A Few of FR's Finest...Every Day...09-10-03...Original Intent of the First Amendment

09-10-2003 | Aquamarine

[Aquamarine]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

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We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Mama_Bear, dansangel, dutchess, Aquamarine

Original Intent

of the First Amendment.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redress of grievances."

Is America founded upon and subservient to the laws of God? America's Founding Father's say yes. Today's Federal courts say no.

Our Constitution operates on long-standing principals which were incorporated into our government over two hundred years ago; each constitutional provision reflects a specific philosophy implemented to avoid a specific problem. Therefore, grasping the purpose for any clause of the Constitution is possible only through a proper historical understanding of the debates and the conclusions reached two hundred years ago.

If our understanding of historical facts and constitutional intent becomes confused or mistaken, the resulting policies may be not only ill-founded but may actually create the very abuses that the Founders originally intended to avoid.

Declaration of Independence

Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in "self-evident truths" and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country.

Declaration of Independence

"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, --"

The Constitution of the United States

Assembly Room in Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
site of the signing of the Constitution in 1787.

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention On February 21, 1787, the Continental Congress resolved that:

...it is expedient that on the second Monday in May next a Convention of delegates who shall have been appointed by the several States be held at Philladelphia for the sole and express purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation...

The original states, except Rhode Island, collectively appointed 70 individuals to the Constitutional Convention, but a number did not accept or could not attend. Those who did not attend included Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams and, John Hancock.

In all, 55 delegates attended the Constitutional Convention sessions, but only 39 actually signed the Constitution. The delegates ranged in age from Jonathan Dayton, aged 26, to Benjamin Franklin, aged 81, who was so infirm that he had to be carried to sessions in a sedan chair. Signers of the Constitution.

Bill of Rights

During the debates on the adoption of the Constitution, its opponents repeatedly charged that the Constitution as drafted would open the way to tyranny by the central government. Fresh in their minds was the memory of the British violation of civil rights before and during the Revolution. They demanded a "bill of rights" that would spell out the immunities of individual citizens. Several state conventions in their formal ratification of the Constitution asked for such amendments; others ratified the Constitution with the understanding that the amendments would be offered.

On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States therefore proposed to the state legislatures 12 amendments to the Constitution that met arguments most frequently advanced against it. The first two proposed amendments, which concerned the number of constituents for each Representative and the compensation of Congressmen, were not ratified. Articles 3 to 12, however, ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures, constitute the first 10 amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.

The Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — went into effect on Dec. 15, 1791, when the state of Virginia ratified it, giving the bill the majority of ratifying states required to protect citizens from the power of the federal government. The first freedoms guaranteed in this historic document were articulated in the 45 words written by James Madison that we have come to know as the First Amendment.

The Founder's Own Words

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investiagation in Courts of Justice?
And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." --George Washington --Farewell Address, excerpts (17 Sep 1796)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a 1798 letter to American military officers, President John Adams declared that "The Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the governance of any other."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The attempt by the rulers of a nation [France] to destroy all religious opinions and to pervert a whole people to atheism is a phenomenon of profligacy [act of moral depravity]. . . .To establish atheism on the ruins of Christianity [is] to deprive mankind of its best consolations and most animating hopes and to make a gloomy desert of the universe." --Alexander Hamilton

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We have staked the future of government not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions on the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the ten commandments of God." -James Madison

The Separation of Church and State

"The separation of church and state" is an overused and regularly abused historical phrase.
Although these word are familiar few Americans know their history. The phrase appeared in an exchange of letters between Thomas Jefferon and the Babtist Association of Danbury Conneticut.

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." --Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptists, 1802.

The "wall" of the Danbury letter were not meant to limit religious activities in public, rather they were to limit the power of the government to prohibit or interfere with free expression of religion.

Jefferson believed that God, not government, was the Author and Source of our rights. He understood the Source of Americas inalienable rights so well that he even doubted whether America could survive if we ever lost that knowledge. Jefferson said:

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have lost the only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?"

"But the greatest injury of the "wall" notion is it's mishievous diversion of judges from the actual intentions of the drafters of the Bill of Rights. . . The "wall" of separation between church and state is a metaphor based on bad history. A metaphor which has proved useless as a guide of judging.
It should be frankly and expicitly abandoned." --Justice William Rehnquist

The nation's policy concerning religion and government have been turned upside down. Not only does much of the nation not realize that "serparation of church and state" is not constitutionally mandated many are not even aware that "the free exercise" of religion is.

All of the text above was gathered from
different sources then organized here.

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 09-08-03....Military Monday 09-09-03...Guns Definitely Are OK

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me a FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[Calpernia]

Morning Free! Off to pick up my son at school. Be back.

[Calpernia]

Morning. Finally had to whack my drive! Probably didn't haved to. But, I was spinning my tires the other way.

[Aquamarine]

Doing these posts are alot of fun (and work), never thought that I could do anything like this. Thanks for believing that I could and for all the time and encouragment that you give so generously.....and for the rose. Here is one for you in return.

[JohnHuang2]

G'morning, my good friend :-) Fabulous job, as always!

[JohnHuang2]

And G'morning, to y'all, too :-)

[Billie]

>>>I vote that we start running these posts by The Thin Man

And take away his fun at the Finest Thread????

Hi, Cal - happy to hear your computer problems are about resolved! I haven't been as active on the past few threads as I like to be, but I've tried to at least read my pings, and your absence has been duly noted by me, promise!

Now, about T Man (Oh, geez - does it always come down to being about T Man! LOL!) - don't worry about it messing up his fun here - if not spelling errors, it's always something else: colors, someone's name left off, someone's name too often, yada yada yada. He'll find a way to be happy calling attention to some grave injustice.....or something!

Hi, T Man. Hugs! :)

[Aquamarine]

Thank you John! Surprised to see you here at this time, are you on vacation?

[JohnHuang2]

Surprised to see you here at this time

I'm surprised to see me here at this time, too! hehehe ;-) My schedule is all messed up ;-)

[JohnHuang2]

G'morning, Billie -- hugs :-)

[Billie]

Good morning to both of you. Have grown accustomed to your face. :) We've come to expect your purple cup and the little red plane every day, and all's just not right when either of you is missing. Thanks, guys, for the daily support!

((((((((((Mayor))))))))))

(((((((((Aeronaut))))))))))

[FreeTheHostages]

Aqua: The Fifth Amendment...that would be good...do that one! ;)

Calpernia: You have been in DC too long!

LOL. People, people, I was JOKING. When, when, have you EVER associated me with silence?!! ROFL!

[FreeTheHostages]

I hate to do this, but remember it's only for your benefit

LOL. Didn't Nixon say that when he put price controls on gasoline?

[Libertina]

Good morning Calpernia! I am very sorry to hear that you weren't able to fix the patition problem without the wipe-of-death! LOL You sound very competent with computers. Mine is in the repair shop at this very moment, getting a new hard drive. And my treasured FR zip disk sits on my computer table, messed up beyond repair, but I'm too sad about it to do the neccessary reformat wiping it clean. :( LOL

[Billie]

Hey, you! Hugs back to you! I'm always a little bit surprised - pleasantly! - to see you here in the morning. (Well, lunch time for you right now, huh?)

[The Thin Man]

Looks like I'm being ganged up on for just trying to help Aqua out. Oh, the ingratitude! (In fairness, Calpernia does seem to understand the situation).

Forget the idea of me proofreading threads beforehand. I will not subject myself to nitpickers who will be in desperate pursuit of finding errors in order to blame *me* for them. This I will never tolerate. LOL!

[Billie]

Morning, Spookie - nice to see you this morning. Aqua did such a beautiful job, didn't she? And I understand the two of you have something in the works. Looking forward to it. :)

[Billie]

Hi, Gail, and you too, Meekie. Two more of our Finest we miss when you're not here! Thank you both for YOUR continued daily support, posts, encouragement, compliments. You're both extra nice to see every day. :)

[Billie]

Good morning! We've had a really great lineup for you all this week, and more still to come. Tomorrow's a special day of remembrance of 9/11, and finally, on Friday, something light and fun after a week of serious, thought-provoking threads. Don't go 'way!

[Pippin]

Hi, Billie!

You think I should put that modem on my Christmas wish list? :O)

I wanted to do a piece on 9/11 but I find I have so little time to do a good job on it, I might wait until I get the modem at home.

I'm getting antsy now and my mom says I'm using this site as a crutch. I guess I'm supposed to just silently endure the C**P I have to listen to every day!

[Billie]

Oh, that calendar page! I want it for Friday! Darn it!