[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Bookmark to read later.

[vpintheak]

Another wooden stake in the heart of lieberals.

[Captain Rhino]

Thanks. Interesting read.

However, in the tastes of the atheist historians and their fellow travelers, Puritan modesty and morals are always going to run very distant second to the debauched hedonism of Paris.

Supporters of the "inspired by the French Revolution" source for American republican democracy disingenuously overlook the fact that the basic pattern of representative self-rule had been set in the Colonies well before 1700. It is more likely that this plus the successful rebellion against Great Britain (aided, it should be noted with gratitude, by the French monarchy) probably provided inspiration to French revolutionaries, not vice versa.

[Borges]

Students are taught that the Declaration of Independence was a hypocritical document, because Thomas Jefferson wrote that all men are created equal (this is a deliberate misrepresentation, as Jefferson was speaking not of slavery but of the estate of mankind under God). Students are taught that the French Revolution’s Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen expresses the true aspiration of American democracy, which in liberals’ view ought to be the French-style socialistic welfare-state.

A bit of an overstatement. Obviously the American revolution wasn't influenced by something that happened afterward. However it was certainly influenced by the French Enlightenment figures like Voltaire and Montesquieu.

[frogjerk]

Prior to the Constitution, as you know, was the Declaraion of Independence. And the phrase Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. I never truly understood what the "Pursuit of Happiness" meant. I thought it was the ability to do whatever you choose - basically to have a "good" life, start your own business, create your own destiny, etc...

I think it is understood better in a Christian sense. This makes sense with regards to beliefs and ideals our fore fathers were thinking about. I believe the "Pursuit of Happiness" is the seeking of heaven and the freedom to choose from different "goods" not evils.

Just my two cents.

[truth_seeker]

Rhode Island:

Providence, was founded in 1636 as a settlement by English clergyman Roger Williams, after he was banished by the Massachusetts Great and General Court. Williams selected the name in gratitude for "God's merciful providence" that the Narragansett have granted him title to the site. Anne Hutchinson was exiled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1638 and brought more settlers who were attracted to the colony by the promise of religious freedom

http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/history.html

Maryland:

George Calvert died in April 1632, but a charter for "Maryland Colony" (in Latin, "Terra Maria") was granted to his son, Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, on June 20, 1632. Some historians view this as a form of compensation for his father's being stripped of his title of Secretary of State upon announcing his Roman Catholicism in 1625. The colony was named in honour of Queen Henrietta Maria[1].

Lord Baltimore was a staunch Catholic, which was extremely stigmatic for a nobleman in 17th century England, where Roman Catholics were widely regarded as enemies of the crown and of the country. Baltimore's two goals were to create a haven for British Catholics but at the same time turn a profit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Maryland#Colonial_Maryland

This country did NOT start with a premise we would have a particular religious denomination shoved down our throats.

[RoadTest]

Good for you, Tailgunner Joe, for telling it as it was.

That and the true story of the witch trials needs to be brought back to light to counter the sick propaganda that's trying to destroy this nation.

[VOA]

A work on the influence of Judeo-Christian sensibilities on the
founding of the USA:

On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding
by Michael Novak

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1893554341/qid=1155762983/sr=2-3/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_3/002-9564349-3853600?s=books&v=glance&n=283155

[antiRepublicrat]

I always thought we got some inspiration from the Indians, as Benjamin Franklin was impressed with the multiple tribes uniting for common good and defense in the Iroquois Nation.

[x]

Barry Shain has made a similar point in his book, "The Myth of American Individualism" (more here). He says religion, rather than Lockean individualism or classical republicanism was the main influence on popular thinking in the Revolutionary era.

One thing that makes generalization different is that then, as now, the way that political leaders and intellectuals expressed themselves didn't always coincide with what ordinary people said. If you were brought up in a deferential Anglican culture, and suddenly found yourself fighting the monarchy that your tradition demanded that you cherish and obey, it could lead your thinking into some very new avenues. The same is true of more Calvinist and Puritan colonists who weren't so well disposed towards the king to begin with.

[Raycpa]

The Mayflower Compact

Mayflower Compact

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."


http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/mayflower.htm

[xzins]

I thought calvinists would like this article. (Seriously...read it.)

[the invisib1e hand]

kinda makes me glad I didn't pay attention in school.