Posted on 07/04/2011 6:36:29 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
American Minute with Bill Federer
July 4
The Declaration of Independence was approved JULY 4, 1776.
John Hancock signed first, saying "the price on my head has just
doubled."
Benjamin Franklin said "We must hang together or most assuredly we
shall hang separately."
Of the 56 signers:
17 served in the military;
11 had their homes destroyed;
5 were hunted and captured;
Abraham Clark had two sons imprisoned on the British starving ship
Jersey;
John Witherspoon's son was killed in battle;
Francis Lewis' wife was imprisoned and died from the harsh treatment;
many, such as Thomas Nelson and Carter Braxton, lost their fortunes;
and 9 died during the War.
When Samuel Adams signed the Declaration, he said:
"We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be
obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of
the sun, let His kingdom come."
"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding
generations, as the great anniversary Festival.
It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts
of devotion to God Almighty.
It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games,
sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one End of this
Continent to the other from this time forward forever more."
"You will think me transported with enthusiasm but I am not. I am
well aware of the toil and blood and treasure, that it will cost us to
maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States.
Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and
glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means.
And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even
although we should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."
Ping
What’s with all the talk of God? Were they allowed to say that???
The part about God is what the libs and the BOs of the world hate most for they can’t take away that which comes from God. This we should never forget.
Lord Acton:
“Liberty has not existed outside of Christianity.”
John Adams:
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion... Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
“The church is the moral compass of society.”
“We have no constitution which functions in the absence of a moral people.”
John Quincy Adams:
“Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man: either by the Bible or by the bayonet.”
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of
civil government with the principles of Christianity.
- On July 4, 1821.
William Blackstone:
“This law of nature, being co-_eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original.”
- Commentaries on the Law of England (1765)
Edmund Burke:
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
“Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.”
President Calvin Coolidge:
“The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be
difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country....”
Patrick Henry:
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great Nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here.”
Stonewall Jackson:
“Duty is ours. Consequences are God’s.”
Thomas Jefferson:
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the mind of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?”
“Deemed in other countries incompatible with good government and yet proved by our experience to be its best support.”
“I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our creator.”
Abraham Lincoln:
“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven...but we have forgotten God......and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own”.
“Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become... too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
“The only assurance of our national safety is to lay our foundation in morality and religion.”
“To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards of men”
James Madison:
“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it, we have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
Theodore Roosevelt:
“Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure ourselves what that life would be if these standards were removed. We would lose almost all the standards by which we now judge both public and private morals, all the standards towards which we, with more or less resolution, strive to raise ourselves.”
President Zachary Taylor:
“The only ground of hope for the continuance of our free institutions is in the proper moral and religious training of the children.”
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States
February 29, 1892 - decision rendered by Justice Josiah Brewer:
“Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian.”
George Washington
The Father of our Country:
“I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten... the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them.”
“True religion affords to government its surest support. Religion and morality are the essential pillars of civil society.”
” .... 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 to 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 investigation 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.
It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?
Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened .....”
(George Washington’s Farewell Address in 1796)
“Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United states at large.... And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
“It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible”
Actually, I believe they approved the Declaration on July 2 and didn’t sign it till early August.
Here’s what John Adams wrote to Abigail:
“The second day of July, 1776, will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illumination, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.”
But I’m sure he would be fine with the 4th.
They were seeking freedom from the Democrats of the day,But they returned and need thrown out again.
Excellent. Thank you. Oh, for the good old days.
A lot of the founders spoke of how it was only as good as its people and the freedoms we would enjoy would only be good as long as the people understood it and kept it. Washington fretted about how long it would last and thought there would eventually come a day when we would turn as a country. That day has come and the people of today will come to realize they have the blood of this country’s sacrifice on their hands with what they’ve done.
“The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."-- John Quincy Adams, July 4, 1821
New tagline ...
The original independence resolution was passed on 7/1 with nine in favor, two against, one delegation split, and one abstention.
On 7/2 the vote was taken again. This time it was "unanimous" (with one abstention).
The Declaration was "adopted" on the 4th. I've never been completely sure what that means. I don't know if they took a vote on it or just finished critiquing it so that there were no further objections. Only John Hancock and Charles Thomson signed that day.
On 8/2 fifty members of the Congress signed the freshly drafted parchment with the final wording. This is the "signing" most people think of.
From what I’ve read, it seems that the vote on the 4th was likely on the final wording of the document.
Oh, for a time machine to go back and watch!
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Thank you! Thos. Jefferson was taught well — never turn in a first draft.
But the signatures continued to be added after August 2, 1776.
My wife is descended from Thomas McKean, one of the "Signers" of the Declaration of Independence. A number of her aunts and (now-deceased) great-aunts are or were particularly proud of that.
I'd just nod and smile . . . knowing that McKean didn't sign the Declaration of Independence until 1781.
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