Free Republic

“If we are to be considered as a nation, all State distinctions must be abolished; the whole must be thrown into a hotchpot and when an equal division is made, then there may be fairly an equality of representation.” – New Jersey delegate William Paterson. Today’s squib reviews the last few days of the Federal Convention leading up to Alexander Hamilton’s June 18th speech. In Part V we’ll find that, considering the previous exchanges among delegates, Hamilton was far from alone in his disdain of the States. What he shared with them was the search for a governing design adequate...

Almost everyone knows Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. But did you know he also wrote a Declaration of Arms? A year prior to Congress’ adoption and ratification of the Declaration of Independence, the members were signing a declaration to pick up arms against the mother country. And Jefferson was again the primary author. Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence when he was just 33 years old, the youngest member of Congress. He penned the Declaration of Arms when he was just 32 years old. Jefferson’s eloquence in written expression was apparent to John Adams, who later described him...

John Dickinson, A Speech Against Independence, 1776 I know the name of liberty id dear to each one of us; but have we not enjoyed liberty even under the English monarchy? Shall we this day renounce that to go and seek it in I know not what form of republic, which will soon change into a licentious anarchy and popular tyranny? In the human body the head only sustains and governs all the members, directing them, with admirable harmony, to the same object, which is self-preservation and happiness; so the head of the body politic, that is the king, in...