Free Republic

One of the foremost constitutional theorists of the founding generation, John Adams, observed, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”1 He wasn’t the only Founding Father to hold this view. Indeed, James Madison wrote that our Constitution requires “sufficient virtue among men for self-government,” otherwise, “nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.”2 Many of our Founders were men of faith or were influenced strongly by the Judeo-Christian tradition.3 They accepted the premise of mankind’s imperfect nature. They...

Like love of oneself and family, love of country is a natural emotion. From a rational standpoint, what is not to like and love about the greatest force for good in world history? I find pride in American citizenship. I am not the subject of a king, nor a slave in an islamic or authoritarian hell-hole, nor a proletarian ruled through fear by communist party thugs. To be a citizen is to be equal before law of our own making, not through direct democracy, but by representatives, our agents who craft law on our behalf. We the People are still...

My previous posts regarding repeal of the horrid 17th Amendment were built on a simple republican foundation; members of republics are represented in the lawmaking body. The Constitution acts on the people and states, and both had their place in congress until 1913. In its wake, the 17th Amendment left behind a federal Constitution without a federal government. Here, I take a different tack as to why the 17A must go. I will show from the standpoint of balancing society’s natural proclivities, we must reestablish a federal senate of the states. Without a strong middle institution to repel democracy, the...

Subtitle: John Adams Reconsiders Republican Government. The American Revolution wasn’t a simple colonial rebellion against English imperialism. It was first and foremost a social revolution. We can hardly imagine today the leap in men’s minds from a stratified social order in which all honors were gifts from a King, to that of free and equal republican citizens. In his 1776 Thoughts on Government, John Adams viewed politics as a straightforward struggle between rulers and the people. Cast off monarchy, and indeed all executive authority, and let a virtuous people govern themselves. The Articles of Confederation reflect this reliance on public...

Today we're going to try and use modern technology to breathe some life into the historical portraits of the very first Presidents of the United States by adding facial animations. The history teaches us that United States declared independence from Great Britain, on 4th July 1776, during the American Revolutionary War that lasted about 8 years. The Declaration of Independence has been largely written by Thomas Jefferson who was a member of five-man committee, appointed by the Continental Congress, that included John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin and Robert Livingston. The revolutionary war ended with the Treaty of Paris on...

An election watchdog has found 21,000 dead individuals still on Pennsylvania voter rolls in the final weeks of the 2020 election. The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election integrity group, says 92 percent of the registrants died more than a year ago. The group also says there is evidence of voting activity after death. The findings were mentioned in an amended lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of State over its failure to maintain accurate voter rolls. The PILF says that as of October 7, 9,212 registrants have been dead for five years, 1,990 registrants for 10 years, and 197 registrants...

The 2020 election offers a choice between a man who believes in freedom for Americans and a man in a basement who has been set so many targets that he can't let his own people be what they are. The fantastic growth results of the September quarter prove that freedom works. America is built on freedom. Fear locks us down. Freedom lets us build. On John Adams birthday, lets remember what we need to be free.

Fascinating news from The New York Times this week! Reviewing its op-ed titled “I’m a Direct Descendant of Thomas Jefferson. Take Down His Memorial,” I gather we now weigh Americans’ opinions based on who their ancestors are. I’m not sure that’s a good idea, but the rules are the rules. Otherwise, why would the Times consider it so important to publish Lucian Truscott, a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Jefferson, at all? Blut uber alles! Obviously, we’re going to need a list of Whose Opinion Matters. Here’s my first stab at it: Descendants of John Adams will have their views count the most....

Both served in the Continental Congress and both signed the Declaration of Independence. Both served as U.S. Ministers in France. One was elected the 2nd President and the other the 3rd. Once political enemies, they became close friends in later life. An awe swept America when they both died on the same day, JULY 4, 1826, exactly 50 years since they approved the Declaration of Independence. Their names were John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson's handwritten Declaration of Independence used the wording "inalienable" rights as seen in the copies at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, the New York...

After an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Sydney radio station posed the question if chess is racist because it’s customary for the white pieces to move first, Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov and former Australian chess representative John Adams took to Twitter to slam the notion, calling it “bull—” and a waste of taxpayer dollars. Adams noted that ABC contacted him to make a comment on the segment, which is intended to run Wednesday. “They called me up and asked whether I was the John Adams involved in chess,” Adams told the Daily Telegraph. “Then they said with everything going on,...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by John Adams. Click puzzle (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle. John Adams was one of the principle architects and major influence behind the founding of the United States. Along with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, they worked tirelessly to initiate the start of our world's greatest societal experiment in history. Unfortunately, it's very existance is now at direct threat by the spawn of the political party emanating out of the "regretful" side effect of freedom, the "political party;" in this case the Democrat Party. The...

Justice Clarence Thomas spoke these perhaps prophetic words while dedicating a chapel at Hillsdale College this past October. "Our Country was founded on the view that a correct understanding of the nature of God and the human person is crucial to preserving the liberty that we so enjoy.

John Adams wrote A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765: "The desire of dominion ... when ... restraints are taken off ... becomes an encroaching, grasping, restless, and ungovernable power ... contrived by the great for the gratification of this passion ... Originally formed ... for the necessary defense ... against ... invasions ... yet ... tyranny, cruelty, and lust ... was soon adopted by almost all the princes of Europe ... The people were held in ignorance ... till God in his benign providence raised up the champions who began and conducted the Reformation. From the time...

Subtitle: The Matter of the Mississippi River. A not inconsequential percentage of Article V opponents, like those in the John Birch Society, identify as Anti-Federalists. They question the 1780s need for the vigorous government of our Constitution. Those familiar with the era know of Shays’ Rebellion. According to modern Anti-Federalists, Shays’ was the pretext for nationalists like George Washington and James Madison to justify the 1787 Philadelphia Convention. There were other problems facing the infant United States to which the Articles of Confederation proved inadequate. For instance, most of the great European and New World ports were closed to American...

To the Officers of the first Brigade of the third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts Quincy - October 11. 1798 Gentlemen, I have received from Major General Hull and Brigadier General Walker your unanimous Address from Lexington, animated with a martial Spirit and expressed with a military Dignity, becoming your Characters and the memorable Plains, in which it was adopted. While our Country remains untainted with the Principles and manners, which are now producing desolation in so many Parts of the World: while she continues Sincere and incapable of insidious and impious Policy: We shall have the Strongest Reason...

...To turn to the news of the day, it seems that the Cannibals of Europe are going to eating one another again. A war between Russia and Turkey is like the battle of the kite and snake. Whichever destroys the other leaves a destroyer the less for the world. This pugnacious humor of mankind seems to be the law of his nature, one of the obstacles to too great multiplication provided in the mechanism of the Universe. The cocks of the henyard kill one another up. Boars, bulls, rams do the same. And the horse, in his wild state, kills...

On the same day that the Declaration of Independence became official, a telling event further reveals that our founders understood well the “ancient principles” upon which our republic must be built. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress appointed a committee -- consisting of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams -- to design an official seal for the United States. Adams proposed an image of Hercules contemplating the persuasions of Virtue and Sloth. Franklin proposed a biblical theme: Moses standing on the Shore, and extending his Hand over the Sea, thereby causing the same to overwhelm Pharaoh who...

“Why the hell would Jeb Bush post this today?”     Governor Jeb Bush provoked a backlash after he sent a strange tweet about presidents who died on July 4, with many taking it as a veiled dig at President Trump.“Three Presidents Die on July 4th: Just a Coincidence?” tweeted Bush along with a link to a story which explained how, “Three Founding Father Presidents—John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe—died on July 4.”    

John Adams Wanted Independence Day Celebrated With 'Devotion to God...Pomp and Parade...Guns, Bells, Bonfires' (CNSNews.com) - Americans declared their independence from Britain on July 2, 1776, a date that John Adams called "the most memorable epocha in the history of America.” A portion of John Adams July 3, 1776 letter to his wife, in which he discusses his vision for America's Independence Day. Congress approved the Declaration two days later, on July 4, which we now celebrate as Independence Day. Writing to his wife on July 3, 1776 from Philadelphia, John Adams said he believed the occasion would be "celebrated,...

Today's Quotefall Puzzle features a quote by John Adams. Click image (or click here) for full size rendition, then use your browser's print command to print puzzle.John Adams was the 2nd President of the United States, but more importantly, he was one of the instigators and progenitors, along with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who provided the initial spark to create the U.S. Constitution. All hints, along with the answer, are provided in the first reply comment below, using filtered font to prevent accidential spoilers. Please refrain from disclosing the full answer in comments to prevent spoilers.To solve the puzzle: Enter...