not until the summer of 1776 that Howe launched his attack on New York. The British fleet reached the entrance to the Hudson River on 29th June 1776 and Howe landed on Staten Island on 3rd July. The Congress declared independence the next day. Reinforcements began to arrive...

Very rarely a well written scholarly book directed to the general reader not only corrects profound misperceptions of historical persons and events but also shows the true origin of a basic part of human social action. Such a book is Defending the Declaration by Gary T. Amos.1 This excellent book belongs in the library of every Christian church, college, school, history scholar and teacher, pastor, attorney, and family especially when home schooling. It should be required collateral reading in American history courses (high school and college) dealing with the origins of America. Last but not least it makes a wonderful...

One signed all three bulwarks of the Republic. The other was second only to James Madison as the architect of the Constitution. Robert Morris and James Wilson were two of the most important, yet least publicized, of the Founding Fathers. Why has Philadelphia not commemorated some of its most important citizens? Wilson was according to American Heritage magazine, one of the most underrated Americans in history. Historian Gary Wills wrote, "A signer of the Declaration, a principal drafter of the Federal Constitution, the principal ratifier, and the profoundest theorist of it, Wilson is the least known of the Founding Fathers."...

I've been doing some genealogical research and have traced a couple branches of my family through the Civil War, the Texas War of Independence, and the Revolutionary War. I've also been given the opportunity via some co-workers to join the Sons of the Republic of Texas. I've checked into it, but have also found other historical societies such as the Sons of the Confederacy, and the Sons of the American Revolution. Does anyone out there have any info on these groups as to what it's like to be involved in these groups, and which ones are worth joining?

NEW YORK - "Lafayette, we are here." So said an aide to "Black Jack" Pershing when the American general and his troops reached France in 1917, joining the Allies' war against Germany. It was payback for the service rendered by the Marquis de Lafayette to the fledgling United States in its war for independence 140 years earlier. But "le temps marche," as the French say — time marches on. Memories fade. And while hundreds of American counties, cities, squares, streets and schools bear the name Lafayette, how many people today could identify the Revolutionary War hero? "Not many," says Richard...

Based on David McCullough's 2001 best-selling book, "John Adams," the HBO 7-part mini-series starring Paul Giamatti as John Adams and Laura Linney as Abigail Adams is as important for the message that it sends as it is for the history it conveys. Beginning with young attorney Adams's defense of the British soldiers on trial for the Boston Massacre (for whom he won an acquittal), the story follows the political career and personal life of Adams as he becomes a key member of the Continental Congress, editor/co-drafter of the Declaration of Independence, minister to France and England, vice president, then president....

"Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year."

This day in history...VIDEO

Sorry for the vanity - but I can't think of a better resource than FR regarding this topic. I don't trust Amazonian recommendations. Please, if you can, recommend the best book/s detailing the American Revolution. Not just the battles, but the politics leading up to the war, the writing of the Declaration of Ind., who the signers were ...etc. I'd appreciate any input. Thanks for your time.

Five years into their war to retain control of America, the British thought they were winning. As Piers Mackesy relates in his brilliant, classic history of the American Revolution, The War for America, 1775-1783, the British cabinet believed the rebel cause was disintegrating by 1780. One of the best American generals, Benedict Arnold, had changed sides. Rebel finances were weak. Morale in George Washington's army appeared to be plummeting, and there was talk of mutiny in the rebel camp. The British army had landed in the South and was chewing up American forces there. The intervention of the French on...

A gold and enamel medal that once belonged to the American Revolutionary hero the Marquis de Lafayette goes on auction here Tuesday, and could fetch as much as 10 million dollars, experts said. The medal being sold by Lafayette's descendants was given to the Frenchman in 1824 by relatives of America's first US President George Washington, when Lafayette was 67 years old. The gift was made a quarter-century after the death in 1799 of Washington, who as a general led US troops to victory in their battle for independence against Britain. -snip-

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:On Dec. 3, 1756, Aaron Ogden was born in Elizabethtown, the son of a legislator who would rise to a public service career of his own.Ogden, who served in the military during the American Revolution and the undeclared war against France, grew into a skilled orator and debater. He served in Congress from 1801 to 1803 and was elected governor of New Jersey in 1812. Ogden, who also had business interests in steamboat machinery, later became embroiled in a Supreme Court case concerning the monopoly of steamboat service in New York waters. Drained of his...

 Andrew Wnukowski of Hillside checks his redcoat costume in the glint of a car window. About 5,000 British troops came ashore at Closter Dock in Alpine on Nov. 20, 1776, setting the stage for the redcoats to capture Fort Lee from the upstart American revolutionaries later in the day.   On Saturday, four "soldiers" with red coats, muskets and goatskin backpacks -- along with a dozen or so intrepid "civilians" -- re-created the climb up the Palisades toward the site named after Gen. Charles Lee, who would be court-martialed two years later for disobeying Gen. George Washington's orders during the...

The way Jerry Hurwitz sees it, it doesn't take an Einstein to understand the significance of the hal lowed ground on which a pivotal Revolutionary War Battle of Princeton was fought 230 years ago. Part of the battle on Jan. 3, 1777, was waged on 22 acres of gently sloping farmland now owned by the Institute for Advanced Study. The institute -- an independent, private research institution that counted physicist Albert Ein stein among its faculty -- is adja cent to the 85-acre Princeton Battlefield State Park. But that section of the battlefield was never incorporated into the state park,...