Wisdom of Our Founding Fathers
Posted by jeremiasx on March 30, 2007
The founding fathers sound a good bit like those dissenters today who rage against the systematic abuses of liberty under which we currently labor…just listen to their thoughts on the abuses perpetrated against them by the British…they feared a coming tyranny and a CONSPIRACY of the powers upon high seeking their ultimate enslavement…not one which truly existed or was even EVIDENT at the time of the Revolutionary War. They were determined not to ALLOW things to go so far as to not be alleviated by the actions of concerned Patriots. They took decisive action and their efforts proved to be not in vain, and their suspicions of tyranny have historically been proven to be well-founded. I look back to these men for wisdom when considering the problems of the day…whatever day it may be.
Quoted from “Ideological Origins of the American Revolution”, by Bernard Bailyn, an authoritative scholarly publication which any political scientist or historian should consult heavily in any meditations upon the subject of the Founders. Bailyn received the Pulitzer Prize in 1967 for this work:
Careful analysts like Jefferson agreed on the major points; in one of the most closely reasoned of the pamphlets of 1774 the Virginian stated unambiguously that though, “single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day…a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, to plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.”
So too Washington, collaborating with George Mason in writing the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, agreed that the trouble had arisen from a “regular, systematic plan” of oppression, the English government “endeavoring by every piece of art and despotism to fix the shackles of slavery upon us”; he was convinced “beyond the smallest doubt,” he wrote privately, “that these measures are the result of deliberation…I am as fully convinced as I am of my own existence that there has been a regular, systematic plan formed to enforce them.”
So the next time someone accuses you of wearing a “tin-foil hat” or of being “an alarmist” just point them back to the wisdom of Jefferson, Washington, Locke, Mayhew, or any HOST of writers from this crucial point in American history…and know that you may be in good company.
Views From Within 
hairybeast said
Um, weren’t they talking about a hereditary monarchy combined with the refusal of the English government to provide Americans with elected representatives in the parliament? We were a colony at the time, remember?
We do not have a king and last november proved that we can elect representatives, doesn’t it? As for the founding father’s “suspicions of tyranny” – they were not suspicions at all, they were self evident, which is how you tell true tyranny from hysterical partisan paranoia.
Sure, taken totally out of context those quotes can be warped into whatever you wish, but a little context goes a LONG way toward true understanding.
jeremiasx said
Actually they were talking about legislative actions which, when viewed as a whole, were strictly limiting what they perceived to be the liberty they sought by coming to America.
We don’t have a king (not technically) but he ACTS like one.
The context is within the time of the American Revolutionary Period, which actually stretched much farther back than 1776, according to Bailyn, and the impetus of said rebellion was a culmination of polemic and propaganda distributed throughout the colonies by those true patriots who perceived the danger of a despotic monarchy usurping the progresses made in Britain by the “glorious Revolution” after the Stuart period. It took many years and many people to prod the colonists into action…most people then, as now, are quite content to believe that things are A-OK as long as they didn’t PERCEIVE the danger or the tyranny. People like to believe their government is a good parent. To believe otherwise shakes their faith.
Hope that makes it a little more clear for you.
hairybeast said
“We don’t have a king but he acts like one” – is meaningless. The nuthatches are full of people who act like kings too. Ever worked for a nineteen year old assistant manager at McDonalds? Imperious hardly begins to describe. Just because – in your subjective opinion – a person acts like a king does not mean he has the powers of a monarch. You can’t refute a charge of making false equvalencies by simply offering more of them.
The Glorious Revolution came about because Parliament realized that James II (uncle to Charles I, bifurcated by a reluctant Cromwell but even with his head he was known as the shortest of all the KIngs of England), was an idiot, a catholic and lackey to Louis XIV. Since his nephew Charles I died of complications from syphillis (Which James II also had) leaving behind legions of illegitimate children but no heir to the throne they gave it to James. He lasted a whole three years before being replaced by his daughter Mary and her Dutch hubby William Of Orange.
One must also remember that the King of England at the time of the American Revolution was George III – who went insane. Many blamed the stress of the rebellion on his losing his marbles, which meant that Parliament itself (the elected body you lionize) was as much, if not more to blame for these tyrannies.
As for the complacency of the colonists – it had more to do with the debate over their role as lawful subjects of the crown vs becoming rebels. Colonists viewed themselves as Englishmen and were reluctant to rebel without working out the details of what might now seem quaint philosophical reasons of right, wrong, honor and duty.
I was a different time, a different world, a different nation, a different people and a different political system.
But other than that it was exactly like nowadays, as you have so ably pointed out.
Kudoes.
Sovereign John said
Oh, Hairybeast…how you define our modern generation through simple conversation.
Dates change, means change, but principles remain the same. The Founding Fathers need not be quoted to bring about ample proof of the fears of those “paranoid” citizens among us.
Several failsafes were enacted in the Constitution to prevent against future corruption within the government. Why? Because it was known then, just as it is now, that power has effect on man’s morals and virtues. For this reason we were assured the right to a militia and arms, that if ever the day came when we would need to rise up, the government would not be the only one with weapons. Why else would the nation that had just defeated the most powerful empire in the world need hometown soldiers?
Today, our government allows corporations (which were first encouraged by our government, by the by) to wreak general havoc. You know this as well as any of us. Every time you pay your health insurance, your car insurance, or your home owner’s insurance and then watch the premiums rise whenever you actually need the service you’ve paid for. Every time a mountain of paperwork stands between you and a service or product that seems, by all sensibility, rightfully yours. The people speak, but the speak about the rate of taxes and the crumbling educational systems and the setbacks of health care. The government officials, meant to represent our interests and elected to that very purpose, speak about spending hundreds of billions of tax dollars on wars in foreign nations, supporting the national economy, or reorganizing our postal service.
It’s not so difficult to see a connection between one time frame and the other, any more than it’s difficult to know that most skeletons are the same if you can peel away the skin and flesh that covers them. Yes, the time is different and the language is changed. No, we do not have a monarch left to rule over us by blood alone. But we do have an entire Congress of elected officials who ignore our more urgent pleas while they vote themselves a raise in pay during an economic crisis. And we do have a failure, on part of the government elected by the people, to care for us, our health, our safety, and our happiness.
“Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” How many people do you know that can successfully pursue happiness while going bankrupt, trying and failing to receive VA benefits after losing a hand in Iraq, falling into millions in debt because of hospital bills brought on by the drop in food value nationwide, or going without the attention of the teacher because the school is overpopulated with students?
Yes, we are living in a different time. Our circumstance is the same.
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A Richard Head said
If the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made not for the public good so much as for the selfish or local purposes;
Corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. Noah Webster 1832
paulrohricht said
Why are you not continuing this dialog? I have really enjoyed reading every single post, and I continue to learn from others. Thanks for this! I will be back to visit again!
Paul