The Paper Trail of Our Constitution IV

On September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, members of the Constitutional Convention signed a draft of the Constitution.  Subject to ratification by nine or more states, America would become a representative republic.  Unalienable rights (man as sovereign under God over government) are to be guarded by separations of power among three branches of the central and state governments.  Constitutional separations of power also help to protect against infringement by hierarchical authoritarians or a misled citizen majority (such as occurs in a pure democracy).

 

Washington, as president of the convention, transmitted the proposed Constitution to the people's representatives, who were then still operating under the Articles of Confederation.  Referring to man's sinful nature and the dangers of collusion by government officials for personal power, Washington wrote: "The great powers to be vested in General Government of the Union and the impropriety of delegating such extensive trust to one body of men is evident:  hence results the necessity of a different organization."*

 

The ninth state, New Hampshire, ratified the Constitution at its state convention on July 21, 1788.  When Congress was informed, it set March 4, 1789, to be the start for the new government.  On April 30, 1789, George Washington took the oath of office and became the first president of the United States.  Another anxious year passed before that government became fully operational.  Fourteen years after the God-honoring Declaration of Independence was ratified, the benefits of separation from authoritarian elites became a reality.

 

Charles Pinckney, who at the outset of the convention doubted the success of the undertaking, was amazed at the final result: "Nothing less than that superintending hand of Providence, that so miraculously carried us through the war, could have brought it [the Constitution] about so complete, upon the whole."**

 

God raises up nations and He brings nations down according to His will.  In I Samuel 8, Israelites rejected citizenship responsibilities outlined in Scripture and asked to be like other nations and have a king.  God gave them a King--an arrangement that was second best to His own authority alone, but better than anarchy.  "But God is the judge:  He putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalm 75:7).  "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase" (Daniel 4:37).

 

In 1791, on July 19, George Washington wrote in a letter to Catherine Macaulay Graham:  "The United States enjoys a scene of prosperity and tranquility under the new government, that could hardly have been hoped for."*** In 1792, on March 11, Washington explained:  "I am sure there never was a people who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that Agency which was so often manifested during our revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them."****

 

The Constitution of the United States has survived many times longer than any other constitution.  For example, in the last two hundred years, France has gone through seven different government charters, and Italy forty.  "In God Is Our Trust," emblazoned in "The Star-Spangled Banner" (official national anthem of the United States), takes elitists of every stripe out of the authority equation.

 

A century later, William Gladstone, one of Britain's greatest prime ministers, proclaimed the American Constitution to be "the most wonderful work ever struck off by the brain and purpose of man."*****

Pledge4

1789 Inauguration of George Washington

The Bible is open to Deuteronomy 28 at his request.  Washington added his own "So help me God" to seal his oath.******

*William L. Hickey, The Constitution of the United States of America (Philadelphia: Nabu Press, 1851), 188.

**Hamilton Albert Long, The American Ideal of 1776, (Philadelphia: Heritage Books, Inc., 1963), 205-206.

***Harry Atwood, The Constitution Explained, 4th ed. (Merrimac, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1992) 5.

****David Barton, Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion (Aledo, TX: WallBuilder Press), 116. (Citing Washington, Writings 1838, Vol. X 222-223, to John Armstrong on March 11, 1792).

*****Gladstone speech, The North American Review, (September, 1878), http://www.quotes.net/quote/3589

******http://books.google.com/books?id=S1mRh9Zhxa4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=...,+a+biography&hl=en&ei=QXIWTtukHsjd0QGvp5Rf&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=so%20help%20me%20god&f=false

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The Paper Trail of Our Constitution III

In 1777, on November 15, the Articles of Confederation, our nation's first written constitution (which proved to be too weak), was adopted by the Congress.  It was not ratified by the states until near the end of the war, but it served as the procedure for governing throughout the war.  On March 2, 1781--the day after the Articles of Confederation were ratified--the Continental Congress became known as the Confederation of Congress, and the confederacy claimed the title "the United States of America."*

 

On May 14 of 1787, a few statesmen began to assemble in Philadelphia to assess the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation.  Their meetings soon became a convention for framing a new constitution.  On May 25, 1787, George Washington was elected president of the Constitutional Convention.  The general outline proposed for the new constitution was presented by Edmund Randolph, Governor of Virginia.  The outline came from consultation with seven men, among whom James Madison was prominent.

 

Their work, spanning almost five months, was an ordeal that required attention to tedious debate and late-hour committee responsibilities with the added discomforts of hot, humid weather and longings for home.  Washington himself, disagreeing with one of the delegates, cautioned that regardless of whether or not the states would adopt a new constitution, popular fallacies must be avoided:  "Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God."** Because it was conducted in secret, the public was unaware that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were on the verge of failure.  When opinions came to an impasse during the Constitutional Convention, Franklin called the delegates to their knees in prayer.  

 

"In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings?  In the beginning of the Contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger we had daily prayer in this room for the divine protection.  Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered…  I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth--that God governs in the affairs of men.  Can an empire rise without his aid?  We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that 'except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that build it.'  I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel:  We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down to future ages."*** The practice of prayer continues today when a session of the United States Senate or House convenes.

 

The Committee of Style and Arrangements, elected by the Constitutional Congress, proceeded to codify what had started out on May 28 as a list of fifteen resolutions presented four months earlier by Edmund Randolph.  Twenty-three resolutions for the Constitution emerged from their debate.  Rearranging them for orderly reading, Governor Morris of Pennsylvania put them together as the Constitution.  It contained seven articles with short subsections and a preamble that starts with the sovereigns under God, "We the People."****

Image_hope_in_me_not_disappointed_in_god_we_trust

*Articles of Confederation, Article 1.

**Harry Atwood, The Constitution Explained, 4th ed. (Merrimac, MA: Destiny Publishers, 1992), 4.

***http://www.constitution.org/primarysources/franklin.html

****http://www.history.army.mil/books/revwar/ss/morrisg.htm


 

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The Paper Trail of Our Constitution II

In 1776, on February 28, George Washington acknowledged a poem written in his honor and sent to him by Phillis Wheatley.  "To His Excellency General Washington"   was the title.  This occurred before the Declaration of Independence was completed and accepted by the Continental Congress.  Who was Phillis Wheatley?  She had been captured in Senegal/Gambia at the age of seven or eight and sold in Boston to John and Susanna Wheatley.  They treated her lovingly as a daughter and taught her to read and write; she even learned Latin.  An accomplished poet, she was an admirer of the minister George Whitefield and a strong supporter of independence from Great Britain.

 

The Northwest Ordinance passed in 1787 by the Continental Congress was helpful as the new constitution was drafted.  It specified the requirements of territories seeking statehood.  The ordinance declared:  "The fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty, which form the basis whereon these republics, their laws, and constitutions are erected; to fix and establish those principles as the basis of all laws, constitutions, and governments, which forever hereafter shall be formed in the said territory: to provide also for the establishment of States, and permanent government therein, and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an equal footing with the original States, at as early periods as may be consistent with the general interest."*

 

Also known as the Freedom Ordinance, the Northwest Ordinance is a rock-solid example of the nonsectarian religious predicate embraced as constitutional law.  When the Articles of Confederation was replaced by a new constitution, the Northwest Ordinance was passed again and became effective under the Constitution.  George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance back into law on August 7, 1789.  The ordinance also prohibited slavery in any new state, and Article III specified that "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education, shall forever be encouraged."**

 

"During this same period of time (July 17 to August 7, 1789), the same men who had implemented the Northwest Ordinance were writing the First Amendment to the Constitution [prohibiting government officials from interfering with religious freedom, printing press and education competition]."***

 

In 1792, James Madison, in his Essay, Who Are the Keepers of the People's Liberties?, said, "Although all men are born free, and all nations might be so, yet too true it is, that slavery has been the general lot of the human race.  Ignorant--they have been cheated; asleep--they have been surprised; divided--the yoke has been forced upon them.  But what is the lesson?  That because the people may betray themselves, they ought to give themselves up, blindfold, to those who have an interest in betraying them?  Rather conclude that the people ought to be enlightened, to be awakened, to be united."  Madison served as the fourth president of the United States and is considered to be the principal author of the United States Constitution.  In 1788, he wrote over a third of the Federalist Papers, still the most influential commentary on the Constitution.  James Madison wrote the first ten amendments to the Constitution, also known as the Bill of Rights.  

 

The Declaration of Independence condemned slavery, but it took a war to make it enforceable.  On January 1, 1863, near the end of that war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation that reversed its momentum.

 

"The consequence is, that happiness of society is the first law of every government.  The people have a right to insist that this rule be observed; and are entitled to demand a moral security that the legislature will observe it.  If they have not the first right, they are slaves; if they have not the second right [moral security], they are, every moment, exposed to slavery" (U.S. Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, 1790-91).


Phillis_wheatley

Phillis Wheatley

1753? - 1784

 

*Education Resources Information Center website, ED285786.  Teaching about the US Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance.

**http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Webster

***David Barton, Education and the Founding Fathers (Aledo, Texas: Wallbuilder Press, 1993), 4.

****http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation...

 

Image from http://evolutionofpaper.blogspot.com/2010/02/african-american-literary-firsts...

 

NOTE ~ more information on Wheatley at http://www.enotes.com/his-excellency and http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/whea-phi.htm

 

The Paper Trail of Our Constitution

By far the most consequential document for government throughout all history is the Declaration of Independence.  The hitherto inexperienced benefits that enabled America to become the greatest nation on earth rest entirely upon the justification for displacing the rule of man with rule by impartial, God-honoring law.  The Declaration provided the philosophical basis for prohibiting actions by government officials that would interfere with citizen sovereignty under God.  The people who vote in secret and choose like-minded representatives determine the consensus for government action.  Adherence to "self-evident" truths that men are "endowed by their Creator" with "certain unalienable Rights" unleashed citizen creativity and independence from tyranny and trickery of authoritarians in and out of government.

 

On July 8, 1776, the Declaration was read in public for the first time, outside Independence Hall in Philadelphia, accompanied by the ringing of the Liberty Bell.  On August 2, 1776, the members of Congress signed the parchment copy.  It provides the logic and justification for the chain of authority described by Hamilton Albert Long as “man under God over government.”*  The Declaration and citizens' Bill of Rights, added later to the Constitution as the First Amendment, provides the fundamental God-honoring design for government, and the Constitution is the tool for implementing that design.

 

The purpose of government as a tool for, by, and of the people is spelled out in the preamble of the Constitution:  "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare [meaning common needs that do not conflict with the development of work ethic and personal self-reliance] and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

 

One historian points out that the preamble contains seven action words:  form, establish, insure, provide, promote, secure, and ordain.  The Constitution concludes:  "Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the States present on the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven and of the independence [Declaration of Independence, founded upon the sovereignty of the benevolent God of creation and of the Bible] of the United States of America the twelfth [adopted twelve years earlier].  In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names."

 

Until amended by the people, written law holds firm.  It includes the right of trial by one's own peers and the citizen grand jury.  The divine (God-given) right authorizes the people to petition government officials and, if need be, lawfully punish or remove them from office.  The strict boundaries included "no taxation without representation."

 

From 1775 to 1783, the eight-year War for Independence from authoritarian rule was waged.  Its victory was a monumental achievement granted by the providence of God.  The signers of the Declaration of Independence had pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.  Of the fifty-six signers, five were captured by the British as traitors and tortured; twelve had their homes ransacked and burned; two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; and another had two sons captured.  Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or hardships in the Revolutionary War.  In spite of the suffering, not one of the Founding Fathers ever reneged on his commitment to independence.**

J0410154-570x379

 *www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_history.html

**www.snopes.com/history/american/pricepaid.asp

 

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A Letter To My Grandchildren

More than one of you have faced a challenge from your college professors or spiritual mentors that the War of Independence was "throwing off the government that God has placed upon you."  Some theologians do take that position according to Daniel 2:21, "He changeth the times and the seasons: He removeth kings, and setteth up kings …"  A similar reference to this is, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.  For there is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God…" (Romans 13:1,2).

 

I would agree ~ IF the King of England had been proceeding according to written law.  

 

Following the British "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 and the ascension of William and Mary as joint monarchs, the proposal to draw up a declaration of subjects' rights and liberties was made in the House of Commons.   The completed declaration was codified as the British citizens' Bill of Rights in 1689.  Among the "ancient rights and liberties" asserted were "the right of the subject to petition the king and prosecutions for petitioning are illegal" as well as "subjects may have arms for their defense suitable to their conditions and allowed by law" and "excessive bail and fines shall not be required and cruel and unusual punishments are not to be inflicted."  There was an internal change of constitution following the excesses of James II.*

 

These laws protected the citizens' right to petition the King without fear of retribution.  He and his subordinates were repeatedly violating this and the citizens' right to freedom.

 

One hundred years later, Edmund Burke (1729-1797), a British statesman and orator, commented on this internal change of the British constitution by saying, "The Revolution was made to preserve our ancient indisputable laws and liberties, and that ancient constitution of government which is our only security for law and liberty."*  He opposed the King's efforts to suppress American independence.  

 

For years our Founding Fathers tried to negotiate reasonableness; but the British response was an iron fist, including the placing of troops on the coast.  Eventually negotiations between the colonists and the King collapsed.  Written like a legal brief, the Declaration of Independence detailed how their rights as British citizens were being violated.  They are "… taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments" (Declaration of Independence).

 

"The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.  A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position" (President George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796).

 

Government employees are servants of the people who are the sovereigns under God over government.  The American Declaration of Independence and citizens' Bill of Rights, added later to the Constitution, provides the God-honoring design for government, and the Constitution is the tool for implementing that design.

 

Americans concurred with written law resting upon the British references to the Laws of Nature.  It is the governing character of Laws of Nature such as humility, the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments, that lead to success.  This is the sure foundation upon which man's right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" rests.  Called "virtue" by America's Founding Fathers, the impartial and divine element frees man to do what is right.  "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17).

 

I identify with and support the several Norris ancestors who fought for independence.  Keep up the good work as students, my children.  I love you.  

 

Grandpa

M__d_army_in_front_of_house

Grandpa and Grandma Norris

Stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas

1952

 

 

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*http://constitution.org/bor/eng_bor.htm

**http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1478-0542.003/abstract

 

The American Revolution: Unjustified Rebellion or Unavoidable Self-defense?

In 1776, King George III was violating written law, the 1215 Magna Carta and the 1689 Declaration of Rights that had been imposed on government officials by the English people.  1) Written law placed strict limits on what government officials, kings, academia, militarists, clergy, etc. could do.  2) The king was required to sign a contract, a Magna Carta, before being installed upon the throne.  3) In 1689, government officials were exploiting the people in spite of the Magna Carta.  At that time, the people refused to accept a king until he and his queen took oaths and signed an explicit contract.  That document was a Bill of Rights, if you will, for the English people.

 

Objections by the original colonies regarding the rule of the British king began when he imposed a series of unjust laws that violated the colonists' rights as British citizens.  The colonists objected most vehemently to taxation without representation.

 

Nearing the end of 1773, the Colonists were refusing to pay taxes required by the British Parliament because their representatives had not been allowed to participate in tax enforcement decisions.  If Americans paid the duty tax on the imported tea they would be acknowledging Parliament's right to tax them.  On December 16, with three shipments of tea in Boston harbor the crisis came to a head.  In the early evening about 200 colonists descended upon the three ships and dumped the expensive shipments into harbor waters.  This act was monumental and there could no longer be any misunderstanding about the political will of Americans.

 

On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress came together in Philadelphia with hopes of reaching an agreement with the British king. A respectful petition was sent on October 25 to the King, pointing out acts of oppression.  Congress was still communicating the desire of Americans to remain as British subjects although Americans had a valid concern.  Alexander Hamilton expressed it well in a published pamphlet:  "The only distinction between freedom and slavery consists of this:  in the former state, man is governed by laws to which he has given his consent, either in person or, by his representative.  In the latter he is governed by the will of another" (Forrest McDonald, Novus Ordo Seclorum: The Intellectual Origins of the Constitution, Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 1985, 160).

 

In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened on May 10.  The goal of the colonies was justice, not independence.  On July 5, 1775, the Continental Congress approved the Olive Branch Petition and appealed "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty, Most Gracious Sovereign" for reconciliation.  The King's response?  He refused to read the petition and on August 23 proclaimed that the colonies had "proceeded to open and avowed rebellion."*

 

The English Parliament retaliated on December 22, 1775, with the American Prohibitory Act, a declaration of unrestricted war against the colonists, claiming the right to confiscate their property.  Freedom for Americans at this point became a matter of self-defense and necessitated a new republican (republic) government.**

 

From June 1775 to December 1783, upon the recommendation of John Adams, George Washington served as commanding general of the Continental Army.  The winter at Valley Forge (1777-78) is an example of the privation suffered by the soldiers who gave their lives for liberty.  At this time, George Washington had a portion of Thomas Paine's The American Crisis read to the American army:

 

"These are the times that try men's souls.  The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.  Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.  What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly:  it is dearness only that gives every thing its value."***

 

In 1776, on July 4, the Second Continental Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, and the American nation was born.

Try_mens_souls

*http://www.learner.org/workshops/primarysources/revolution/docs/olive.html

**http://www.manhattanrarebooks-history.com/prohibitory_act.htm

***http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/37676

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Biblical Government II

"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for support of societies as the natural affection is for the support of families.  The Amor Patriae is both moral and a religious duty.  It comprehends not only the love of our neighbors but millions of our fellow creatures, not only the present but of future generations.  This virtue we find constitutes a part of the first character of history." This is an excerpt of an essay on patriotism written by Dr. Benjamin Rush, published in 1773.  He was a delegate to the Continental Congress from Pennsylvania and signed the Declaration of Independence.  A devout Christian, Rush established Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and served as professor of medical theory and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania from 1791 to 1813.  

 

Patriotism is a religious duty.  When the early Americans searched their Bibles to learn about government, about patriotism, what did they find?  The following is a list of the principal lessons to be learned from the biblical guidelines of levels of government discussed in my last blog post.

 

1.  God instituted civil government.

 

"For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?  Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister of God to thee for good.  But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Romans 13:3-4).

 

2.  The omnipotent God is sovereign--His authority is over all.

 

In the history recorded in 1 Samuel 8, the Israelites rejected citizenship responsibilities outlined in Scripture and asked to be like other nations.  They wanted a king.  God gave them a king--an arrangement that was second best to His authority alone, but better than anarchy.

 

"But God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalm 75:7).  "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase" (Daniel 4:37).

 

3.  Government servants are accountable to God.

 

"For this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing" (Romans 13:6).

 

4.  As citizens, we have a moral responsibility to participate and improve civil government.

 

"For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men" (1 Peter 2:15).

 

"Art thou called being a servant?  Care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather" (1 Corinthians 7:21).

 

"Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16).

Images_rush

Benjamin Rush

1746 - 1813

 

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Biblical Government

When the early Americans searched their Bibles to learn about government, what did they find?

 

The first level of government is individual self-government.  Lasting success comes by giving attention to God's standards, the laws of creation's nature that were the norm before man's rebellion opened the door for Satan's influence (Exodus 20:1-17, Romans 13:13-14).  Big government, the abundance of police, prisons, and hospitals are the consequences of sinful life practices.  When man restrains his own selfish impulses and desires, the tyranny and exploitation of big government can be avoided.

 

The second level of government is the family.  From the beginning, it has been the holy commitment of one man and one woman in marriage that has defeated the will of Satan in his war against civilization (Genesis 2:18-24).  God instituted marriage to facilitate companionship and the nurturing of children in the truth.  The husband cares for his wife in a loving way and she respects him (Ephesians 5:22-23).  Parents are responsible for the education of their children.  By learning to honor and obey their parents, children also learn to honor the lordship of God and become responsible citizens (Ephesians 6:1-4, Proverbs 15:5).  The Bible makes it clear that property ownership and wealth come through labor, while laziness produces poverty (Proverbs 10:4-5).  Recognition of this aspect of the laws of creation's nature benefits families (1 Timothy 5:8, Proverbs 31:13-27).

 

The third level of government is the voluntary union of people belonging to a church, churches of different denominations to edify citizens through biblical principles for faith and community (1 Timothy 5:17) and discipline (Matthew 18:16-19).  Churches also have the biblical mandate to be societal caregivers (1 John 3:17).  Families and churches are united in the promotion of citizen self-reliance and limited civil governments.

 

The fourth level of government is civil government on local, regional and national levels.  Its prime function is to protect the citizens from criminals inside and outside government and from external aggression (Romans 13:1-4, 1 Peter 2:13-14).

 

Detailed in Chapter 4 of Restoring Education Central to American Greatness, these guidelines for government were applied by America's Founding Fathers.

Tencommandments

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The Paper Trail of Liberty

There is a rich orthodoxy that brought the universal principles of the Declaration to the American mind.  That the nation was founded upon the principles of God's Word is well documented by the founding compacts, covenants and constitutions.

In 1620, the Pilgrims drafted our nation's first self-governing document, the Mayflower Compact:  "We… having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, do… solemnly and mutually in ye presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politic…  And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience."*

Signing_the_mayflower_compact_large

The King of England left the colonists alone for 150 years.  Without the albatross of paternalistic authoritarianism, the colonists experienced the benefits of personal responsibility and hard work.  People would come together with their pastor or a prominent student of the Bible as moderator and search the Scriptures for principles of government that would uphold civility in the community.

In 1630, the famous sermon by John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, reflected the great sense of purpose that has prevailed since the arrival of the Pilgrims.  Later quoted repeatedly by Ronald Reagan, Winthrop declared:  "We are to be 'a City upon a hill,' a beacon of light for the world to follow."  He continued, "The eyes of all people are upon us.  So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world" (Robert C. Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity," discourse written aboard the Arbella during the voyage to Massachusetts, 1630, in Life and Letters of John Winthrop, 1867, 19).

 

In 1638, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut stated:  "[We] enter into a combination and confederation together to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ which we now profess" (Text Version, Liberty Library, rendered into HTML by Jon Roland of the Constitution Society).

 

In 1772, Samuel Adams stated:  "The right to freedom being a gift from God Almighty… the rights of Christians may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutions of the great Law Giver which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament."  Being under authority is not being under control.  It is being under God's protection.  The help provided by God-ordained authorities can be illustrated by the protective wall or "breakwater" that shields boats in a harbor from devastation.  Getting the craft into a harbor may be inconvenient, but the barrier tames the waves and keeps boats safe.  Similarly, parents, employers and police may be an inconvenience at times but they play an important role in our progress.  God's benevolent instruction is evident at several levels of responsibility and authority for government (Romans 13:1-3).

 

This is, of course, not an exhaustive list, but the truth about the impartial and non-sectarian God-honoring foundations so highly treasured by immigrants is what causes the atheistic frenzy.  They must revise history and then control what is taught as history!

 

*http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/PrimarySources/MayflowerCompact.php

 

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Natural Law vs. Secular Law

The natural-law philosophy, foundational to the American constitution, is in direct conflict with secular law.

 

The atheistic-secular philosophy for law identifies with what Solon of Athens described as "government by incalculable and changeable decrees" (Will and Ariel Durant, The Story of Civilization, Vol. II, The Life of Greece, Simon and Schuster, 1939, 118).  No ~ a solid basis is necessary for prosperity and the self-government enablements of man, for which the Constitution was written.  Secular law leads to political adventurism, exploitation, death and slavery.

 

Separation of the three branches of government (checks and balances) is vital, but what about the Declaration of Independence pattern for separation from hierarchical rule?  This is outlined in the Bill of [citizen] Rights and intended to prevent government servants from perverting established law to grant rights that are harmful to the public.  They are also intended to prevent government servants from using the public's treasury to subsidize slothful citizens and thereby attract an irresponsible voting block.  

"Liberty and security in government depend not on the limits, which the rulers may please to assign to the exercise of their own powers, but on the boundaries, within which their powers are circumscribed by the Constitution.  With us, the powers of magistrates, call them by whatever name you please, are the grants of the people…  The supreme power is in them [the people]; and in them, even when the Constitution is formed, and government is in operation, the supreme power still remains.  A portion of their authority they, indeed, delegate; but they delegate that portion in whatever manner, in whatever measure, for whatever time, to whatever persons, and on whatever conditions they choose to fix" (Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, Lectures, 1790-1791).

 

The limited purpose for judicial independence is to enable judges to settle disputes without being pressured by special interests.  When judges establish policies by legislating or administrating, they have seriously violated their jurisdiction and become fascistic.  That is, they are overriding and preventing the people as sovereigns whose exclusive authority it is to elect like-minded representatives to do the legislating and serve as administrators. 

 

"The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary.  That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them."*  Upholding the intent and meaning of "certain unalienable [supreme] rights" of the people, outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, is indispensable.  Laws that protect sodomy, same-sex marriage, abortion, and the privileges of teacher tenure are a violation of essential American principles that protect the public from exposure to unsavory and virulent evil practices.  On the other hand, laws that protect a strong, responsible citizen majority are crucial to the survival of self-government and liberty from tyrannical government rule.  

 

As long as judges do not use their independence to twist the meaning of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights to mask an authoritarian secular agenda, the American principles for life and liberty are not impaired or diminished.  All citizens, including judges, have the duty to protect the unalienable God-given rights to life and responsible use of liberty for others.

Judicial-activism

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* (Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, March 9, 1821, www.marksquotes.com/Founding-Fathers/Jefferson/index7.htm)

 

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