Free Republic

A rare 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence belongs to a Virginia technology entrepreneur, not the state of Maine, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday. Richard Adams Jr. of Fairfax County purchased the document from a London book dealer in 2001 for $475,000. But the state of Maine claimed it belongs to the town of Wiscasset, where it was kept by the town clerk in 1776. Virginia's high court said that a lower court did not err in its ruling in Adams' favor because Maine didn't prove the document was ever an official town record and that Adams had...

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that...

In his Saturday remarks during his campaign train ride, President-elect Barack Obama issued some soaring rhetoric about the state of the country today. At least the Old Media thought it was soaring rhetoric, anyway. Typically, the media was overawed by his mellifluous tones, of course. But during these remarks in Baltimore Obama made a startling suggestion. He said we need a "new Declaration of Independence." Apparently the original one isn't good enough for the new president, but it also seems a silly rhetorical flourish. After all, what is it that we are declaring independence from this time? Recall that the...

President-elect Barack Obama capped the first day of his inaugural celebration here before a crowd of about 40,000 people by calling for a “new Declaration of Independence” and a return to the idealism of 1776. Yesterday, Atlas reported the uh, disturbing news that Obama was taking a page from his role models Chavez and Castro, and proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

We voted for change. So let's go ahead and abandon everything that founded this nation and made it great and HAVE change. Let's start with the Declaration of Independence. Let's "change" it. Obama said: "We are here today not simply to pay tribute to those patriots who founded our nation in Philadelphia or defended it in Baltimore, but to take up the cause for which they gave so much. The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast....

"The undersigned hereby declares that he or she is eligible under the laws and constitution of the United States to serve in the office of president of the united states if elected"

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they...

A lot of Americans really think that there is a clause in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution that says that there is a “separation of church and state”. Larry King on CNN was flabbergasted one evening when a preacher told him that it was not there.

A math teacher sued his school district after the principal told him the words "In God We Trust" and "All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their Creator" must be removed from his homeroom wall because they convey a Judeo-Christian viewpoint. In January, Principal Dawn Kastner told Westview High School math teacher Bradley Johnson that a banner he had posted in his classroom for 25 years, and another that was posted for 17 years, needed to come down. The older banner, measuring 7 feet by 2 feet, contained the words "In God We Trust," "One Nation Under God,"...

Just a point that I believe worth making. In Congress on July 4th, 1776 the vote to declare independence was 12 - 0. While some might call that unanimous, actually the delegates from the state of new york abstained. So there were no "No" votes, but the State of New York did not stand up and make it 13 -0, they were cowardly.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 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,...

The Americans Who Risked Everything My father, Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr., delivered this oft-requested address locally a number of times, but it had never before appeared in print until it appeared in The Limbaugh Letter. My dad was renowned for his oratory skills and for his original mind; this speech is, I think, a superb demonstration of both. I will always be grateful to him for instilling in me a passion for the ideas and lives of America's Founders, as well as a deep appreciation for the inspirational power of words which you will see evidenced here: "Our Lives, Our...

Would today's Democrats ever agree to the language in this document written by our Founding Fathers?

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that...

Anything in these remarks that does not stray from the truth is indebted to the American Founders, who bequeathed these ideas to us, to Abraham Lincoln, who preserved and ennobled them in the country's greatest crisis, to Harry V. Jaffa, who has done more than anyone since Lincoln to recover them, and to the late Tom Silver, the wisest and best of those who founded the Claremont Institute for the sake of these ideas. American children are not born understanding the principles of their country, and most American college students—if reports can be believed—are still largely unfamiliar with them...

What does it mean to be an American? What does our nation really stand for? Why, even though some people around the world claim to hate us, are we still the place where so many from so many other places dream of living? There’s no doubt that God has blessed the United States of America in an awesome way, and that he continues to do so. But with so much anti-Christian spin dominating our secular media and educational institutions, many Americans today might not realize that the U.S.A. was founded by men who unashamedly relied on God for his wisdom...

What follows is Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence from his Autobiography. A good portion of the text was deleted or changed by the Congressional delegates; these deletions are indicated by brackets (the last two paragraphs, Jefferson's original and Congress's version are presented side by side in Jefferson's text and here); changes made by Congress are also in brackets but are clearly marked. It was very important to Jefferson that he preserve his original document alongside the version eventually signed. Why? What are the significant differences? What do you make of these deletions? In the second paragraph,...

Can’t wait for the fundraising photo of Abe Lincoln, sitting in his Memorial with an Obama t-shirt on saying “Emancipation for America - Vote Obama.”

Washington Greets Deal With N.Korea With Skepticism Some U.S. government officials and congressmen have expressed opposition to a tentative deal reached with North Korea in Singapore last week regarding the North’s overdue declaration of all its nuclear programs and stockpiles. One deputy secretary in the Bush administration says the Singapore deal does not clearly specify Pyongyang's proliferation record and uranium enrichment program, which have hitherto been key sticking points in the matter. Radio Free Asia reports that there was some discontent for congressmen when U.S. chief nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill briefed the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs on the...

The GOP primary process is largely over, as months before many Republican voters have an opportunity to cast their votes, John McCain has essentially been crowned the nominee. This is not the beginning of an unraveling of the conservative movement; it is more the culmination of many years of philosophical neglect.We have heard many conservatives complain that the GOP has “forgetten its principles.” More specificallly, the complaint is that Republican officeholders have drifted from Constitutional principles in particular, or from conservative principles in general. If you were to ask such people for examples, it would be a fair assumption...