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Carson says, wrongly, that Thomas Jefferson crafted the Constitution
Politico ^ | November 23, 2015 | Nolan D. McCaskill

Posted on 11/23/2015 9:52:10 AM PST by C19fan

Of America’s Founding Fathers, Ben Carson is most moved by Thomas Jefferson, partly because of the way he “tried to craft our Constitution,” the retired neurosurgeon said this weekend. In a Sunday interview on C-SPAN as part of its “Road to the White House” series, Carson said he was “impressed by a lot of them,” referring to the Founding Fathers.

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016; bizarre; carson; clownsforsanders; dailysmear; elections; freepersforhillary; gopeattackbots; niceguybut; potus; trump; trumpwasright
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To: C19fan

Madison and the crowd in Philadelphia were the crafters of the U.S. Constitution. Hamilton, John Jay, and Madison penned the backing theories of the document in the Federalist Papers.

Jefferson was a primary writer and scribe, I believe, for the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson was certainly a heavy contributor in intellectual content to the Declaration, the Constitution, and the founding principles of liberty and freedom and narrowly powered government we find in our founding documents and foundational government.

Carson is wrong but right, and Politico is a hack outfit.


21 posted on 11/23/2015 10:05:42 AM PST by mbarker12474
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To: Timber Rattler

At this point, I would long be surprised if Carson thought that George Jefferson wrote the Constitution.


22 posted on 11/23/2015 10:06:14 AM PST by Timpanagos1
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To: MeganC

“Also, keep in mind the source of this ‘news’: Politico is not our friend.”

No, but facts are.


23 posted on 11/23/2015 10:06:22 AM PST by sparklite2 (Islam = all bathwater, no baby.)
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To: stephenjohnbanker
Chauncy Gardener redux : )

"As long as...the roots are not severed...all is well...in the garden."

24 posted on 11/23/2015 10:06:53 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is simply majoritarianism. It is incompatible with real freedom.)
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To: sparklite2

You probably also like wine. But you might not like wine that’s been filtered through my kidneys first.

Likewise I prefer my facts not to be filtered by sources like Politico.


25 posted on 11/23/2015 10:07:51 AM PST by MeganC (The Republic of The United States of America: 7/4/1776 to 6/26/2015 R.I.P.)
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To: C19fan

Jefferson did write a draft of the Virginia Constitution but I believe it did not reach the main author, George Mason, in time for inclusion. Need to go verify that...


26 posted on 11/23/2015 10:08:19 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: C19fan

Well Jefferson did work on the 1776 Virginia state constitution. “Among those who drafted the 1776 Constitution were George Mason and James Madison. Thomas Jefferson was Virginia’s representative to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia at the time, and his drafts of the Virginia constitution arrived too late to be incorporated into the final document.[3] James Madison’s work on the Virginia Constitution helped him develop the ideas and skills that he would later use as one of the main architects of the United States Constitution.[4]”

Don’t know that Ben was correct on this one but not totally incorrect either. Wrong enough if you are trying to play “Gotcha”, which Politico is.

Where is their story denigrating Bernie Sanders for his bizzaro world history of FDR and his failed new deal?


27 posted on 11/23/2015 10:09:15 AM PST by Adder (No, Mr. Franklin, we could NOT keep it.)
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To: C19fan

Not a Carson fan but this isn’t that big a deal.


28 posted on 11/23/2015 10:11:43 AM PST by Pelham (A refusal to deport is defacto amnesty)
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To: C19fan

Mixed up. Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence.


29 posted on 11/23/2015 10:12:24 AM PST by Red Steel
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To: SeekAndFind
Not only does Obama not know how many states there are

Oh...he knows. His reference was to islamic states in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Freudian slip? Perhaps.

30 posted on 11/23/2015 10:13:55 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Democracy is not freedom. Democracy is simply majoritarianism. It is incompatible with real freedom.)
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To: MeganC
Thomas Jefferson And The Constitution

Michael Benton, Contributor
November 6, 2013

In 1789, after long deliberations and impassioned speeches, the United States Constitution was born. Of the forty signees of the U.S. Constitution, only six of them had also signed the Declaration of Independence. Did Thomas Jefferson sign the Constitution? No, he was serving as Minister to France during the time of the Constitutional Convention. Jefferson returned to the United States only six months after the Constitution took effect and was soon appointed as the Secretary of State in President George Washington’s administration.

Did Thomas Jefferson write the Constitution? No, he was actually a supporter of the smaller government structure originally proposed in the Articles of Confederation and did not want its revision to mean a stronger, more centralized union.

If Thomas Jefferson wrote the Constitution, he would have preferred leaving many of the enumerated powers in the hands of state governments and may have included checks and balances similar to those he envisioned when he drafted the Virginia Constitution.

Without the influence of Thomas Jefferson, Bill of Rights mainstays such as the right to bear arms and religious freedom may not have held up so strongly. Although someone like John Adams might be considered father of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson would ascend to the presidency on principles that advocated for restraint of federal powers and a return to the the agrarian democracy he envisioned.

The difference between the democratic ideals of Thomas Jefferson and the Constitution created in 1789 were not enough to bar him from calling it the greatest the world had ever seen. Its execution, however, brought him great worry as he was disinclined from trusting a few men with great power over so many others.

While diplomatic service in France drew away Thomas Jefferson, Constitutional Convention delegates met with the intention of revising the Articles of Confederation. With this resolution in mind, it became inevitable that the gentleman who made their way to Philadelphia would be making significant changes. From afar, Thomas Jefferson admired the mission of the delegates who gathered to draft a new Constitution, but his birth as an anti-Federalist in reaction to the strong, nationalist version they produced shows that Jefferson may have been a contentious member of the debate had he been present.

After James Madison proposed the vague but strongly nationalist Virginia Plan, the delegates appointed to the Committee of Detail, headed by John Rutledge, put together a draft that included powerfully federalist language. A number of clauses added to the Constitution were compromises on issues that Jefferson would have cared to influence, including the Necessary & Proper Clause which gave the national government all unenumerated powers, and the Fugitive Slave Clause which required the capture and return of all runaway slaves to their original state.

The three-fifths compromise, which counted African American slaves as part of the population but only to be counted as three-fifths of a citizen, gave the Southern states greater power and was based upon pseudo-economic calculations from an agreement in the Articles of Confederation.

http://aboutthomasjefferson.com/thomas-jefferson-and-the-constitution/234/#sthash.BEwKmKGQ.dpuf

31 posted on 11/23/2015 10:14:18 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better and safer America)
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To: Oratam

He was too busy bashing in skulls and performing life saving surgery to study American history.


32 posted on 11/23/2015 10:14:29 AM PST by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES)
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To: stephenjohnbanker
Yup.

Good grief.

33 posted on 11/23/2015 10:15:08 AM PST by Madame Dufarge
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Did You Know?

The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarter's Expenses?

Donate And Keep FR Running


34 posted on 11/23/2015 10:16:33 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: C210N

>> Constitutional Scholar, of which there is ONLY 1, IMHO, in the race.

GO TED CRUZ!!!


35 posted on 11/23/2015 10:24:07 AM PST by Nervous Tick (There is no "allah" but satan, and mohammed was his demon-possessed tool.)
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To: MeganC

Jefferson was in France. Certainly, considering the weeks and sometimes months it took to cross the Atlantic, his “crafting” of the Constitution would have been nil. The Declaration of Independence was certainly in the minds of the framers of the Constitution, but any influence Jefferson might have had would have been limited to a few letters....if any.
The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May to September of 1787. Not much time for much influence to cross the Atlantic.

Carson is wrong as applies to the Constitution unless one wishes to speak of the Bill of Rights. The Frenchman the Marquis de Lafayette wrote the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, which was signed by Louis XVI in 1787. His friend, Thomas Jefferson acted as his editor and influenced the final right which gave citizens the right to change their government if it became necessary. The American Bill of Rights (First 10 Amendments) was attached to the American Constitution in 1791 upon ratification by the necessary number of states.
Carson was wrong.


36 posted on 11/23/2015 10:24:46 AM PST by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: Westbrook
To add to your information:

The Declaration of Independence was penned by Thomas Jefferson, but he had a Committee of Five that edited it for him. He actually had a first draft which included an anti-slavery theme.

The Constitution was put together by the committee present at Independence Hall. Each man had a significant part to play in it. George Washington was the one who wrote to many of the men continually, years before it took place, revving up interest in establishing a constitution. When the men finally got together they used their collective knowledge to draft the new Constitution. Some members had a heavier hand, but it was a collective effort.

37 posted on 11/23/2015 10:25:48 AM PST by Slyfox (Will no one rid us of this meddlesome president?)
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To: SeekAndFind

We know Obama is at best, of average intelligence.

Carson is not a leader of men, outside of medicine.

I see no possible good coming from this Carson” exercise”, and Carson
is not a conservative.


38 posted on 11/23/2015 10:30:08 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) since Nov 2014 (GOPe is that easy to read)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts

: )


39 posted on 11/23/2015 10:30:54 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) since Nov 2014 (GOPe is that easy to read)
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To: C19fan

Pretty common error. Lots of folks have no idea about the committee to draft the Constitution. (It was in a School House Rock vid though)


40 posted on 11/23/2015 10:32:19 AM PST by zeugma (Generation Snowflake. Kinda says it all doesn't it?)
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