Center for. Published by: autosocratic PRESS Copyright 2013 Michael Lee Round

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2 Published by: autosocratic PRESS Copyright 2013 Michael Lee Round Effort has been made to use public-domain images, and properly attribute other images and text. Please let me know if additional attributions are necessary. Center for auto SOCRATIC EXCELLENCE 2

3 ADDITIONAL ITEMS TO COME 1. A couple thoughts on the Revolutionary War 2. A couple items on the Articles of Confederation 3. A bit more on the 9 th and 10 th amendments 4. Relationship between 1688 Bill of Rights, our Bill of Rights, and the Albany Plan 5. Your thoughts? 3

4 An Introduction The Founding of America 4

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40 The Revolutionary War 40

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47 Some Founding Fathers 47

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51 Founding Father Quotes Alexander Hamilton It s not tyranny we desire; it s a just, limited, federal government. In the main it will be found that a power over a man s support (salary) is a power over his will. The Constitution ought to be the standard of construction for the laws, and that wherever there is an evident opposition, the laws ought to give place to the Constitution. The fabric of the American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything. The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed. 51

52 Benjamin Franklin Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both. But, ah, think what you do when you run in debt: you give another power over your liberty. Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. In free governments, the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself. When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. Sell not liberty to purchase power. Freedom is not a gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws of God and nature. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. 52

53 George Mason To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them. 53

54 George Washington Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples liberty s teeth. Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism. The marvel of all history is the patience with which men and women submit to burdens unnecessarily laid upon them by their governments. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace. If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led like sheep to the slaughter. Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. Government is not reason, it is not eloquence it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. When firearms go, all go. We need them every hour. The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference--they deserve a place of honor with all that is good. 54

55 John Adams Because power corrupts, societies demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases. Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom. Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people. Property must be secured, or liberty cannot exist. There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty. But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. 55

56 In my many years I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm and three or more is a congress. In politics the middle way is none at all. 56

57 James Madison Do not separate text from historical background. If you do you will have perverted and subverted the Constitution. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. It is universally admitted that a well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people. It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood. The essence of government is power, and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of Government was instituted. The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government. 57

58 Americans have the right and advantage of being armed-- unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. 58

59 Patrick Henry Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! The Constitution is not an instrument for the gov t to restrain the people. It is an instrument for the people to restrain the government-lest it come to dominate our lives and interests. The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them. When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different Liberty, sir, was the primary object. The great object is that every man be armed. Those that hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not. It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded...on the gospel of Jesus Christ! 59

60 Sam Adams How strangely will the Tools of the Tyrant pervert the Plain Meaning of Words. It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people s minds. Now what liberty can there be where property is taken without consent? The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the U.S. from keeping their own arms. The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending against all hazards: And it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. The truth is, all might be free if they valued freedom and defended it as they ought. The Utopian schemes of re-distribution of the wealth...are as visionary and impractical as those which vest all property in the Crown. The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative 60

61 authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule. 61

62 Thomas Jefferson All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first. To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful & tyrannical. The will of the people is the only legitimate foundation of any government, and to protect it s free expression should be its first object. 62

63 What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the Spirit of Resistance. Taxation follows public debt, and in its train wretchedness and oppression. When people fear their government, there is tyranny. When government fears the people, there is liberty. Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and inalienable rights of man. It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience for himself, to resist invasions of it in the case of others; or their case may, by change of circumstances, become his own. A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take everything you have. If a nation expects to be ignorant and free...it expects what never was and never will be. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy. 63

64 Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator certain unalienable rights; that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty. Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants. The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. I place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. 64

65 It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on will save one-half the wars of the world. My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. That government is best which governs least. The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes. 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 his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of men and women. 65