Free Republic

Full Title: Last check for $800 Abraham Lincoln wrote the day before he was assassinated is discovered after 150 years (and it's now worth $25,000) A personal check that Abraham Lincoln wrote the day before he was assassinated is among those that were rediscovered by an Ohio bank. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reports that 70 checks were found in a vault at Huntington Bank's Columbus headquarters, including checks signed by George Washington, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Thomas Edison. Some are being displayed at branches throughout the state. The Lincoln check had been made out to 'self' for $800.

Rick Santorum's near-miss in Iowa provides a reminder that, for many Republican voters (and not a few candidates), religion and politics overlap. If you need another reminder, though, consider this: recently, the Smithsonian has restored and put on display a weird and fantastic 19th century book known as "The Jefferson Bible." That's Jefferson as in Thomas, and this private, personal document offers a useful case study in how politics and Christianity have mixed it up in American history, right up to today. To understand Jefferson's Bible, you need to start with the one book he published in his lifetime: "Notes...

William Jefferson Appeal Could Weaken Corruption StatuteBy Amanda Becker Roll Call Staff Dec. 12, 2011, Midnight A federal prosecutor warned Friday that if the conviction of former Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) is reversed on appeal, it would place many fraudulent acts committed by lawmakers outside the scope of current bribery law. Jefferson was convicted of 11 corruption charges in 2009, but his legal team is arguing that since the former Congressman’s scheme to connect businesses in which he had a financial stake with foreign governments was not related to his formal legislative duties, his activities are not covered by the...

Conservative Black man Herman Cain should be flattered by his accuser’s smear tactics. It means that the Leftist media are actually threatened and taking his candidacy far more seriously than they would like to have us believe. They are using the allegation of him as a “Serial Sexual Predator” because they can not use their other favorite weapon—the “Racism” charge or “Borking” (original intent) as it is affectionately known in Progressive circles. The reason Mr. Cain should be flattered is that he is in very good company: another Black Conservative Judge Clarence Thomas (Anita Hill) and Founder Thomas Jefferson (Sally...

Was the Declaration of Independence legal? In Philadelphia, American and British lawyers have debated the legality of America's founding documents.On Tuesday night, while Republican candidates in Nevada were debating such American issues as nuclear waste disposal and the immigration status of Mitt Romney's gardener, American and British lawyers in Philadelphia were taking on a far more fundamental topic. Namely, just what did Thomas Jefferson think he was doing? Some background: during the hot and sweltering summer of 1776, members of the second Continental Congress travelled to Philadelphia to discuss their frustration with royal rule.By 4 July, America's founding fathers approved...

Part I – The Origin of Liberty The United States became a nation through a grand self-declaration of independence on July 4, 1776. The American colonialists-turned-revolutionaries fought a valiant and victorious battle against Great Britain to back up the audacious claim made in their Declaration of Independence. In 1788 the Constitution of the United States was ratified. A new nation was born that would stand as the bastion of liberty for centuries to come because of its religious influence. Ironically, many citizens of this very same nation today writhe at the suggestion that religion is, or could be, responsible for...

This coming November, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History will exhibit a cut-and-paste Bible of a mere 86 pages. Were it the work of David Wojnarowicz (the artist behind the crucifix video) or Andres Serrano (of "Piss Christ" fame), this Bible would doubtless stir up a hornet's nest. But in fact, it was created by Thomas Jefferson. During the election of 1800, Jefferson was denounced as a "howling atheist" and "a confirmed infidel" known for "vilifying the divine word, and preaching insurrection against God." But the Virginian also revered Jesus as "the first of human Sages" and was, according...

WASHINGTON—The alleged liaison between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings entered a new phase upon the release of an updated scholarly report at the National Press Club on Sept. 1. The “Jefferson-Hemings Controversy: Report of the Scholars Commission” seeks to overturn the widely held belief that the author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States had an affair with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, and was the father of one or more of her children. The liaison has gained acceptance and notoriety in popular culture. In February 2000, “Sally Hemings: An American Scandal” was shown...

In a book due out Thursday, eminent scholars say it's unlikely that Thomas Jefferson fathered Sally Hemings' children, disputing a decade's worth of conventional wisdom that the author of the Declaration of Independence sired offspring with one of his slaves. The debate has ensnared historians for years, and many thought the issue was settled when DNA testing in the late 1990s confirmed that a Jefferson male fathered Hemings' youngest son, Eston. But, with one lone dissenter, the panel of 13 scholars doubted the claim and said the evidence points instead to Jefferson's brother Randolph as the father.

Ex-New Orleans politician guilty of racketeeringPublished: Tue, July 26, 2011 @ 11:45 a.m. NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A former New Orleans councilwoman connected to a corruption-tainted ex-Louisiana congressman has been convicted of conspiring to loot more than $1 million from charities run with taxpayer money. Federal jurors on Monday convicted 56-year-old Renee Gill Pratt of one count of racketeering and she faces up to 20 years in prison when sentenced Oct. 26. **SNIP** Jefferson was convicted in 2009 on corruption charges over his African business ties. He’s free pending appeals. Gill Pratt insisted Monday that she is innocent. She is...

"I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution ... taking from the federal government their power of borrowing." -- Thomas Jefferson (Letter of November 26th, 1798)

Representative Jim Moran (D-Va) insisted that GOP use of former president Thomas Jefferson’s opposition to government borrowing to bolster the case against raising the debt limit is “unfair” and “inappropriate.” “First of all, Jefferson was one of the founders of the Democratic Party,” Moran contended. “If anyone is going to interpret what he stood for that right belongs to members of that same Party. The GOP’s attempt to enlist him for their cause is unfair.” “Second, even if Jefferson may have expressed an aversion to borrowing as a policy position, his behavior was quite the contrary,” Moran continued. “Jefferson loved...

How much do you know about the men who lead the American colonies toward independence and through the first few years as the United States of America? Test your knowledge of some of the most important men in American history and the roles they played during those first turbulent years. Take The Quiz

Rep. Bill Jefferson corruption case appellate arguments scheduledBy Times-Picayune Staff Updated: Saturday, June 25, 2011, 9:03 AM After a series of lengthy delays, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tentatively scheduled oral arguments for former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's appeal of his corruption conviction. A three-judge panel in the Richmond, Va., court announced that it plans to hear the arguments sometime between Sept. 20 and Sept. 23. A Virginia jury found Jefferson, a nine-term New Orleans Democrat, guilty of 11 of 16 corruption charges in August 2009. The jury found that Jefferson demanded, and in some cases received,...

The 2012 presidential election cycle is underway. With the Democratic candidate a foregone conclusion, there is not much uncertainty about where the Democratic Party is going. For better or worse, Democrats will likely continue to “dance with who brung them,” meaning Barack Obama and his brand of 21st century liberalism. Not so on the Republican side. After historic defeats and victories in the past two elections, respectively, the Republican Party has yet to define itself for the future. It must come to grips with the fact that its miraculous comeback in 2010, after crushing defeats in the presidential and congressional...

Why it matters that our democracy trust in GodFATHER ROBERT BARRONI was pleased to see that the United States Supreme Court recently dismissed a suit brought by Michael Newdow, a Sacramento man who wanted to remove the phrase “In God We Trust” from the nation’s coins and paper currency, as well as from the fronts of our public buildings. The tired argument that the gentleman brought forward was that this custom somehow violates the first amendment guarantee that the government shall make no law either establishing an official religion or prohibiting the free exercise of religion in the United...

Park Police Investigate Arrests for Dancing at Jefferson Memorial By RUSSELL GOLDMAN May 30, 2011— The U.S. Park Police are investigating whether excessive force was used in the arrest of five protesters Saturday, who silently danced in the interior of the Jefferson Memorial to protest a recent ruling against dancing at federal monuments. Videos posted to YouTube over the weekend show park police officers in light blue polo shirts handcuffing dancers. It looked as if one protester, who was wearing a "Disobey" T-shirt, had been body-slammed by an officer, and choked. In a YouTube video of Saturday's incident, when a...

Seems like a lot of folks present old Thomas Jefferson as not being a Christian, not being religious, being a Deist, and just different from the other fifty-five signers of the Constitution. It seems folks just like to shoot off their mouth to prove a point without making sure what their shooting is good ammunition. I especially like the use of Mr. Jefferson statement of the “wall between church and state” to denote “the separation of church and state.” It sounds so good but was that what he meant? Mr. Jefferson, are you are Christian? “(My views on Christianity) are...

Mose Jefferson dies after battle with cancerReported by: WIRE and STAFF reports Last Update: 5/12 8:16 pm Mose Jefferson, political operative and brother of former Rep. William Jefferson, died after a battle with cancer, according to attorney Mike Fawer. Mose Jefferson was serving a 10-year federal prison sentence at North Carolina's Butner Federal Medical Center after being convicted of bribery. He passed away at 3 p.m. **SNIP** Jefferson was scheduled to stand trial on racketeering conspiracy charges, but that trial was pushed back because of his illness. Jefferson's sister, former New Orleans tax assessor Betty Jefferson, and her daughter, Angela...

Current state of affairs - brought to measure by the forebodings of yester-year and the pillars of our Great Nation regarding... I. THE WITHOLDING OF INFORMATION: "Information is the currency of democracy." "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." II. THE ENCROACHMENT OF GOVERNMENT: "Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?" "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." "My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government." III. OUR...

Some commentators love the Libya war; others hate it. But most agree that it’s profoundly unnatural that we were pushed into it by… France. Welcome to the post-American world. In the age we’re entering, most of the time, the choice will no longer be between humanitarian interventions controlled by the United States and humanitarian interventions where other nations take the lead. The choice will be between humanitarian interventions where other nations take the lead and no humanitarian interventions at all. A comparison with the 1990s illustrates the point. In the early 1990s, when the former Yugoslavia began breaking up, and...

Feds back Jefferson verdict111-page filing says jury got it right Bruce Alpert - Washington bureau Saturday, March 12, 2011 WASHINGTON -- A federal jury properly found that former Rep. William Jefferson engaged in "numerous bribe schemes" to "unjustly enrich himself and his family," so a federal appeals court should allow the jury's guilty verdict to stand, prosecutors say. In a 111-page filing late Thursday to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., the prosecutors urged the court to reject Jefferson's argument that the verdict, guilty on 11 of 16 corruption charges, must be thrown out. Jefferson's attorneys argued...

"In Resolve with the Citizens of the United States of America, we citizens do united and express our grievances for redress; having done so and received no response but be ignored repeatedly do solemnly and humbly re-Declare our Independence. The people of these United States are and ought to be and remain in liberty with freedoms for all. No man or group of men has a right to withhold liberty from the people, so given their liberty by birth under their creator. We have tried for redress yet each grievance received upon deaf ears. The time now has come where...

"I wish it were possible to obtain a single amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend on that alone for their reduction of the administration of our government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I mean an additional article, taking from the federal government the power of borrowing." – Thomas Jefferson. Source: letter to John Taylor, November 26, 1798 NEW ORLEANS, La. – Americans fed up with expanding federal debt, officially at $14 trillion, may soon revive Jefferson's wish and address it without begging to Congress. The National Debt Relief Amendment, with legislative sponsors in 10...

Dozens of Thomas Jefferson's books, some including handwritten notes from the nation's third president, have been found in the rare books collection at Washington University in St. Louis. Now, historians are poring through the 69 newly discovered books and five others the school already knew about, and librarians are searching the collection for more volumes that may have belonged to the founding father. Even if no other Jefferson-owned books are found, the school's collection of 74 books is the third largest in the nation after the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia.

Today we celebrate a federal holiday, which is much more about giving your public servants another day off than it is to honor the names of Jefferson and Washington. They can be honored without sending the workers home. But why in the plural? It’s because of the egalitarian necessity not to judge, we suspect. After all, who are we, mere American citizens, to say one president is better than another? Let’s lump ‘em all together and celebrate the U.S. Grants and Jimmy Carters too! Pollster Rasmussen Reports has an interesting survey on (or sort of on) point: . . .

For a scholarly work I may try to crank out, I was wondering...Under what conditions do a people, according to Jefferson, have a right to revolt or rebel? The obvious answer is; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends,...

"To preserve [the] independence [of the people,] we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such debts as that we must be taxed in our meat and in our drink, in our necessaries and our comforts, in our labors and our amusements, for our callings and our creeds, as the people of England are, our people, like them, must come to labor sixteen hours in the twenty-four, give the earnings of fifteen of these to the government for their debts...

Thomas Jefferson was extremely vocal regarding his fear of the aggregation of power in any branch of the government. As such, he viewed the role of the Supreme Court as being one of restricting the growth of any government agency that went beyond its Constitutional authority. He certainly did not envision a court that spent its time waving a metaphorical magic wand over the expansion of faux Constitutional power. That is, I suspect he would have smiled upon the Court’s belatedly ensuring that a black citizen’s voting rights were secure but looked askance at most of the rest of the...

Most principals in William Jefferson case doing poorly a year after his sentencingBy Bruce Alpert, Times-Picayune Published: Sunday, November 28, 2010, 9:00 AM A little more than a year after he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for public corruption, former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson from New Orleans remains free pending an appeal that likely won't be resolved until the spring or early summer. But for some of the people and businesses caught up in what federal prosecutors called a web of shakedown schemes orchestrated by Jefferson, no appeals court ruling will reverse the bankruptcies, loss of business and...

The FREE Revalue America Tour is coming to the Albany area this week. Please be sure to check out their web site for more information. This is a two hour event to highlight A Thomas Jefferson Education. Coverage will include topics such as: •Summary of the State of American Education •Solutions for a Nation in Crisis •Moral Center of Families •3 Steps to Reviving American Confidence •The Real Story of the American Founding •The Proper Role of Government •The Secret Role of Mothers and Fathers Events are being held in Albany, Saratoga Springs, Schenectady, and Selkirk. See the flyer for...

You seem . . . to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. Their maxim is "boni judicis est ampliare jurisdictionem, '' and their power the more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has...

Famous Explorer's Relatives Deny Suicide Talk, Seek to Dig Up Body Meriwether Lewis conquered rivers, mountains and bears leading the Lewis and Clark Expedition across 8,000 miles of wilderness from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean and back. Two centuries later, relatives of Mr. Lewis are having a tough time moving his remains down 80 miles of paved Tennessee highway from a national park to a forensic lab. Mr. Lewis's body rests beneath a 20-foot-high stone monument at milepost 385.9 of the Natchez Trace Parkway. A plaque next to the gravesite states that it was here, in 1809, three years...

While doing the MSM circuit this week, American University professor Akbar Ahmed told some whoppers about Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin Akbar Ahmed, the chair of Islamic studies at American University, has advised many government officials, including General Petraeus, Richard Holbrooke, and George W. Bush. He speaks regularly on BBC and CNN, and has appeared on many U.S. shows, including Oprah and Nightline.To oppose the “burn the Quran� event planned by Pastor Terry Jones, Ahmed wrote an editorial for CNN in which he stated: Not only are the actions of Jones contrary to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, but...

The great American tradition of individualism, entrepreneurship and revolution is being systematically undermined by a cadre of financial strongmen bent on turning us into just another "banana republic" - where a subdued and apathetic population is subjugated by a ruling class of wealthy oligarchs. The gross irony is that the same capitalist system that molded America into the strongest, most productive and richest nation in history, has been transformed into a mostly private moneymaking enterprise whose beneficiaries are those who actually produce nothing but paper profits. The story of America's transformation from great experiment to another banana republic is one...

'The race card is maxed out." That was the punch line for a re cent hilarious exchange on "The Daily Show" in which Larry Wilmore, the faux news program's "senior black correspondent," reported that the race card is not only over its credit limit but is in fact "void during a black presidency." This discovery came in the wake of Maxine Waters' allegation that her political problems stem from a racially biased congressional ethics investigation. Wilmore said he should have seen this coming, given that "the Congressional Black Caucus has been overusing the race card for years." Like when it...

In a recently published book, 'Nullification,' author Tom Woods maintains that states have a power to nullify laws that exceed the powers of Congress to enact. This claim has a long history, some of it distinguished–as in the case of Wisconsin’s resistance to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850–some of it not. But is the claim warranted? Last week, I was on Freedom Watch, Judge Andrew Napolitano’s new show on Fox Business Channel to discuss the matter. Judge Napolitano blurbed Woods’s book and the segment was devoted largely to him making his case. I got to make 2 statements to...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Preservation scientists at the Library of Congress have discovered that Thomas Jefferson, even in the act of declaring independence from England, had trouble breaking free from monarchial rule. In an early draft of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson wrote the word "subjects," when he referred to the American public. He then erased that word and replaced it with "citizens," a term he used frequently throughout the final draft.

After independence, Jefferson explained that the Declaration was "an expression of the American mind" intended to "give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion." The result is a timeless document the spirit of which is as applicable today as it was then. The people have the means at their disposal to take back our country and the government from the disconnected oligarchy in Washington. However, this only works if Americans actually step up. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, the country will only be a republic if the people are strong enough to keep it.

The tenderest words in American political history were cut from the document they were to have graced. It was July 1, 2 ,3 and 4, 1776, in the State House in Philadelphia. America was being born. The Continental Congress was reviewing and editing the language of the proposed Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson, its primary author, was suffering the death of a thousand cuts. The tensions over slavery had been wrenching, terrible, and were resolved by brute calculation: to damn or outlaw it now would break fragile consensus, halt all momentum, and stop the creation of the United States....

It's that time of year... all three of my children are sick with summer colds. To cheer them up last night, I went to the folks at JibJab and, with the help of their website, produced this video. I've watched it about 700 times at this point, and I thought some of you might enjoy it as well. So before I begin writing my scathing analyses of Kagan, the Arizona immigration case, Obama's golf game and other pressing matters, I'm going with a humorous diversion :)

"The Declaration of Independence was the Declaration of Responsibility too." - Sarah Palin

On a hill in New England I can see a tree. A tree that was started from a little seed and grew into a mighty Elm. It has survived and flourished for over 200 years, through many storms, droughts and famines. The tree stood on that hill through thick and thin. Providing a meeting place for many great men, protecting them from the elements....while they organized and banded together. But the tree has seen great famines, storms and droughts in the last 40 years and has been slowly dying. Some rotting bark here, a limb falling off there and never...

*** (When I make this mark ***, I am noting a place a Blue GOP centrist sub/urbanite is apt to disagree and hang up. Instead, I invite you to comment and/or disagree, or at least reconsider and continue reading. I promise not to say anything petty about your side…or tell a Mitch joke…but do try to put your whole mind to this. I’ll admit you’re my betters if you’ll admit you have a real short attention span.) The Hook I was at a party Friday with an old friend and long time Virginia Republican Party insider. A strong conservative when...

Jurors thought ex-Congressman William Jefferson's transgression was more than bribery: Stephanie GraceBy Stephanie Grace, The Times-Picayune April 20, 2010, 7:40AM Almost as soon as a Virginia jury delivered a split verdict on the federal case against U.S. Rep. William Jefferson last summer, an irony emerged: Jurors may have convicted Jefferson on 11 of 16 counts, but they acquitted him on the one charge stemming from the investigation's singularly memorable detail, the $90,000 cash that the feds had found stuffed into Boca Burger and Pillsbury Pie Crust boxes in Jefferson's Washington freezer. Interviews with several jurors in the months since the...

American Minute for April 13th: He drafted the Declaration of Independence, was Governor of Virginia and founded the University of Virginia. As the 3rd U.S. President, he approved the Louisiana Purchase and had Lewis and Clark explore it. He sent the Marines to stop the Muslim Barbary Pirates of Tripoli. His name was Thomas Jefferson, born APRIL 13, 1743. Inscribed on the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC are his words: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?...

As the Obama administration continues its plan to usurp the rights of the American people with regard to commerce, energy, immigration and other key issues of our time; we should remember the warning of one of our nation's founders with regard to our rights and the document that was supposed to safeguard them. What many, especially those educated in the "modern" American public school system, may not know is that the founders strongly disagreed on whether or not to include the Bill of Rights in the US Constitution.

FBI corruption head says tide has turnedby Lucy Bustamante / Eyewitness News Updated Thursday, Apr 1 at 1:22 PM NEW ORLEANS -- From the time federal agents pulled $90,000 from former Congressman William Jefferson's freezer to the sentencing of state Sen. Derrick Shepherd, the list of offenders on the FBI's corruption division has grown into the second largest in the nation. "The mayor of Mandeville, Eddie Price; Bill Hubbard, the parish president of St. John; Ben Edwards, Sewerage & Water Board; Derrick Shepherd, state senator," said Howard Schwartz, FBI assistant special agent in charge, when asked to list some of...

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. - Alexander Fraser Tytler, 18th century Historian and Jurist

Over the course of American history, there has been no greater conflict of visions than that between Thomas Jefferson’s voluntary republic, founded on the natural right of peaceful secession, and Abraham Lincoln’s permanent empire, founded on the violent denial of that same right. That these two men somehow shared a common commitment to liberty is a lie so monstrous and so absurd that its pervasiveness in popular culture utterly defies logic. After all, Jefferson stated unequivocally in the Declaration of Independence that, at any point, it may become necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected...