Free Republic

Traitors? Could you please define traitor for me. It would appear that you are using a definition of the word to which I was previously unaware.

"And third, Jews and Catholics were free to practice their religions in every colony that I am familiar with by the 1750s. Perhaps there were exceptions that I am unaware of, so please help me out here."

On a local and modern note, it was just this year (2004) that the Citiy of Oviedo, FL issued a building permit for a Catholic Church - this after decades of finding every excuse they could not to do so. It still happens - otherwise we'd be able to buy beer on Sunday.

Here's a period source along with some excerpts:

http://www.temcat.com/Liberty/persecution.htm


In fact, many Jewish store owners felt it necessary to open their shops on Saturday in order to be able to compete in the marketplace. In 1791 Mrs. Rebecca Samuel wrote to her parents in London, England, stating that "on the Sabbath all the Jewish shops [except hers] are open, and they do business on that day as they do throughout the week." Louis Ginsburg, Religious Freedom and the Jew in Colonial Virginia, 7.

For example, Mr. McCoy moved from Kentucky to Arkansas in 1873. He served as a constable for seven years and as a justice of the peace for two terms. Then in 1884 he became convicted that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, and he joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In August of 1885, he was in his corn field with his horses plowing on Sunday. His farm was at least half a mile from the nearest public road, and several miles from any public place of worship. A Mr. Wetherford, a member of the Methodist Church, came to visit Mr. McCoy, and spoke with him for several hours as Mr. McCoy continued to plow his field. In September, Mr. McCoy was arrested and placed on bond based on the testimony of Mr. Wetherford. Why was he arrested? Was it because he disturbed the peace of those attending church on Sunday? I think not. He was singled out because he kept the seventh-day Sabbath.

Anything the ACLU does is a crime? Sounds to me like something Adolph Hitler would say. He's not very high on my list of "People I'd like to be like." Let's take a look at what the ACLU has done (criminal activities according to the original posting).

1920: The Palmer Raids

In its first year the ACLU worked at combatting the deportation of aliens for their radical beliefs (ordered by Attorney General Palmer), opposing attacks on the rights of Industrial Workers of the World and trade unions to hold meetings and organize, and securing release from prison for hundreds sentenced during the war for expression of antiwar sentiments. [When did it become a crime to disagree with a government policy? As I recall, that was one of the things that was high on the Founding Fathers to do list. After all, they were considered traitors because they critisized King George III.]

1925: The Scopes Case

When Tennessee's new anti-evolution law became effective in March 1925 the ACLU at once sought a test of the statute's attackon free speech and secured John T. Scopes, a young science teacher, as a plaintiff. Clarence Darrow, a member of the Union's National Committee and an agnostic, headed the ACLU's volunteer defense team. Scopes was convicted and fined $100. On appeal, the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the statute but reversed the conviction. [Agree or disagree with the scientific validity of evolution, it at least has some sort of science at its base. Religion should NOT be taught in the public schools - that IS in the First Amendment.]

1939: Mayor Hague

Mayor Frank ("I am the law") Hague of Jersey City claimed the right to deny free speech to anyone he thought radical. The ACLU took Hague to the Supreme Court, which ruled that public places such as streets and parks belong to the people, not the mayor. [Do I need to say anything?]

1942: Japanese Americans

Two and a half months after Pearl Harbor, 110,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were citizens, were evacuated from their homes and relocated in a series of inland U.S. concentration camps. The episode was a national tragedy, rightfully called by the ACLU "the worst single whosale violation of civil rights of Americans citizens in our history." The strongest voices against evacuation and relocation came from ACLU affiliates on the West Coast. [Ditto]

1950: Loyalty Oaths

During the Cold War era after World War II, Congress and many state legislatures oassed loyalty-oath laws requiring one group or another, particularly public school teachers, to swear that they were not Communists or members of any "subversive organizations." Throughout the decade the ACLU fought a running battle against the government's loyalty-security program. [When the rest of the nation was all McCarthy nutty, the ACLU was not and they fought for personal liberty.]

1954: School Desegregation

On May 17, 1954, in Brown v. The Board of Education, the Supreme Court issued its historic decision that segregation in public schools violates the 14th Amendment. The ACLU joined the legal battle that resulted in the Court's decision. [Once again, do I need to go into this?]

1973: Impeach Nixon

The ACLU was the first major national organization to call for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon. The ACLU listed six grounds for impeachment affecting civil liberties -- specific, proved violations of the right of political dissent; usurpation of Congressional war-making powers; establishment of a personal secret police that committed crimes; attempted interference in the trial of Daniel Ellsberg; distortion of the system of justice; and perversion of other federal agencies. [Who honestly buys the B.S. about Nixon not doing anything different from everyone before him - he just got caught line? That's so stupid on so many levels. First, if he didn't do anything different - he must not have been very good at it to get caught and ultimatly does that make it right?]

1973: Abortion Decriminalized

In Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, the Supreme Court held that the constitutional right to privacy encompasses a pregnant woman's decision to bear a child or have an abortion. The ruling struck down state laws that had made the performance of an abortion a criminal act. The ACLU was and remains active in the courts to protect that right. [Agree or disagree is beside the point - the Djin is out of the bottle - deal with it. Besides is it an offense that should put a woman in jail, yet leave a quack doctor free to practice?]

1981: Creationism in Arkansas

In Arkansas, 56 years after Scopes, the ACLU challenged a statute that called for the teaching of the biblical story of creation as a "scientific alternative" to the theory of evolution. The statute of, which fundamentalists saw as a model for other states, was ruled unconstitutional by District Judge William R. Overton. Creation-science, he said, was not a science but religion, and could not constitutionally be required by state law. [I believe in the Biblical account of creation as described in Genesis. I also know that because I "Believe" it's not scientific. It's still good enough for me, but it's not scientific.]

1989: Texas v. Johnson

This First Amendment invalidation of the Texas flag desecration statute provoked newly inaugurated President George Bush to propose a federal ban on flag burning or mutilation. Congress swiftly obliged, but the Courts struck down the law a year later in United States v. Eichman -- in which the ACLU also filed a brief. Both ruings were big victories for symbolic political speech. [I believe the Founding Fathers would agree. Especially, Thomas Jefferson, Sam Adams, and Patrick Henry. The author of the original posting may want to look these people up. I don't know if they teach about them in Berlin.]

R.A.V. v. Wisconsin

In an important First Amendment victory. A unanimous Court struck down a local law banning the display, on public or private property, of any symbol "that arouses anger, alarm or resentment in others on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or gender." [Who honestly has an issue with this?]

Lee v. Weisman

The Court ruled that any officially sanctioned prayer at public school graduation ceremonies violates the Establishment Clause. [Guess what, I don't agree with this one. I'm not defending everything the ACLU does, however, their record so far isn't bad.]

1993: J.E.B. v. T.B.

In this women's rights victory, the Court held that a prosecutor could not use peremptory challenges to disqualify potential jurors based on their gender. [Once again, who has an issue with this?]

1994: Ladue v. Gallo

Unanimously, the Court struck down an Ohio town's ordinance that had barred a homeowner from posting a sign that said, "Say No to War in the Gulf -- Call Congress Now!" [Ditto]

1995: Lebron v. Amtrak

Extended the First Amendment to corporations created by, and under the control of, the government in the case of an artist who argued successfully that Amtrak had been wrong to reject his billboard display because of its political message. [Dumb. What's the score though? Looks like the ACLU has done more good than bad. Once again why I'm proud to be AMERICAN. Perhaps if the original poster was American he or she would understand that it's a nation "Of the people, by the people, and for the people" NOT just one person or group of people.]

I have no problem with someone not agreeing with the ACLU. However, if you're going to bash someone get your facts right. The ACLU had nothing to do with changing the Washington & Lincoln Birthday holidays to President's Day. That was brought about through an act of Congress in 1968 (long before Clinton) and inacted in 1971 (Nixon was president). Additionally, there never was a WWII victory day as a national holiday and what's wrong with MLK Day? Do you find something wrong with celebrating an individual who fought for human rights? An AMERICAN ideal?

Sonds to me like you're trying to re-wright history. If you do, try reading it first.