Free Republic

Before the war was over, five would be captured, 12 would lose their homes, and 17 would lose their fortunes. None renounced the cause of their own free will. Congress voting on the Declaration of Independence. Library of Congress/Public Domain =============================================================== Today the United States celebrates the 250th—or semiquincentennial—anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. While July 4 marks the day Thomas Jefferson’s revised draft of the Declaration of Independence was adopted, it would take months for the document to be signed by all 56 men who would eventually affix their names to it. Several key figures in...

On July 4, Americans will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. At the heart of that document is the proclamation that “all men are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” Today, many people think that belief in a Creator is a subjective preference based on their personal faith. But that was not the view of America’s Founders. Nor was it the view held by many of the thinkers who preceded them. More than two millennia ago, key Greek and Roman thinkers already argued that nature supplies objective evidence of a Creator....

IntroductionThe Coercive Acts not only sparked outrage among the common people whom Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816) derided as members of the mob; they also inflamed the indignation of Americans who occupied positions of power and influence. One such person was Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), a member of Virginia's House of Burgesses who helped write a May 1774 resolution designating a day of fasting and prayer to show solidarity with the people of Massachusetts. Soon after, Lord Dunmore (1730–1809), the royal governor, showed his solidarity with Parliament by dissolving the House of Burgesses. As the elected members of that body prepared to regroup...

From Roman freedom to Viking happiness, the iconic words in the Declaration of Independence reveal thousands of years of humans wrestling with how to live well together – and the power of language to put those ideas into action. "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." When Thomas Jefferson drafted these words in the Declaration of Independence, two things were on his mind. One: he needed to find "terms so plain and...

(Sep. 27, 2025) — Vattel’s legal treatise was mentioned in communications between John Jay and others during the revolution and founding and framing time period. Vattel’s legal treatise was a very important guiding light and legal reference to the Founders and Framers in the justifying the revolution, the founding of our nation, the writing and framing of our founding documents, and in the establishment of our new U.S. Federal Government’s “Common Law” via subsequent U.S. Supreme Court Decisions, especially regarding U.S. citizenship. John Jay became the first Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. I have often wondered if the...