Founding Wisdom: Jefferson

This post is originally taken from the Institute for Balanced Government and reposted here in its entirety.

In a letter to Justice William Johnson dated June 12, 1823, Thomas Jefferson wrote (source: Jefferson, Writings; Library of America, p. 1476):

"I believe the States can best govern our home concerns, and the General Government our foreign ones. I wish, therefore, to see maintained that wholesome distribution of powers established by the constitution for the limitation of both; and never to see all offices transferred to Washington, where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, they may more secretly be bought and sold as at the market."

It is difficult to both dispute the vision of Jefferson and argue that what we have today with respect to the administration of the people's business is either proper or effective. Indeed, as Jefferson foresaw, the poorest administration of government is the one whereby the domestic matters which belong to the people are spirited away to a distant sphere of responsibility. This breeds distrust, apathy and contempt among the people for their own government.

As the Founders themselves told us time and again, it is this concept of the division of powers among the spheres - balanced government - which accounts for much of the genius of our system. Certainly, the separation of power among the branches of government is important, yet this mechanism wasn't entirely new among governments in the 18th century. And of course the specific mechanisms created (especially balancing the representation scheme between the House and the Senate) also display the mark of genius, or at least thoughtful study and consideration.

Despite the often bitter partisanship between Jefferson and Hamilton and the then-Republicans and the Federalists in general, we can see from this example that there were concepts that were universally accepted and weren't subject to partisan disagreement. The concept of Balanced Government is just such an idea.

Book Review: Samuel Adams

I just finished the delightful Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution, by Mark Puls.

The book follows chronologically the life and political career of Samuel Adams. While he saved little, if any, of his letters and writings, we're able to see the man by the piecing together of letters from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and his Massachusetts friends and allies such as James Otis and Joseph Warren.

We're left with the image of a man so devoted to his countrymen and their cause that he suffered financial hardships, personal insults, and the wrath of the most powerful empire on earth, all without seeking glory or a simple thank-you. Some favorite parts of the book:

Adams, using the pen-name of Valerius Poplicola ("friend of the people") wrote: "Is it not high time for the people of this country explicitly to declare whether they will be freemen or slaves? It is an important question, which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than anything in this life."

A British Colonel, Fenton, sought out Adams with a discreet message: he would be richly rewarded and receive public advancement if he would cooperate. Fenton gave Adams this frank advice: he should not provoke his majesty any further. Adams replied: "Sir, I trust I have long since made my peace with the king of kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people."

Oh! And this great story:

For several years, James Otis had been under the care of family in Andover, Massachusetts. He would often turn to his sister and say that "I hope when God Almighty in his providence shall take me out of time into eternity, it will be by a flash of lightning!" On May 23, 1783, a fierce thunderstorm characteristic of the early summer season in New England descended to darken the skies. Otis struggled to the door to behold the clashing elements and the exploding thunder, reminiscent of the cannon fire of the revolution. Between loud thunderclaps, a bolt of lightning, which Mercy thought appeared like a darting serpent, struck Otis in the chest. Electricity shot through his body, and he fell to the floor, dying instantly.

Overall, a well-done take on the "Father of the American Revolution." Arguably one of the most important of our founding fathers.

Founding Brilliance

I love it when I get a hold of a quote like this that speaks to us so clearly as if to answer our problems. Courtesy of the Patriot Post:

"An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."

-- James Madison (Federalist No. 58, 1788)

(Emphasis mine)

On Virtue

I've been sitting on this quote for some time, as I tend to do, with the intention of posting something on the topic. Let's hear from Mr. Madison, courtesy of the Patriot Post:

"Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men. So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them."

-- James Madison (speech at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, 20 June 1788)

I find it natural that the Founding Generation was as concerned with virtue as they were; yet, sad that we seem to have departed so starkly from their example. Can you imagine a leading politician of our time exhorting the people on virtue? How soon would he or she be chastised? Or denounced as a "hypocrite" (one of the Left's favorite smears) because of something he or she had done in their life?

Another Founder famous for his opinion on the necessity of virtue is the second cousin of our second President. Says Samuel (from the FQD at the Patriot Post):

A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.

Reference: The Writings of Samuel Adams, Cushing, ed., vol. 4 (124)

Note that he mentions "external or internal" threats. It is no secret to any of the regular readers here that I see the two biggest threats facing us to be the march of Liberalism and Islam; I wonder if we were as virtuous a society as the founding generation how we'd be handling these threats. Cowering in fear? Appeasing? Bowing before the commissars of political correctness?

Here's my take on that indispensable quality, virtue. We've discussed in prior posts what self-government is. I generally distill it to the dual virtues of self-restraint and self-sufficiency. Read the Founders and you'll realize that our form of government is created for a self-governing people. And that it's wholly inappropriate for a dependent people. Any wonder we're facing the problems governmental that we are?

But virtue isn't lost, and in fact, it may be making a comeback. Imagine my delight at this story from the Tribune about purity dances. Where families are strong and God is a part of the family, virtue seems to survive. Notwithstanding the usual sniping of the Left, such as this:

In this new counterculture, trouble-prone pop stars such as Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan are outcasts. In their place, 1 in 6 teens are signing virginity pledges, though 88 percent of them break that vow before they marry, according to a federally funded national longitudinal study of adolescent health.

(emphasis mine)

Well, why bother, goes the logic of the Left, if they're just going to fail? Here's why: maybe aiming for purity doesn't guarantee success, but maybe young girls will enter marriage with fewer partners.

"Girls are going into marriage with 12 sexual relationships. That brings so much baggage and regret that it breaks down the marriage," said Janet Hellige, a volunteer who organizes the biannual Father-Daughter Purity Ball sponsored by The Christian Center in Peoria. "Girls have a wonderful gift to give, and we don't want them to give all of themselves away. What we want them to do is present themselves as a rose to their husband with no blemishes."

Virtue is indeed indispensable for healthy families and a free Republic. But don't count on your children hearing that from anybody other than you, their parent (or Aunt, Uncle, or other relative). It's incumbent upon us to ensure that our children have a moral, as well as an intellectual foundation before they go out into the world. I would submit that a child with no moral foundation is at a greater risk than a child who cannot read, yet you'll never see a "program" designed to correct the former deficiency.

Since Men Aren't Angels

Government - the external variety - is necessary.

There is a not insignificant sentiment that exists that supposes that the law is arbitrary; indeed I've argued with many people I consider friends on the improper absolute that suggests that free men should be free from external government. While the body of laws governing the Republic undoubtedly contains some arbitrary legislation, it is worth repeating that morality is a component inseparable from the law.

I have been sitting on this quote for a couple of days, waiting for a time when I'd have a few precious minutes to share the wisdom contained therein. And from one of my favorite Founding Fathers, no less. Enjoy, courtesy of the Patriot Post:

To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules the world and has established laws to regulate the actions of his creatures; and still to assert that man, in a state of nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all restraints of law and government, appears to a common understanding altogether irreconcilable. Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to himself and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of mankind."

-- Alexander Hamilton

Thanksgiving 2007

God bless you all and your families this Thanksgiving and always. Let us recall the advice of His Excellency, Gen. Washington:

It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.

The Adams Family

I've been sitting on these quotes for a while, meaning to post them up eventually, because they are both so good. Quotes courtesy of the Patriot Post's Founders Quote Daily:

"It already appears, that there must be in every society of men superiors and inferiors, because God has laid in the constitution and course of nature the foundations of the distinction."

-- John Adams (Thoughts on Government, 1776)

What do you think would be the reaction to a quote like this today? Would our second President be revered or reviled? I'm guessing he'd be called a hater, racist, nativist, something-ophobe, you get the idea.

And from that "other" Adams comes one of my favorites:

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."

-- Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 4 November 1775)

Just a day shy of 232 years since, does that sound a little bit like any country you've heard of? If not exactly there yet, getting slowly closer to being described as "easily subdued"?

The Spirit of '76

I got this quote e-mailed to me by the Patriot Post the other day, and saved it for today 9/22.

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."

- Nathan Hale (before being hanged by the British, 22 September 1776)

There are too few Americans who share this love of country. Would that there were more.

Timely and Timeless Quote

I have had this topic on my mind for a couple of days now, and I went back through my e-mails because I had every intention of posting on this when I saw it.

While time is precious and I won't be able to wax poetic on this, the quote is too good not to share:

"[T]he present Constitution is the standard to which we are to cling. Under its banners, bona fide must we combat our political foes - rejecting all changes but through the channel itself provides for amendments."

-- Alexander Hamilton (letter to James Bayard, April 1802)

The Mighty Hamilton, no secret that he's one of my favorite Founders.

The Patriot's Handbook

I often find myself telling the same story over and over. Perhaps it's an occupational hazard (sales), or perhaps it's "dependent-induced acute onset forgetfulness" (aka parent-brain). Before you go and roll your eyes, that happens to be an ADA-recognized condition.

OK, it's not, but you could imagine that it might be, right?

Anyway, have I mentioned before that my dear and wonderful Bride found me a copy of The Patriot's Handbook by George Grant?

Well, she did. And I had the true delight of reading a sermon delivered by Samuel West entitled On The Right To Rebel.

Well, my Countrymen (and -women), lend me your ears (or, eyes) and I'll share a little of this wisdom, 1776-style...

...the same principles which oblige us to submit to government do equally oblige us to resist tyranny..."

Oh, and here's a good one for the Libertarians:

The law of Nature gives men no right to do anything that is immoral, or contrary to the will of God, and injurious to their fellow creatures..."

And here's one for the tyrants (you know who you are):

As magistrates have no authority but what they derive from the people, whenever they act contrary to the public good, and pursue measures destructive of the peace and safety of the community, they forfeit their right to govern the people."

And later, more along the same lines:

...for it would imply a gross absurdity to assert that, when magistrates are ordained by the people solely for the purpose of being beneficial to the state, they must be obeyed when they are seeking to ruin and destroy it. This would imply that men were bound to act against the great law of self-preservation, and to contribute their assistance to their own ruin and destruction, in order that they may please and gratify the greatest monsters in nature, who are violating the laws of God and destroying the rights of mankind."

And there is much, much more where this came from. When I was reading this - incidentally, right around the time of the Senate's and President's attempted sell-out of America - you can imagine the frightening, terrible, and wonderful thoughts I was having about the nature of the American Revolution.

See, and I think I have said it before, I don't think the Revolution has ended. I think there's times where it lessens in intensity, and other times when it increases in intensity. Heck, there's times where it takes steps forward and times when it takes steps backward.

And, God willing, the Great Experiment will once again - soon - take a big leap forward.

Independence Day 2007

What a great and glorious day! This has become one of my favorite holidays, and the special meaning of it grows every year for me.

Here's my favorite part of the Declaration...

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, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Is there a more stirring political statement?

Tomorrow I will take the time to read the Declaration to my family, and hope that the kids get a little out of it. I'll remember to pray for Patriots past and present and give thanks for everything I have. I'll enjoy being surrounded by the people I love most in the world.

And I'll say a prayer of thanks for you, Dear Reader, and ask for His guidance and protection for us all while we carry on for the noble cause.

Independence Day '07

Where we've come from - Where we're headed

As perhaps that most significant of all American Holidays quickly approaches us we are reminded here at the AFB of why this blog and the ideas it is here primarily to convey was ever conceived of to begin with.

I've mentioned before that our very own Monarchist is chiefly responsible for carrying forth to execution the idea of creating a blog. Something, however, that the readership in general may not be aware of is that though our beginnings were very very humble even by comparison, the spirit of big ideas, of big thinking, and that truly American quality of inventiveness, of creativity; of abject defiance in the face of all the odds infected our initial correspondences right to the core.

In fact, there are many times that I myself go back to those early discussions and re-read them, if not to remind myself of our humble beginnings, to recapture the very force of that indomitable spirit which marked those early correspondences. Where talent was found wanting, we made up for it perseveringly with a great deal of effort. Where education and knowledge and that best of all teachers -actual experiences- suffered, we called upon the knowledge and experiences of our predecessors. We spoke together, we learned together, we grew together; and so it is today. In a word, we were determined.

So you see, we have yet other things to celebrate on the momentous occasion of this nation's birth. And if I may be so bold as to proclaim -things not too remote, nor too markedly different from that of the first American generation to have celebrated the timely birth of this great nation.

I recall one aspect of those early discussions touching on the idea that a twenty first century version of the veritable 'committees of correspondence' might be pursued via the internet. The blogosphere had probably not occured to us then as a vehicle perfectly suited to that purpose, but the idea was gotten out there anyhow, and we always kept our minds open to ideas, methods and vehicles suitable to the cause. There was some experimental effort made in that vein which served, if nothing else, to familiarize ourselves with the workings of the internet vehicle. And so we moved forward; our vision kept intact, our spirits undaunted.

Efforts were also made to connect with other like-minded folks early on in our endeavors. Several contacts were indeed made, and a few of those early relationships which developed still survive to this very day. Nay, they have been strengthened through the bond of affection and friendship. And we're better for it. We're better for having made contact with those folks, we're better for having developed mutual friendships with them, and we're better for having kept in contact with them. We consider these folks as part of our inner-circle if you will. And I cannot tell you how helpful they've been in moving this project forward. And I could say much much more.

That said, I cannot imagine posting under this title without making some historical references to our founding documents and the ideas which inspired them. Indeed, it is these very ideas which connects us in such a personal way with our great and honorable forbears. If only we should come to know them better:

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 Nature's God entitle them,...

In studying the founding fathers one is struck by their continual references to the march of human history. In our Founding Document we read these words penned of Mr. Jefferson: "When in the course of human events," as if to say that in the progress of human events their generation had found its place. Most certainly they had. Elsewhere we find such phrases as Quincy Adams's "...is it not that in the chain of human events...," like so many unbroken and connected links theirs was closing up at that moment that the next was forging itself interlockingly into the chain of human history; and so the march continued.

The examples are literally endless. But the idea is undeniably there in many of their writings that the human race had forever been on a steady and a progressive march forward; that they themselves were instrumental in that forward march; that as they looked back to human history preceding them and forward to that which would succeed them they were called upon to take particular care not to forsake their noble brethren on either side of their immediate time in history, or that place in history's chain.

As liberty's torch is carried forward we must also be very diligent to be sure that our generation's mark on history's pages shall not be an ugly one or amount to a simple byline. With our venerable founders we must consult history's lessons while living our own chapter in the book of human story as we must assume that others shall follow taking care to honor their duty to generations past and future, yet mindful that their place is their place, their calling theirs to fufill; that their chapter is their chapter...to be written by themselves. As we shall write our own.

Jefferson's words inspire all the more studious reflection as he speaks in a Peoples' behalf which had found it 'necessary to dissolve the political bands connecting it with another...' I find no shortage of examples in our very time where the idea might justly and rightly be applied regarding this People's political capacity and the connections formed by others than ourselves.

While the celebration of our country's birth may seem something of an inappropriate time to raise the question, nonetheless the day is quickly approaching when we ourselves will be forced to assert that very idea which our forefathers so well expressed in our founding document. But I find in the celebration of our birth as a nation a markedly appropriate time for doing so. Indeed many of us have already done so, at least unofficially. But on a larger scale we have yet to commit to doing so, perhaps in a feigned or a real hope that somehow the existing political forces will turn their attentions back to those who matter most. But who can continue to deny the undeniable?

The bands connecting this people to political entities not of our own making are rather eroding very quickly. Let us be cautious yet decisive as our fathers were in the way that we reorganize ourselves into a newly reinvigorated political force. It is indeed our right, as well as our duty to assert our 'separate and equal station' by the very 'Laws of Nature and Nature's God' that they themselves recurred to.

And with the truth of those ideas comes a great deal of responsibility as finally expressed in the Preamble to the DoI:

...a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

Do we not bear this same responsibility as did those who preceded us? Is it not our responsibility to 'declare the causes which impel us' to break the political bands connecting us with our Republican and Democrat brethren? We certainly owe them at least that much. But beyond that it is an historical record of fact that our tradition is indeed to honor this basic committment. And so we shall.

And in so doing let us conduct ourselves as becomes Americans. Let us announce that we shall ever be enemies to any force bent on the destruction of liberty herself. Let us never again foolishly cling to a party -in the face of mounting evidence against it- which claims to be acting in our interests and in the interest of liberty because it is the party of our parents; because that's the party of our fathers. And let us be mindful of, encouraged and animated by our heritage as a freedom-loving, freedom-establishing, freedom-defending People in the face of all enemies, foreign and domestic.

And so it is that this Independence Day, 2007 will be an especial one for me. As I watch and participate in the lighting of the fireworks Independence night, as I raise the flag that morning and decorate the house with red white and blue; as I fire up the grill in preparation for some celebratory gorging, and read to the children our Declaration recounting story of the Revolutionary War; as I recite to them stories of our own struggle in liberty's march. As I do all of these things and more, mindful of the sacrifices willingly made indirectly in my behalf, and of those which we must make ourselves, my heart will turn to you my friends. I shall think of where we've come from, I shall think of where we are; and I shall think of where it is we're headed, believing and knowing always that:

...with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

Happy Anniversary fellas and thank you. And thanks to DW for the use of his name.