What is the foundation of
America? "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"
Last Updated Friday October 17, 2008 02:36 PM -0400
EarsToHear.net
He That Has Ears To Hear, Let Him Hear
(Matthew 11:15-30)
Challenging both secular wisdom and religious doctrines. - Will our descendants know moral virtue?
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What is the foundation of
America?
"The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"
Last Updated
Friday October 17, 2008 02:36 PM -0400
Without the moral virtue they derived from Scriptures, would the men who fought for independence possess the knowledge and courage to do so with the odds they faced ?
"The Declaration of Independence...[is the] declaratory charter of our rights, and the rights of man." Thomas Jefferson (letter to Samuel Adams Wells, 12 May 1821)
Click here to larn the history of the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.
“We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it.” Calvin Coolidge
American Minute for July 4th: The Declaration of Independence was approved JULY 4, 1776. John Hancock signed first, saying "the price on my head has just doubled." Benjamin Franklin said "We must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately." Of the 56 signers: 17 lost their fortunes, 12 had their homes destroyed, 5 became prisoners of war, 1 had two sons imprisoned on the British starving ship Jersey, 1 had a son killed in battle, 1 had his wife die from harsh prison treatment and 9 signers died during the War. When Samuel Adams signed the Declaration, he said: "We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come." John Adams said: "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty." John Adams continued: "I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration...Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory...Posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even though we [may regret] it, which I trust in God we shall not."
On August 1, 1776, Samuel Adams stood before a large crowd on the steps of
the Philadelphia Statehouse and delivered a speech before the formal signing of the
Declaration Of Independence on August 2, 1776. In his speech he stated:
"We have
explored the temple of Royalty and found that the idol that we have bowed down to has Eyes
which see not, Ears that hear not our Prayers, and a heart like the nether millstone. We
have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom alone all men ought to be obedient; He reigns
in Heaven, and with a propitious Eye beholds His subjects assuming that freedom of
thought, and dignity of self direction, which He bestowed upon them. From the rising to
the setting Sun, may His Kingdom come."
Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40
The Constitution is subordinate to the Declaration of Independence.
In the same manner as Jesus proclaimed, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.," the Constitution and Bill of Rights hang on Jefferson's first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.
The Constitution's author, James Madison, wrote Thomas Jefferson on 8 February 1825, these words concerning the supremacy of the Declaration of Independence over our nation's Constitution:
“On the distinctive principles of the Government...of the U. States, the best guides are to be found in...The Declaration of Independence, as the fundamental Act of Union of these States.”
President James Madison, June 20, 1785 - "Before any man can be considered as a member of Civilized Society, he must first be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe."
James Madison also wrote, "The belief in a God All Powerful wise and good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities impressed with it."
President John Adams - "From the day of the Declaration . . .they [the American people] were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct." And, ""From the day of the Declaration . . .they [the American people] were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct." - President John Adams ...And, "[This] Form of Government…is productive of every Thing which is great and excellent among Men. But its Principles are as easily destroyed, as human nature is corrupted….A Government is only to be supported by pure Religion or Austere Morals. Private and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics." -- John Adams, 2nd president of the United States of America (Warren-Adams Letters, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1917, Vol. 1, p. 222)
Samuel Adams - "[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt."
Thomas Jefferson - "It is the manners and spirit of a people which preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats to the heart of its laws and constitution."
Alexander Hamilton - "To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules the world and has established laws to regulate the actions of his creatures; and still to assert that man, in a state of nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all restraints of law and government, appears to a common understanding altogether irreconcilable. Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar theory. They have supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to himself and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this law depend the natural rights of mankind."
Calvin Coolidge, July 5, 1926, Philadelphia, PA - "No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren scepter in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped."
46 Pages By Scott Liell
The opening paragraph of the
Declaration of Independence
in which Thomas Jefferson
also
provided the draft for the Declaration):
"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." The second paragraph continues: 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...."
"Unalienable rights" are "entitled" if they do not violate "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" which lays out the boundaries and rules for America's Laws, just as athletes are "entitled" to play according to the boundaries and rules of their sport. Otherwise there would be chaos. Civil Rights and Liberties are "entitled" by "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God." Yet marriage is being redefined and schools are now teaching our children that which "goes against nature" is normal. What then is the real "hate crime?" Being out of the boundaries of "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," as is homosexuality, depicts the chaos in the facts and consequenses of that lifestyle. Or did Thomas Jefferson write the opening paragraph in vain, but not a letter to the Baptists?
What is the "new and improved" basis in determining how "Rights" are "entitled?" What new wisdom is being employed? Has the word "nature" also been redefined to a new an improved "politically correct" secular liberal definition which excludes "moral virtue," responsibility and commitment?
"In the supposed state of nature, all men are equally bound by the laws of nature, or to speak more properly, the laws of the Creator." Samuel Adams (letter to the Legislature of Massachusetts, 17 January 1794) Reference: Original Intent, Barton (224); original The Writings of Samuel Adams, Cushing, ed., vol. 4 (356)
"The moral precepts delivered in the sacred oracles form a part of the law of nature, are of the same origin and of the same obligation, operating universally and perpetually." James Wilson (Of the Law of Nature, 1804) Reference: The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, Wilson, ed., vol. 1 (137-138)
Justice William O. Douglas of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1961 case of McGowan vs. Maryland: "The institutions of our society are founded on the belief that there is an authority higher than the authority of the State; that there is a moral law which the State is powerless to alter; that the individual possess rights, conferred by the Creator which government must respect. The Declaration Of Independence stated the now familiar theme: '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 Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.' And the body of the Constitution as well as the Bill of Rights enshrined these principles." (The following year, prayer was removed from schools.)
"Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense, forms an essential part of both." James Wilson - Reference: The Works of James Wilson, McCloskey, ed., 125.
“In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man—these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress.” Calvin Coolidge
The origin of this statement from Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780)
Knight, King's Counsel, Solicitor to the Queen, Member of Parliament, and a
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and the King's Bench. Book 1, Section II
of the Commentaries, entitled
"Of the Nature of Laws in General." Precisely:
"This law of nature, being coeval [existing at the same time - ed.] with
mankind, and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any
other. It is binding over all the globe in all countries, and at all times:
no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as
are valid derive all their force and all their authority, mediately or
immediately, from this original."
And: "This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws are in validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original."
"Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be suffered [permitted] to contradict these." William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, 4 vols. (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, [1765–1769] 1979), 1:38, 41, 42.
Thomas Jefferson further complies when he said "A free people claim their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." AND "[It is] God who gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a Gift of God?"
This means God, not the State, nor the Federal Government is the author of "Rights," according to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," regardless of what the ACLU or the "despotic branch" would coerce us into believing.
So why do liberals, despotic judges and the ACLU believe otherwise? And if these quotes from Jefferson properly represents his intent for our Nation, then why does the liberal left continue to misrepresent a letter he wrote to the Baptists and twist the phrase "Separation of Church and State" to deceive and steal America's Christian Heritage? And why are they getting away with it?
Therefore, the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore, justice comes out perverted. Habakkuk 1:4 (NASB)
As recorded in the Journals of the Continental Congress the Rev. Mr. Jacob Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, was invited to open the First Congress with prayer which was held in Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, PA. The Rev. Mr. Duche first read Psalms 35 from the Psalter for the Seventh day of September, 1774, then proceeded to extemporaneously pray the following prayer:
"Be Thou present O God of Wisdom, and direct the counsel of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that Order, Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and that Truth and Justice, Religion and Piety, prevail and flourish among the people. Preserve the health of their bodies, and the vigor of their minds, shower down on them, and the millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seeth expedient for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting Glory in the world to come. All this we ask in the Name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy Son and our Savior, Amen."
Washington was kneeling there, and Henry, Randolph, Rutledge, Lee, and Jay, and by their side there stood bowed in reverence, the Puritan Patriots of New England, who at that moment had reason to believe that an armed soldiery was wasting their humble households. It was believed that Boston had been bombarded and destroyed.
They prayed fervently "for America, for Congress, for the Province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially for the town of Boston," and who can realize the emotion with which they turned imploringly to Heaven for Divine interposition and - "It was enough" says Mr. Adams, "to melt a heart of stone. I saw the tears gush into the eyes of the old, grave pacific Quakers of Philadelphia."
"The day of our nation's birth in that little hall in Philadelphia, [was] a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words 'treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe,' and the issue remained in doubt. [On that day] 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor... In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should." Ronald Reagan
"In its main features the Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man—these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and their roots in religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to progress." Calvin Coolidge
"May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them." Thomas Jefferson
Further Resources:
Claremont Institute: Religious Liberty - The View from the Founding
How the Ten Commandments are expressed in civil Law in American History
In America's Beginning, Students and Politicians Studied the Bible
Heritage Foundation scholar Joe Postell has helpfully rounded up resources for citizens to learn about the nation's highest law. September 17 is Constitution Day. On this date in 1787, 39 of the original 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document that would eventually be ratified and enshrined as our fundamental law. Recently, many have observed the relative decline of civic knowledge among American citizens, and have taken steps to improve our understanding of our fundamental law, the limited government which it creates, and the basic liberties which it is designed to protect.
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