Perri Nelson's Website 

Erosion

One thing that I truly enjoy about reading my email every day is getting a copy of the Founders' Quote Daily. It's been the inspiration for at least a few of my posts on this blog, and why not? The founders had some real wisdom.

Sure, they made a few mistakes and led “colorful” lives. Even so, they produced something quite rare and wonderful. There is no nation quite like ours, and despite over two hundred years none is yet as free or successful.

It began with a recognition that governments are creations of men, designed to protect the God given rights of men…

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.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

It was followed with the enumeration of certain rights that needed protection from government…

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It continued with the recognition that no document, on paper or on parchment, could list all of the rights which men were endowed with by their creator…

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Yet even from the beginning there were those that sought to suppress the freedoms that our founders worked, fought and died for…

"It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule. If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each."

— Chief Justice John Marshall

It was with the case of, Marbury v. Madison, that the erosion of our rights began when the Supreme Court usurped the legislative powers. This decision established the beginnings of a judicial oligarchy rather than the representative republic the Constitution promised to the states…

But that wasn't what the founders intended…

"there is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers."

— Federalist No. 78.

…The supreme court under this constitution would be exalted above all other power in the government, and subject to no control…

…The judges are supreme and no law, explanatory of the constitution, will be binding on them.

— Antifederalist No. 78 - 79

In the first place, there is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution, or which gives them any greater latitude in this respect than may be claimed by the courts of every State.

— Federalist No. 81.

Section. 4.

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence.

The founders based the system of government that they established upon the notion that the rights of man come not from government, but from God. They established our government to protect those rights. They enumerated certain of those rights to emphasize the need to protect those rights from government itself, and yet from the very beginning those rights came under attack from men in government seeking to obtain greater power.

One of the foremost rights under attack is the free exercise of religion. Public expressions of religion are increasingly under attack by organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union. They seek to ban public prayer, public recognitions of God, and public displays of anything resembling our Christian heritage, such as nativity scenes or displays of the Ten Commandments.

At the same time, these organizations demand that if our government allows such displays that other religions must be included as well. Some governments prohibit Christian prayer in schools while mandating the teaching of Islam in the name of multiculturalism.

We hear much about the "wall of separation" between Church and State. We are supposed, it seems, to be protected from religion by our government. This is based upon Thomas Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptists. And yet, our founders declared that our rights derive from God.

It is evident from their other writings that the founders did not intend for religion to be banned from the public square. In fact, the first amendment to the Constitution only enjoined Congress from making laws respecting the establishment of religion — in other words, no state churches. I'll close this with a few recent quotes from the founders, provided by the Patriot Post.

"It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe."

-- James Madison (A Memorial and Remonstrance, 1785)

 

"It is the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the SUPREME BEING, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping GOD in the manner most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship."

-- John Adams (Thoughts on Government, 1776)

 

"Nothing...is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man."

-- Thomas Jefferson (letter to John Cartwright, 1824)

 

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffusd and Virtue is preservd. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauchd in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders."

-- Samuel Adams (letter to James Warren, 4 November 1775)

 

"Let the pulpit resound with the doctrine and sentiments of religious liberty. Let us hear of the dignity of man's nature, and the noble rank he holds among the works of God... Let it be known that British liberties are not the grants of princes and parliaments."

-- John Adams (Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765)

 

“To the distinguished character of patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character
of Christian.”

—George Washington

 

“It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage;
to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness,
abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue.”

—John Adams

The founders clearly believed that religion had a fundamental place in our society. They clearly saw it as the duty of the citizen. They believed without virtue that our people could not be governed and still retain their freedom.

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

— John Adams: 1798 - Address to the Military

 

"[B]ut it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand....The only foundation of a free Constitution, is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People, in a great Measure, than they have it now, They may change their Rulers, and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty."

— John Adams: 1776 - letter to Zabdiel Adams

We need to fight the erosion of our liberties by our courts and by people that seek anything less than the freedom to express our religion, even in the public square.

For a complete database of Founders' quotes on various topics, link to the Internet's most comprehensive resource page on our Founding documents http://PatriotPost.US/histdocs/ and select Founders Quote Database.

While you're at it, consider giving The Patriot some financial support. This is an organization that is dedicated to individual liberty and the restoration of a limited government as defined in the Constitution.

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