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This is the full reading of the original rough draft version of the United States Declaration of Independence. It is read directly from the transcript, without the filter of historians trying to control the narrative in one direction or the other.

Let’s start at the beginning — “1776,” that is. This 1972 musical based on the Broadway show of the same name recounts the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Think “Hamilton” without hip-hop music.

To: Jim Robinson; All How about this idea for a challenge to wrap it up? One freeper from each state pitches in $50. 50 x $50 = $2,500. I’ll represent AZ and throw in $50. One down and 49 to go. Jim, can you ping the entire board with my challenge post? Come on freepers, I was a long-time freeloader and saw the light. It’s good to have some skin in the game when you’re mouthing off here at FR. Thank YOU! And YOU! And YOU! And YOU! And YOU! And YOU! 8 posted on 3/6/2021, 11:31:48 AM by freepersup...

“Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order...The magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies.” – George Washington, First Inaugural Address, April 30, 1789 “You...

On Liberty “Where liberty dwells, there is my country.” – Benjamin Franklin “Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.” – John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765 “Is life so dear, or peaceful so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but...

The Jefferson fiasco underscores how activist school leaders and alumni, from California to Massachusetts, are conspiring to recklessly overhaul school policies, education standards, and curriculum this year.FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. – After a crusade by educational arsonists targeting the nation’s No. 1 high school, America’s meritocracy is about to go up in flames. The Fairfax County School Board is set to vote Thursday night to gut the race-blind, merit-based admissions testing process at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. T.J. is a state-chartered magnet school legislated to serve academically gifted and advanced students. The school board plans to replace...

HUGE collection available on link. “Our unalterable resolution should be to be free.” -Sam Adams, to James Warren, 1776 “Wear none of thine own chains; but keep free, whilst thou art free.” -William Penn, "Some Fruits of Solitude", 1693 “You will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve YOUR freedom. I hope you will make a good use of it.” -John Adams “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.” -Thomas Jefferson, to Abigail Smith Adams, February 22, 1787 “The price of freedom...

Irrelevant U.S. election subplots dep’t: last week, four counties in eastern Oregon held non-binding ballot measures on seceding from the state and joining Idaho. Many of you will have seen news images from Oregon this year — most of them depicting racial unrest in Portland, the metropolis that has its own hyper-progressive international cult. You can imagine how the rural parts of the state regard this sort of thing. Or, rather, you don’t have to imagine: they held a vote, and in two Oregon counties, Union and Jefferson, secession actually won by a nose. The victories are the work of...

U.S.—In an attempt to tackle the unprecedented and growing phenomena of historical figures spinning rapidly in their graves, federal officials have begun strapping down the Founding Fathers at several historical sites.

Thomas Jefferson wrote that “all men are created equal,” and yet enslaved more than six-hundred people over the course of his life. Although he made some legislative attempts against slavery and at times bemoaned its existence, he also profited directly from the institution of slavery and wrote that he suspected black people to be inferior to white people in his Notes on the State of Virginia. Throughout his entire life, Thomas Jefferson was publicly a consistent opponent of slavery. Calling it a “moral depravity”1 and a “hideous blot,”2 he believed that slavery presented the greatest threat to the survival of...

Among the list of statues torn down during the current rage against American history was the Rochester, New York homage to Frederick Douglass. Born a slave in 1818, Douglass escaped and became one of the most eloquent opponents of slavery in America. Why was his statue torn down? It seems that Douglass' sin was arguing that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution laid the groundwork for the abolition of slavery. He called for the nation to live up to the principles of equality and liberty expressed in these documents by emancipating the slaves. Yusra Khogali, a co-founder of the...

Both served in the Continental Congress and both signed the Declaration of Independence. Both served as U.S. Ministers in France. One was elected the 2nd President and the other the 3rd. Once political enemies, they became close friends in later life. An awe swept America when they both died on the same day, JULY 4, 1826, exactly 50 years since they approved the Declaration of Independence. Their names were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson's handwritten Declaration of Independence used the wording "inalienable" rights as seen in the copies at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, the New York...

With a rousing Independence Day speech at Mount Rushmore, President Trump certainly laid down the principles on which he will now go to the hustings. His choice of a setting put him before the famed monument to four presidents — each of which is a target of the movement that has been seeking to besmirch or destroy statues of our national leaders. Mr. Trump left no doubt in respect of which side he is on. Snip . . .

Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America was a comedy album from 1961. It's easy to tell Freberg is a liberal - the Declaration Of Independence skit is a take on the House Unamerican Committee. However, it's still pretty funny - also a funny insight into how liberals think. Stan Freberg Presents The United States of America - Declaration Of Independence

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday said the federal government has a responsibility to protect statues and monuments of historical figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Christopher Columbus. Speaking at a press conference in Wilmington, Del., the former vice president defended monuments dedicated to past presidents who owned slaves. Biden made the case that those public statues should be preserved, while monuments to Confederate leaders should be removed peacefully by local officials. “The idea of comparing whether or not George Washington owned slaves or Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, and somebody who was in rebellion committing treason trying to...

Radical activist mobs toppling statues across the country aren't just wrong about the contributions of Thomas Jefferson, they're wrong about the Founding. It is believed playwright George Bernard Shaw once said “Every man deserves to be judged in the context of his times.” While that sentiment often goes unheeded, in our current moment it seems to be under full-blown assault. Hardly an hour goes by without demands — even preemptive actions — to topple a monument or statue memorializing someone from the past.A Thomas Jefferson statue is the latest target for my alma mater, the University of Missouri. Since 1885,...

Protesters in Portland, Ore., Sunday evening tore down a statue of Thomas Jefferson outside a high school that was named after him, according to a report. The tear-down came about during a march organized by Rose City Justice to protest police brutality – one of many demonstrations in weeks following the death of George Floyd while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department. The group had gathered outside Jefferson High School in Northeast Portland before marching to the park, Fox 12 reported. By the time they returned, a statue of Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president, had been pulled...

REASON #5: NATURAL LAW What did the first Continental Congress mean when it appealed to “the immutable laws of nature,” or Thomas Jefferson when he referred to the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God and the unalienable rights of man”? Natural law. The principle of natural law is embedded in Western civilization, the Declaration of Independence, and our whole history as a nation. The concept of natural law was first articulated by Aristotle in Rhetoric, where Aristotle notes that, aside from the “particular” laws that each people has set up for itself, there is a “common” law that is...

When you abandon freedom to achieve security, you lose both and deserve neither. —Thomas Jefferson There is no justification for taking away individuals' freedom in the guise of public safety. —Thomas Jefferson The greatest calamity which could befall us would be submission to a government of unlimited powers. —Thomas Jefferson [more...]

The city of Charlottesville, Va., will celebrate a holiday commemorating the end of slavery this year instead of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. According to The Washington Post, Jefferson’s birthday had been recognized annually by the city for more than 70 years. The move comes months after the local city council voted to drop the official holiday celebrating his birthday, April 13, in place of Liberation and Freedom Day on March 3, which marks the day in 1865 when Union troops emancipated slaves. Three of the council’s four members voted in favor of taking Jefferson’s birthday off the calendar. Kathy Galvin, the...