Free Republic

Prominent among the problems of postrevolutionary America were the deficiencies of its fundamental charter, the Articles of Confederation. Beyond these difficulties inherent in the situation loomed a further range of problems attributable to, or at least exacerbated by, the government of the Confederation. There seemed to be no prospect of coping with the war debts that were overwhelming both nation and states; the British could not be compelled to honor their agreement under the Treaty of Paris to vacate the western forts; the western settlers increasingly felt they owed little to a government that could guarantee the security neither of...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Canada is a cultural dichotomy. We are a collection of very singular and – dare I say? – distinct peoples who have very little in common, yet are feebly tied together through pseudo-patriotic themes such as beer commercials and donut shops. Confederation, that wonderfully impossible concept of complete and total Canadian national unity, has never worked and never will. One trip to a different part of the country proves that unequivocally. That is what became apparent to me during my camping venture in British Columbia.....

In the heat of the electoral controversy — the worst possible time to make constitutional decisions — many people, such as Senator-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton, are calling for an end to the Electoral College. Big mistake. Someone once said, Don’t knock down a wall merely because you cannot immediately see what it’s good for. The same can be said for the Electoral College. We should keep in mind that the Founding Fathers were of somewhat better caliber than the politician you are likely to see on television, including those with presidential ambitions. The Electoral College was not an idea floating...

On Special Report with Brit Hume on Fox News, 13 December, 2005, Senator Joe Biden (D, Delaware) said the following in reply to President Bush’s third policy speech on Iraq in Philadelphia yesterday: “Failure to get a consensus constitution spells doom for our policy in Iraq. So what is the plan, Mr. President? That is still lacking.” After saying that means participation by the UN, NATO, and Iraq’s neighbors, Biden added: “If this time next year nothing has changed concerning in terms of our success rate, we will be out of Iraq. The American people will not sustain this.” The...

NORWICH, Conn. (AP) -- A local man believes the first president to serve under the Articles of Confederation -- Samuel Huntington of Norwich -- was technically the nation's first president. Now, Bill Stanley is seeking $10 million to build a presidential library for Huntington here. Stanley, president of the Norwich Historical Society, asked the City Council on Monday night to donate $1 million from funds it expects to receive from the Mohegan American Indian Tribe, owners of Mohegan Sun casino. Stanley is also seeking funding from state and federal governments. "Facts are on our side. History is on our side,...

My son asked me a trivia question. Any comments?

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

“LET PRIVATEERS TROLL FOR BIN LADEN -- HON. RON PAUL (Extensions of Remarks - December 04, 2001) “HON. RON PAUL OF TEXAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, December 4, 2001 “. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I recommend my colleagues read the attached article ``Let Privateers Troll for Bin Laden'' by Larry Sechrest, a research fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California, and a professor of economics at Sul Ross State University. Professor Sechrest documents the role privateers played in the war against pirates who plagued America in the early days of the Republic. These privateers often operated with letters...

This is the story of Shays' Rebellion, which I contend is the most important falsified event in American history. It is a story of speculation in government bonds, political intrigue, propaganda, and systematic deception. But it is ultimately the story of John Hancock's big toe. As recently as 2001, only one historian knew that the event that is acknowledged as key political event in the success of promoters of the Constitution was not what it appeared to be. That lone historian, Leonard Richards, had not yet finished his revolutionary book, Shays' Rebellion: The American Revolution's Final Battle. In 2002, the...

HARTFORD, Conn. - George Washington is facing an opponent for office, even though his term has long expired. The title of "first president" has always belonged to Washington, but in the southeastern Connecticut city of Norwich, there's a mounting effort to rewrite history. The Norwich Historical Society believes the title rightfully belongs to Samuel Huntington, the Connecticut native and president of the Continental Congress when the Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781. "We don't do this in the spirit of anything except having history be historically correct," said Bill Stanley, the association's president. "The honor of first president...

Kurds' struggle intensifies ethnic conflict in Kirkuk In the Iraqi city, violence erupted last week as six were killed in clashes between Kurds, Turkmens, and Arabs. By Dan Murphy | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor KIRKUK, IRAQ – As former exiles, Munir al-Makafili and Suhan Said have much in common. Mr. Makafili, an ethnic Turkmen, spent 20 years outside Kirkuk, most of it in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison for joining an illicit political party. Ms. Said, an ethnic Kurd, fared little better. Her husband was executed by Saddam Hussein's regime in 1988. She doesn't know why. A month...

Free and Independent September 11, 2003 A recent biography of Thomas Jefferson contains an amusing statement. It says that Jefferson’s arguments in the 1798 Kentucky Resolutions “brought him dangerously close to secessionism.” Apparently the biographer doesn’t realize that Jefferson was an explicit secessionist. For openers, he wrote a famous secessionist document known to posterity as the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration proclaims the 13 American colonies “Free and Independent States” — adding “that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which...

Ottawa dismisses Nfld. call to amend Constitution Last Updated Fri May 9 08:44:32 2003 OTTAWA-- The federal government says there's no point renegotiating Newfoundland and Labrador's union with Canada because it won't "bring back the fish." On Thursday, the province's governing Liberals introduced a resolution in the legislature demanding the Constitution be amended. Premier Roger Grimes said Newfoundland should be given joint control over the fishing industry. Currently, the federal government has jurisdiction over the oceans. "Time is running out," said Grimes, who is furious over Ottawa's recent decision to virtually close the cod fishery. Stephane Dion But when...

WASHINGTON: US shouldn't stand in the way of partition of Iraq into Kurdish, Sunni and Shiite majority states, and the same applies to Turkey and Iran where Kurds may want separation, says Ralph Peters, a retired military officer and author of Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World. "Certainly, our efforts to rehabilitate the region would go more smoothly were Iraq to remain happily whole within its present borders. What if, despite our earnest advice, the people of Iraq resist the argument that they would be better off economically and more secure were they to remain in a single state?...