Free Republic

22 minutes of "you were ready for this"

It pays to check those musty old boxes in your attic. An unidentified family in the Deep South made the discovery of a lifetime when they found a letter written by Founding Father Thomas Jefferson in which the third president extols the virtues of American independence and hails victory in the War of 1812. “As in the Revolutionary War, [the British] conquests were never more than of the spot on which their army stood, never extended beyond the range of their cannon shot,” Jefferson wrote in the letter, penned at his Monticello home on Valentine's Day, 1815. "We owe to...

In the popular mind, the American Revolution was mostly about liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- and the war that followed the Declaration of Independence wasn't much of a war. We imagine toy soldiers in red coats chasing picturesque rebels. Actually, the War of Independence was horrific, according to John Ferling, a leading historian of early America. It was a grinding conflict that rivaled, and in some ways exceeded, the Civil War in its toll on American fighters when looked at on a per-capita basis. Ferling chronicles the suffering in his new book, "Almost a Miracle: The American Victory...

Our Ageless Constitution "The structure has been erected by architects of consummate skill and fidelity; its foundations are solid; its components are beautiful, as well as useful; its arrangements are full of wisdom and order...." -Justice Joseph Story Justice Story's words pay tribute to the United States Constitution and its Framers. Shortly before the 100th year of the Constitution, in his "History of the United States of America," written in 1886, historian George Bancroft said: "The Constitution is to the American people a possession for the ages." He went on to say: "In America, a new people had risen up without...

Students in South Dakota will now graduate from high school without studying early American history, under new teaching guidelines adopted by the state. After a year of deliberations, the state Board of Education adopted new curriculum standards that no longer require instructors to teach the first 100 years of U.S. history. Such milestone events and developments as the Revolutionary War and the drafting of the U.S. Constitution could be completely ignored. Cutting out early U.S. history in 11th grade hurts the ability of students to “think historically” when they reach higher education, according to a letter sent to the state...

Top Vatican adviser Jeffrey Sachs says that when Pope Francis visits the United States in September, he will directly challenge the “American idea” of God-given rights embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Sachs, a special advisor to the United Nations and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, is a media superstar who can always be counted on to pontificate endlessly on such topics as income inequality and global health. This time, writing in a Catholic publication, he may have gone off his rocker, revealing the real global game plan. The United States, Sachs writes in the Jesuit publication,...

Did You Hear About The Time Ben Franklin Wrote a Column For The National Gazette, Quoting From the Koran, and Calling For The Enslavement of Christians? I bet you think I'm kidding. I'm not. The first thing we need to understand is Ben Franklin was petitioning Congress for the abolition of slavery in the USA: Author, "Theodore Parker" wrote “Historic Americans” in which he describes founding father, Benjamin Franklin, abolitionist extraordinaire, quoting the koran in defending his abolition petition to Congress You see the young nation in its infancy. “Hercules in his cradle, “ said Franklin; but with a...

A little-remembered anniversary occurs this April 30 -- the 225th Anniversary of the U.S. Constitution being put into operation. Many might remember that April 30, 1789 was the day that George Washington took the oath of office and gave his inaugural address. But lest we forget, this very act also marked the launching of the American Constitutional System. Those living at the time knew what a landmark day it was and the details surrounding the events of the day show this depth of understanding. Through the process of time, neglect and the active rewriting of American history, these details have...

In this fourth article of a five-part series, Lyle Denniston looks ahead to the constitutional issues that will unfold in the campaign for same-sex marriage. The final article in the series will deal with election law. Earlier articles covered the war on terrorism, abortion, and health care. The campaign to win marriage rights for same-sex couples that began somewhat hesitantly in Hawaii more than twenty years ago burst forth in 2013 into something close to a constitutional revolution. The year 2014 very likely will take the issue back to the Supreme Court even as efforts continue to advance the campaign...

In this third article of a five-part series, Lyle Denniston examines the constitutional issues that still surround the new federal health care law. Later articles will deal with same-sex marriage and elections. Earlier articles dealt with the war on terrorism and with abortion. Nearly four years ago, when President Obama signed into law the most ambitious federal health care program in history, the year 2014 was anticipated to be its year of triumph. That was when its most important fixture – the mandate that nearly all individuals must buy health insurance – was to take full effect, assuring that the...

In this second article of a five-part series, Lyle Denniston surveys the constitutional issues developing on abortion. Later articles will deal with health care, same-sex marriage, and elections. The first article dealt with the war on terrorism. On January 22, as happens on that day every year, a crowd will gather in front of the Supreme Court to rally against Roe v. Wade. Though that ruling establishing a woman’s constitutional right to seek an abortion came down nearly forty-one years ago, it remains deeply controversial in America. The efforts to get it overturned, or at least narrowed down, continue unabated....

In a five-part series, Lyle Denniston looks ahead to likely developments in 2014 on major constitutional issues. Later articles will deal with abortion, health care, same-sex marriage, and elections. More than 12 years after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, the constitutional side of the federal government’s war on terrorism still raises many unanswered questions: Will the war crimes cases against the 9/11 suspects ever reach a verdict? Will President Obama’s plan to close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ever happen? Will the planned end of an active U.S. military role in Afghanistan...

What Is Our National Purpose? I was listening to a radio program a couple days ago, which featured a story that arrested my attention and set some gears in motion in my overheated gray matter. For those of you in Rio Linda, California – that's a brain. The basic theme of the profile, had to do with the topic of 'depressed Latina teens'. The narrator told the story of one young woman, whose family was concerned when the teen's grades in school started slipping, she refused to leave her room to go to school and was withdrawing from the family....

"At CPAC, the Future Looks Libertarian," read a dispatch on Time magazine's website. "CPAC: Rand Paul's Big Moment," proclaimed The Week magazine. Meanwhile, the New York Times headlined its story about the annual conservative political action conference "GOP divisions fester at conservative retreat." George Will, a man who actually knows a thing or two about conservatism, responded to the NYT's use of the word "fester" on ABC News' "This Week." "Festering: an infected wound, it's awful. I guarantee you, if there were a liberal conclave comparable to this, and there were vigorous debates going on there, the New York Times'...

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. 2.1 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are...

...Snip In an email to supporters on the second anniversary of the law, campaign manager Jim Messina writes to supporters "Here's to two years of making the lives of millions of Americans better every single day. If you're tired of the other side throwing around that word like it's an insult, then join me in sending a message that we're proud of it." "Let everyone know: 'I like Obamacare,'" Messina writes. "What's not to like? Obamacare means you won't have to pay out of pocket for preventive care like cancer screenings and birth control, insurance companies can no longer drop...

On June 20, The Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC), which brags about consulting media outlets such as CNN and even congressional representatives, hosted an event on Capitol Hill entitled, “A Solution in Search of a Problem: The Impact of Anti-Sharia Bills in America.” In order for this forum to be successful, MPAC needed to address the questions: what is Sharia and why are the courts taking up the issue? Unfortunately, MPAC did not take advantage of the media coverage to educate or ease American’s concern about this hot topic. The first problem: Sharia, the “solution,” remained undefined. Noha Bakr, Commissioner...

"We the people" are the familiar opening words of the Constitution of the United States-- the framework for a self-governing people, free from the arbitrary edicts of rulers. It was the blueprint for America, and the success of America made that blueprint something that other nations sought to follow. At the time when it was written, however, the Constitution was a radical departure from the autocratic governments of the 18th century. Since it was something so new and different, the reasons for the Constitution's provisions were spelled out in "The Federalist," a book written by three of the writers of...

A Constitutional Law instructor, Michael Connelly, has actually read the mammoth new health care law. (He must be one of a very few who have). His opinion of it, sent on to us by email, confirms some of our worst fears: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, that of constitutional law… What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

Our first president had some excellent advice in his farewell address to the nation, which he delivered via newspaper publication in September 1796. The entire speech remains worth reading today. Some of his points were specific to a time when the United States was young and fragile–the Constitution was less than a decade old, after all–but much of his wisdom continues to hold value. Pay attention. Pay attention. It doesn’t hold value simply because he’s George Washington, Super-President of Historical Myth and Noble Chopper of the Cherry Tree and Crosser of the Delaware. (Even Washington was not a perfect human...