During the spring of 1776, a number of important steps took place in the colonies that would lead toward independence from Great Britain. Chief among them was a resolution adopted on May 15th by the Virginia Convention in Williamsburg. That resolution instructed Virginia delegates in Congress to propose that body to declare the United Colonies “free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence on, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain.” The die for independence was cast as the Virginia delegation pressed for “assent of this Colony to such declaration, and to
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For anyone investigating the strange stories that sometimes emerge from the murky world of the secret government, trying to get to the bottom of anything can be an arduous and frustrating task. Separating the wheat from the chaff can at times seem impossible, since no one can ever be sure what is fact and what is fantasy. This has certainly been the case for those who have been trying to discover the real story behind a bizarre occurrence called the Philadelphia Experiment, which allegedly took place on October 28, 1943. According to legend, on that
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In its basic elements, the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 served as the primary model for the United States Constitution. Those essential elements included a constitutional convention, popular ratification, the bill of rights, separation of powers, and an independent judiciary. Drafted by John Adams, the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780 notably had a well-developed doctrine of separation of powers. It provided for a genuine system of checks-and-balances: a two-house legislature, a strong executive with veto power, and an independent judiciary with life tenure. One article of this model for our national Constitution stated, “It is the right
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There is much talk these days about the Constitution, but who were these men that approved the document that has been our foundation for well over two centuries? The fifty-five delegates who attended the Constitutional Convention were a distinguished body of men who represented a cross section of eighteenth-century American leadership. While they were an extraordinary collection of leaders, they also came representing a cross section of the colonists intent on creating a new nation. Some were wealthy, and some were not. Most were well schooled, yet they were from a variety of educational backgrounds.
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Referring to the existence of the secret government and the evolution of the national security state, one former U.S. president summed it up accurately and succinctly: “Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix.” Every since President Harry S Truman made the fateful decision to sign the National Security Act of 1947 that gave birth to the Central Intelligence Agency, secrecy has been spreading like a runaway cancer metastasizing throughout the body politic. Accountability to the people is one of the fundamental hallmarks that distinguishes a democratic society from the darker alternatives, and when this
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In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a coalition of Muslim states in northern Africa (Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, and Tripoli) carried out a sustained military campaign directed against the Christian nations of western Europe, specifically England, Spain, France, and Denmark. Essentially, this conflict was a continuation of a struggle that had originated in the days of the Crusades, and the Barbary Powers, as the Muslim nations were called, were determined to avenge past outrages against their faith. Unfortunately, American merchant vessels sailing the Atlantic were frequently caught in the crossfire of this conflict. Seeing
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President’s Day is celebrated on the third Monday in February, but in the true tradition of democracy, Americans haven’t always agreed exactly who to honor on the date. The current federal holiday is designated to honor all American presidents; however, for a majority of Americans, the emphasis of this holiday is decidedly on George Washington
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A number of conservative scholars and legislators think it’s time for the American people to get serious about the Constitution. Dr. Richard Brake of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute has been conducting a civic literacy program for several years. That national initiative is designed to assess the level of civic learning on today’s college campuses. His findings raise serious red flags. The ISI gave a basic multiple-choice civics test to 14,000 freshmen and 14,000 seniors from over 80 schools. Combined with that test and testing of the nation’s adult population, Brake says there is serious epidemic
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In Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, our founding fathers gave Congress the sole authority “To coin money [and] regulate the value thereof.” In addition, in Section 10 of Article 1, they also proclaimed that “No state shall…coin money; emit Bills of Credit; [or] make any thing but gold and silver coin to tender in payment of debt.” Previous experience had demonstrated to the founders that sound money issued and regulated by a recognized governmental authority was necessary to ensure prosperity and encourage economic growth. Colonial America had experimented with paper money,
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Almost fifty years have passed since President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated by persons unknown on the streets of Dallas, Texas. To the vast majority of people, this event probably seems like something that happened so long ago that it really has no relevance to events that are occurring today. But whether we realize it or not, the society we live in now has been shaped and determined to a very large extent by the choices, actions, and decisions of those who came before us. While we may pay an occasional homage to the founding
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