Free Republic

The Confederacy has been the excuse for some of today's rioting, property destruction and grossly uninformed statements. Among the latter is the testimony before the House Armed Services Committee by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley in favor of renaming Confederate-named military bases. He said: "The Confederacy, the American Civil War, was fought, and it was an act of rebellion. It was an act of treason, at the time, against the Union, against the Stars and Stripes, against the U.S. Constitution." There are a few facts about our founding that should be acknowledged. Let's start...

1. The Declaration of Independence wasn't signed on July 4, 1776. On July 1, 1776, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, and on the following day 12 of the 13 colonies voted in favor of Richard Henry Lee's motion for independence. The delegates then spent the next two days debating and revising the language of a statement drafted by Thomas Jefferson. On July 4, Congress officially adopted the Declaration of Independence, and as a result the date is celebrated as Independence Day. Nearly a month would go by, however, before the actual signing of the document took place. First,...

The Fourth of July is a great opportunity to renew our dedication to the principles of liberty and equality enshrined in what Thomas Jefferson called "the declaratory charter of our rights."As a practical matter, the Declaration of Independence publicly announced to the world the unanimous decision of the American colonies to declare themselves free and independent states, absolved from any allegiance to Great Britain. But its greater meaning—then as well as now—is as a statement of the conditions of legitimate political authority and the proper ends of government, and its proclamation of a new ground of political rule in...

Being about a week away from Independence Day, I was doing a little reflecting upon the history surrounding the Declaration of Independence. And I thought it would be of equal interest to many of my readers to look at some often-overlooked aspects of the declaration's production and legacy. Several historical websites hold some fascinating facts about this national treasure -- including the National Archives and Records Administration's site, at http://www.archives.gov. In addition, on History's website, the article "9 Things You May Not Know About the Declaration of Independence," by Elizabeth Harrison, has some intriguing notes. Let me elaborate on some...

Black Lives Matter activists cite Douglass’s 1852 speech ‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?’ as proof America is evil. They utterly miss his point. Last week on CNN, as contributor Angela Rye accused White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnaney and President Trump of failing to understand the history of black America, she referred to the legendary Frederick Douglass. “Frederick Douglass said about Independence Day in this country, what to the slave is the Fourth of July?” she said. “And I would invite them to even start there, as a reading principle, to see how different we see...

On this Independence Day, let me pay homage to America’s founding fathers who wrote “The Declaration of Independence”, which changed my life by bringing me to the United States in 1988. I was born in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, right before the start of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. I lived with my parents and two younger brothers in government housing which had just two small rooms with an outdoor kitchen that my Dad built. There was no indoor plumbing and heating. The free community housing had a mud floor, good for growing mushrooms. Eight families in the community shared one...

It was 243 years ago today when the world first read the words of the Declaration of Independence. It was a stunning document, perhaps the most important in all of human history. But to too many Americans, they now ring hollow.While we haven’t always lived up to them, the words in the Declaration hold a special, storied place in world history. None more so than the following: 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...

The Fourth honors the founding of America. It's the anniversary of the day in 1776 that the Declaration of Independence was approved. The Declaration was important. It didn't say that America would be the best country because it would have the biggest military, toughest leaders, most government giveaways, or tightest borders. The great innovation that day in Philadelphia was the declaration that the United States would have a limited government, rooted in the idea that every individual has inalienable rights. In other words, we do not get our rights from the government. They already exist. The government's job is to...

In 2012, Mike Vanderboegh of the Sipsey Street Irregulars website put into clear and concise language the true purpose of an armed citizenry as conceived by the Founders of our nation and the authors of its Constitution. What follows is the article Vanderboegh posted. Read it, save it and pass it along to your friends. By Mike Vanderboegh 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...

The Fourth of July, for most Americans, is a day filled with the comforts that a youthful summer eagerly supplies in golden hues and generous heat. New flags flash proudly with crisp red and white stripes--beaming stars on a field of blue; an undulating, living object caught and writhing between the playful fingers of summer's capricious breeze. Kids bound outdoors filled with the giggling beams of the sun's boiling disc and tantalized by the sizzling, uniquely American delicacies cooking on dad's carefully stoked charcoal grill. But, all of this summer glee exists because of ancient parchment dry as an autumn...

The University of Miami has now announced a chair for the study of atheism. In another recent story, an atheist group is suing a sheriff because of his pro-God statements on his Facebook page (Constitution.com, 5/19/16). No one can deny the rise of the shrill atheistic voices of our time. But dare I say that the idea of state-sanctioned and in some cases state-mandated atheism is absolutely out of step with the traditions of America. Here are 10 reasons why: 1) At the time of our founding, 99.8% of the population was professing Christians. Ben Franklin, himself a bit of...

We must understand and return our government to the principles upon which our nation was built if we are to fight the current trend toward tyranny that is eroding our freedoms. In order to restore and maintain the constitutional republic established by America’s Founders, we must encourage today’s educators to teach the principles of liberty. The U.S. Constitution was, at its inception, built upon the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration is our national birth certificate and the principles embedded in it are the supporting pillars of our Constitution. Of primary importance among these principles is...

In his opinion declaring Virginia's marriage law unconstitutional, Judge Henry Floyd of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit summarized what he perceived to be the basic disagreement between the opponents and proponents of the law. "The opponents and proponents agree that marriage is a fundamental right," the judge wrote. "They strongly disagree, however, regarding whether that right encompasses the right to same-sex marriage. The opponents argue that the fundamental right to marry belongs to the individual, who enjoys the right to marry the person of his or her choice. By contrast, the proponents point out that,...

Ever since Abraham Lincoln delivered his stirring Gettysburg Address at that great battlefield in Pennsylvania 150 years ago, people have been parsing it. Almost immediately, Sen. Charles Sumner compared it to great Greek literature, a thought echoed by historian Garry Wills in our time. But Lincoln’s words weren’t Greek to his audience, and they aren’t Greek to us. As historian Allen Guelzo explained recently, the address is an example of democratic speech, words aimed at his audience that they could easily understand. The crowd gathered that day would have appreciated that the address was so short -- just 272...

Nearly all of us, at one time or another, refer to our “constitutional right to free speech.” But while this common phrase may seem harmless, it points to a larger misunderstanding of where our rights come from -- a misunderstanding that undermines many of our most fundamental policy debates. The fact is, the U.S. Constitution protects our God-given rights from government. The government does not (as the phrase above implies) grant those rights to us as citizens. This is perhaps the most widely misunderstood aspect of our system of government. The idea that the power of government is derived from...

Over the past two weeks, I've highlighted eight little-known facts about the Declaration of Independence. (If you missed the first two parts of this series, you can find them at http://www.creators.com/opinion/chuck-norris.html.) Here are the last four facts in my series: 9) One of the 26 known July 1776 copies of the Declaration of Independence was found behind an old painting purchased at a flea market for $4. In 1991, one of 24 known copies at the time of the declaration -- and one of only three known to be privately owned -- was auctioned for $2.42 million. What's even more...

This week we celebrate the Fourth of July, the day that our founders declared their independence from Great Britain. This declaration action came after a long history of imposition by King George III. While it might seem as though this is ancient history, there are applicable lessons to remember today. "We hold these truths to be self-evident," the document begins, "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...

Last week, I highlighted four little-known facts about the Declaration of Independence. Here are a few more facts to add to those oddities: There are at least 26 surviving paper copies of the Declaration of Independence of the hundreds made in July 1776 for circulation among the Colonies. After Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, the Committee of Five, which was appointed to write it, was also responsible with overseeing its reproduction for proclamation to those living in the Colonies. The reproduction was done at the shop of Philadelphia printer John Dunlap. "On July 5, Dunlap's copies were dispatched across...

What did the Founders mean by “pretended legislation” in the Declaration of Independence? Are things different today in our lust for power? It usually boils down to greed and the love of money. We don’t need a bombastic oration by a President or statesman who has drifted far from his or her solemn oath to protect and defend the Constitution. The Declaration laments of the king: “He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.” Combined with others: In any...

On September 17, 2010 President Barack Obama spoke to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute 33rd Annual Award Gala. During his speech – reading from a teleprompter – he quoted from the Declaration of Independence. Here is what he said: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, endowed with certain unalienable rights, life and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Perhaps his teleprompter or his brain just can’t handle the phrase “endowed by our Creator!” The Declaration of Independence defines the Constitution philosophically and spiritually, therefore in Beauty and its Author. “Progressives” have argued...