Free Republic

I once admired Jefferson, seeing him as an essentially good, no, great man with one tragic flaw: The writer of the inspiring words “all men are created equal” owned slaves. Now, I see Jefferson as an egregious hypocrite, who willfully betrayed the ideals he espoused. I reached this conclusion only after visiting Monticello, Jefferson’s famous Virginia estate, last month. Previously, I didn't realize the extent of Jefferson’s slave ownership, and I lazily—and ignorantly--excused it as a common ethical blind spot of his time. *Jefferson often denounced slavery. He wrote in 1774, "The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object...

ORLANDO, Fla. — The Obama administration denied millions of dollars in federal funding following the Pulse terror attack. Gov. Rick Scott requested an emergency declaration for $5 million to help response efforts and victims. Federal officials said the state application for emergency declaration did not demonstrate how emergency response is beyond the capability of state and local government.

For some time, I’ve had a squib in mind which connected the Declaration and Constitution. Professor William B. Allen of Michigan State University beat me to it some years ago with a paper that did just that. I encourage the reader to examine the entire work. To the small extent that our Declaration is discussed in the public square and taught to our young anymore at all, discourse is typically limited to the clauses surrounding our unalienable rights and equality before God. Addressed far less often are the specific charges directed at King George III and how our Constitution dealt...

HB 1035, a bill by Rep. Valarie Hodges that would have mandated that schoolchildren in Louisiana be taught the Declaration of Independence, sailed through the House Education Committee with a 6-2 vote. But Wednesday, when the bill reached the floor of the House, it had a different fate – amid a torrent of squabbling, Hodges returned the bill to the calendar and it’s likely finished for the session. The Louisiana House of Representatives has 61 Republican members out of 105, and yet it was apparent no consensus for a cornerstone of basic civics in the state’s public schools did not...

Among the reasons I enjoy Independence Day is that it makes Leftists squirm. They despise the American Revolution. If they could, their scotus judges would gut the Declaration as thoroughly as they have the Constitution. To them, our Noble Declaration, this expression of God-given reason is subversive of social justice; they are right. Since the Declaration is indeed hostile to their moral relativism, the Left has long attempted to minimize our founding to a fuzzy faith in the people. The “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and “all men are created equal,” translates in their Marxist...

There is? Perhaps Hillary Clinton's copy of the US Constitution has bleed-over from a page containing the Declaration of Independence. Pick this up at the 2:12 mark for an interesting lesson in American civics (via Twitchy):(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Hillary Clinton ✔ ‎‎@HillaryClinton Joining @IAmSteveHarvey today to continue the conversation he's been having on guns in America. Don't miss it! "We've got to say to the gun lobby, you know what, there is a constitutional right for people to own guns. But there's also a constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that enables us to have a safe country....

Late in the evening on November 4, 2015, Dr. Ben Carson sat down to his computer, as he reportedly does regularly, to answer questions that had been sent to him on Facebook during the day. His November 4 post had the desired effect. With 300,000 likes and 180,000 shares (at this writing), read aloud by major talk show hosts from Rush Limbaugh in Florida to Joe Walsh in Chicago, this post is the dictionary definition of “going viral.” So as a politician, he deserves congratulations; the post was effective. But as an honest statesman, it fell short. The Question of...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Marine Corps' top aviator flew to an Arizona air base this week as part of a final effort to certify the combat-readiness of an initial squadron of 10 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35B fighter jets, their pilots and technicians. Marine Corps officials were due to brief Lieutenant General Jon Davis, deputy commandant for aviation, on a week-long review which included operational and simulator flights in five core mission areas, an inspection of the maintenance department, and academics for both pilots and technicians. If Davis is satisfied, he will brief Marine Corps Commandant General Joseph Dunford, who...

“What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” Frederick Douglass July 5, 1852 Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens: He who could address this audience without a quailing sensation, has stronger nerves than I have. I do not remember ever to have appeared as a speaker before any assembly more shrinkingly, nor with greater distrust of my ability, than I do this day. A feeling has crept over me, quite unfavorable to the exercise of my limited powers of speech. The task before me is one which requires much previous thought and study for its proper performance. I know...

As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and based on the facts of God’s Word, I DECLARE myself to be FREE INDEED (John 8:36). My liberty is seen in three realms: First, concerning the god of this age, to whom I once belonged, I have been DELIVERED from the power of darkness and have been translated into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col. 1:13), turned from the power of Satan unto God (Acts 26:18). Secondly, concerning my relationship to this world system, my Saviour gave Himself for me that He might deliver and rescue me from this present...

'When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." -- Proverbs 29:2 Don't get me wrong. We'll be barbecuing tomorrow and greatly enjoying the fellowship of family and friends. We'll be lighting off a few celebratory firecrackers, as John Adams suggested we should do. We'll go to the local fireworks display and commemorate our national liberty and independence with our fellow citizens. But, on this particular Independence Day, something important is missing. I can't help but mourn, as traitors, cowards, wicked men, and oath-breakers run amok in American halls of power....

When reading the Declaration of Independence over the holiday weekend, it’s easy to skip over the names of the signers and focus instead on the sweeping language of the second paragraph. This overlooks the fact that the signers pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor in order to found a country upon self-evident truths rooted in the nature of man.

President Calvin Coolidge warned in a speech given MAY 15, 1926, at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia: "But there is another...recent development... the greatly disproportionate influence of organized minorities. Artificial propaganda, paid agitators, selfish interests, all impinge upon members of legislative bodies to force them to represent special elements rather than the great body of their constituency. When they are successful, minority rule is established... ...The result is an extravagance on the part of the Government which is ruinous to the people and a multiplicity of regulations and restrictions for the conduct of all kinds of...

According to Pentagon zombies: The 24,000-employee U.S. Pentagon which, like many government agencies, can only lay claim to having roughly 20 percent of females on staff, is on a crash course to take down the Bible, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence—because all three “contribute to modern sexism”. Why wait for the enemy to finish off the nation’s three top historical treasures when you can do it right at home in the safety of the Defense Department? Barack Obama’s gutting of the military seems to have left mostly sexism-sniffing zombies sitting behind Pentagon desks. Now that the Marxists...

During a heated discussion over gay marriage, CNN morning Anchor Chris Cuomo opined that the unalienable rights endowed to all Americans do not come from God. Cuomo was debating Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. Near the end of the back-and-forth and after Moore argued that rights cannot be handed down by men, Cuomo blurted out:“Our rights do not come from God, your honor, and you know that. They come from man... That’s your faith, that’s my faith, but that’s not our country. Our laws come from collective agreement and compromise.”

Dallas County officials are considering asking Gov. Rick Perry (R) to declare a state of emergency for an area that has reported three cases of Ebola. The county commissioners will meet Thursday afternoon to weigh the option, the Dallas Morning News reported late Wednesday. A state of emergency would activate "appropriate recovery and rehabilitation aspects of all applicable local or interjurisdictional emergency management plans," according to state law. It would also authorize emergency aid and assistance. Governors typically declare a state of emergency after a natural disaster. Perry said Wednesday that he is in daily contact with state health leaders...

Most everyone knows about America's 1776 Declaration of Independence. But did you know that on July 6 a year earlier, Congress initiated a Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms? It's true. According to History, on July 6, 1775, just a day after our Founding Fathers issued their Olive Branch Petition to King George III, Congress gave just reason for taking up arms against Great Britain. In the declaration, they wrote they would rather "die freemen rather than to live slaves." Three months earlier, patriot resistance and "the shot heard round the world" had fired off in...

On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, sharing with her what seemed to him wonderful news. Perhaps the most important decision ever was made by the Second Continental Congress, to declare independence from Great Britain. Such an occasion deserved to be remembered with “solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” There would and should be “Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

To celebrate this Independence Day, I took the Declaration of Independence and broke it down into its sentences. I think it reads much more fluidly, and it shows just how good a writer Jefferson really was. Declaration of Independence [Adopted in Congress 4 July 1776] The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and...

I will not be celebrating the 4th, this year. All freedom loving people should consider July 4th a day of national mourning. 238 years ago a group of men signed the most revolutionary document in the history of the world while pledging to each other their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor "with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence". Pretty remarkable stuff for a group of landowners and attorneys, merchants, ministers and physicians who would without a doubt face death by hanging for treason should their act of rebellion fail. With this in mind, I am...