Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Founders


We can learn a lot for today by knowing more about our Founders.
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolutionary War, and establishing the United States Constitution
Within the large group known as the "Founding Fathers", there are two key subsets: the Signers of the Declaration of Independence (who signed the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776) and the Framers of the Constitution (who were delegates to the Constitutional Convention and took part in framing or drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States). 
A further subset is the group that signed the Articles of Confederation.[2] Many of the Founding Fathers owned African American slaves and the Constitution adopted in 1787 sanctioned the system of slavery. [3] The Founding Fathers made successful efforts to contain or limit slavery throughout the United States and territories, including banning slavery in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, and abolishing the international slave trade in 1807.
Some historians define the "Founding Fathers" to mean a larger group, including not only the Signers and the Framers but also all those who, whether as politicians, jurists, statesmen, soldiers, diplomats, or ordinary citizens, took part in winning American independence and creating the United States of America.[4] 
Historian Richard B. Morris in 1973 identified the following seven figures as the key Founding Fathers: John AdamsBenjamin FranklinAlexander HamiltonJohn JayThomas Jefferson,James Madison, and George Washington.[5]
Warren G. Harding, then a Republican Senator from Ohio, coined the phrase "Founding Fathers" in his keynote address to the 1916 Republican National Convention. He used it several times thereafter, most prominently in his 1921 inaugural address as President of the United States.[6]

Contents

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Background

The First Continental Congress met briefly in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1774 and consisted of fifty-six delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States of America. The delegates, who included George Washington, soon to command the army, Patrick Henry, and John Adams, were elected by their respective colonial assemblies. Other notable delegates included Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Dickinson from Pennsylvania and New York's John Jay. This congress in addition to formulating appeals to the British crown, established the Continental Association to administer boycott actions against Britain. When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10, 1775 it was, in effect, a reconvening of the First Congress. Many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting participated in the second.[7] Notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin and Robert Morris of Pennsylvania and John Hancock of Massachusetts. Within two weeks, Peyton Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses; he was replaced in the Virginia delegation by Thomas Jefferson. Hancock was elected president.[8] The second Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
The newly founded country of the United States had to create a new government to replace the British Parliament. The Americans adopted the Articles of Confederation, a declaration that established a national government which was made up of a one-house legislature. Its ratification by all thirteen colonies gave the second Congress a new name: the Congress of the Confederation, which met from 1781 to 1789.[9] Later, the Constitutional Convention took place in 1787, in Philadelphia.[10] Although the Convention was called to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents -- chief among them James Madison and Alexander Hamilton -- was to create a new government rather than try to fix the inadequate existing one. The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the Convention. The result of the Convention was the United States Constitution.

Collective biography of the Framers of the Constitution

In the winter and spring of 1786–1787, twelve of the thirteen states chose a total of 74 delegates to attend what is now known as the Federal Convention in Philadelphia. Nineteen delegates chose not to accept election or attend the debates; for example, Patrick Henry of Virginia thought that state politics were far more interesting and important than national politics, though during the ratification controversy of 1787–1788 he claimed, "I smelled a rat." Rhode Island did not send delegates because of its politicians' suspicions of the Convention delegates' motivations. As a sanctuary for Baptists, Rhode Island's absence at the Convention in part explains the absence of Baptist affiliation among those who did attend. Of the 55 who did attend at some point, no more than 38 delegates showed up at one time.[11]
These delegates represented a cross-section of 18th-century American leadership. Almost all of them were well-educated men of means who were leaders in their communities. Many were also prominent in national affairs. Virtually every one had taken part in the American Revolution; at least 29 had served in the Continental Army, most of them in positions of command. Several of the latter were instrumental in establishing the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783. Scholars have examined the collective biography of them as well as the signers of the Declaration and the Constitution.[12]

Political experience

The Framers of the Constitution had extensive political experience. By 1787, four-fifths (41 individuals), were or had been members of the Continental Congress. Nearly all of the 55 delegates had experience in colonial and state government, and the majority had held county and local offices.[13]
  • Thomas Mifflin and Nathaniel Gorham had served as President of the Continental Congress.
  • The ones who lacked congressional experience were Bassett, Blair, Brearly, Broom, Davie, Dayton, Alexander Martin, Luther Martin, Mason, McClurg, Paterson, Charles Pinckney, Strong, Washington and Yates.
  • Eight men (Clymer, Franklin, Gerry, Robert Morris, Read, Roger Sherman, Wilson, and Wythe) had signed the Declaration of Independence.
  • Six (Carroll, Dickinson, Gerry, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, and Sherman) had signed the Articles of Confederation.
  • Two, Sherman and Robert Morris, signed all three of the nation's basic documents.
  • Dickinson, Franklin, Langdon, and Rutledge had been governors.

Occupations and finances

The 1787 delegates practiced a wide range of high and middle-status occupations, and many pursued more than one career simultaneously. They did not differ dramatically from the Loyalists, except they were generally younger and less senior in their professions.[14] Thirty-five had legal training, though not all of them practiced law. Some had also been local judges.[15]
  • At the time of the convention, 13 men were merchants: Blount, Broom, Clymer, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Shields, Gilman, Gorham, Langdon, Robert Morris, Pierce, Sherman, and Wilson.
  • Seven were major land speculators: Blount, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Gorham, Robert Morris, Washington and Wilson.
  • Eleven speculated in securities on a large scale: Bedford, Blair, Clymer, Dayton, Fitzsimons, Franklin, King, Langdon, Robert Morris, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and Sherman.
  • Fourteen owned or managed slave-operated plantations or large farms: Bassett, Blair, Blount, Johnson, Butler, Carroll, Jenifer, Jefferson, Madison, Mason, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Rutledge, Spaight, and Washington.
  • Many wealthy Northerners owned domestic slaves: Franklin later freed his slaves and was a key founder of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Jay founded the New York Manumission Society in 1785, for which Hamilton became an officer. They and other members of the Society founded the African Free School in New York City, to educate the children of free blacks and slaves. When Jay was governor of New York in 1798, he signed into law a gradual abolition law; fully ending slavery as of 1827. He freed his own slaves in 1798.
  • Broom and Few were small farmers.
  • Eight of the men received a substantial part of their income from public office: Baldwin, Blair, Brearly, Gilman, Livingston, Madison, and Rutledge.
  • Three had retired from active economic endeavors: Franklin, McHenry, and Mifflin.
  • Franklin and Williamson were scientists, in addition to their other activities.
  • McClurg, McHenry, and Williamson were physicians, and Johnson was a college president.

Family and finances

A few of the 1787 delegates were wealthy, but many of the country's top wealth-holders were Loyalists who went to Britain. Most of the others had financial resources that ranged from good to excellent, but there are other founders who were less than wealthy. On the whole they were less wealthy than the Loyalists.[16]

Demographics

Brown (1976) and Harris (1969) provide detailed demographic information on each man.
  • Most of the 1787 delegates were natives of the Thirteen Colonies. Only 9 were born elsewhere: four (Butler, Fitzsimons, McHenry, and Paterson) in Ireland, two (Davie and Robert Morris) in England, two (Wilson and Witherspoon) in Scotland, and one (Hamilton) in the West Indies.
  • Many of them had moved from one state to another. Seventeen individuals had already lived, studied or worked in more than one state or colony: Baldwin, Bassett, Bedford, Dickinson, Few, Franklin, Ingersoll, Hamilton , Livingston, Alexander Martieno, Luther Martin, Mercer, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Read, Sherman, and Williamson.
  • Several others had studied or traveled abroad.
The Founding Fathers had strong educational backgrounds at some of the colonial colleges or abroad.[17] Some, like Franklin and Washington, were largely self-taught or learned through apprenticeship. Others had obtained instruction from private tutors or at academies. About half of the men had attended or graduated from college. Some men held medical degrees or advanced training in theology. Most of the education was in the colonies, but several were lawyers who had been trained at the Inns of Court in London.

Longevity and family life


Death age of the Founding Fathers.
For their era, the 1787 delegates (like the 1776 signers) were average in terms of life spans.[15] Their average age at death was about 67. The first to die was Houston in 1788; the last was Madison in 1836.
Secretary Charles Thomson lived to the age of 94. Johnson died at 92. John Adams lived to the age of 90. A few—Franklin, Jefferson, Madison, Williamson, and Wythe—lived into their eighties. Either 15 or 16 (depending on Fitzsimons's exact age) died in their seventies, 20 or 21 in their sixties, eight in their fifties, and five only in their forties. Three (Alexander HamiltonRichard Dobbs Spaight and Button Gwinnett) were killed in duels.
Most of the delegates married and raised children. Sherman fathered the largest family: 15 children by two wives. At least nine (Bassett, Brearly, Johnson, Mason, Paterson, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Sherman, Wilson, and Wythe) married more than once. Four (Baldwin, Gilman, Jenifer, and Alexander Martin) were lifelong bachelors. Many of the delegates also had children conceived illegitimately.[18]

Religion

Lambert (2003) has examined the religious affiliations and beliefs of the Founders. Of the 55 delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, 49 were Protestants, and two were Roman Catholics (D. Carroll, and Fitzsimons). Among the Protestant delegates to the Constitutional Convention, 28 were Church of England (or Episcopalian, after the American Revolutionary War was won), eight were Presbyterians, seven were Congregationalists, two were Lutherans, two were Dutch Reformed, and two were Methodists.
A few prominent Founding Fathers were anti-clerical Christians, such as Thomas Jefferson[19][20][21](who created the so-called "Jefferson Bible") and Benjamin Franklin.[22] Others (most notably Thomas Paine) were deists, or at least held beliefs very similar to those of deists.[23]
Historian Gregg L. Frazer argues that the leading Founders (Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Wilson, Morris, Madison, Hamilton, and Washington) were neither Christians nor Deists, but rather supporters of a hybrid "theistic rationalism".[24]

Post-convention careers

The 1787 delegates' subsequent careers reflected their abilities as well as the vagaries of fate.[25]Most were successful, although seven (Fitzsimons, Gorham, Luther Martin, Mifflin, Robert Morris, Pierce, and Wilson) suffered serious financial reverses that left them in or near bankruptcy. Two, Blount and Dayton, were involved in possibly treasonous activities. Yet, as they had done before the convention, most of the group continued to render public service, particularly to the new government they had helped to create.

Slaves and slavery


Portrait of George Washington and his valet slave William Lee.
Many Founding Fathers, including George WashingtonThomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin owned slaves.[3] The Constitution of 1787 indirectly mentioned slavery by counting slaves as 3/5 person in apportioning representation and including a fugitive clause to capture and return runaway slaves.[3][26] The Founding Fathers, however, did make important efforts to contain slavery. Many Northern states had adopted legislation to end or significantly reduce slavery after the American Revolution.[27] In 1782 Virginia passed a manumission law that allowed slave owners to free their slaves by will or deed.[28] As a result, thousands of slaves were manumitted in Virginia.[28] Thomas Jefferson in 1784 proposed to ban slavery in all the Western Territories, having failed to pass Congress by one vote.[27] Following Jefferson's plan Congress did ban slavery in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.[27] The international slave trade was banned in all states except South Carolina by 1800. Finally in 1807, President Jefferson signed into law a federally enforced ban on the international slave trade throughout all the United States and territories.[29] President Jefferson, in 1804, however, allowed the domestic expansion or diffusion of slavery into the Louisiana Territory.[30]

Legacy

According to the historian Joseph J. Ellis, the concept of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. emerged in the 1820s as the last survivors died out. Ellis says "the founders," or "the fathers," comprised an aggregate of semi-sacred figures whose particular accomplishments and singular achievements were decidedly less important than their sheer presence as a powerful but faceless symbol of past greatness. For the generation of national leaders coming of age in the 1820s and 1830s – men likeAndrew JacksonHenry ClayDaniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun – "the founders" represented a heroic but anonymous abstraction whose long shadow fell across all followers and whose legendary accomplishments defied comparison.
"We can win no laurels in a war for independence," Webster acknowledged in 1825. "Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all. Nor are there places for us ... [as] the founders of states. Our fathers have filled them. But there remains to us a great duty of defence and preservation."[31]
The last remaining founders, also called the "Last of the Romans",[32] lived well into the nineteenth century; for example, Andrew Jackson served in the Revolutionary War, eventually became President, died in 1845, and is now sometimes considered a founding father.[33]

List of the Founding Fathers

Signers of the Continental Association

1. Peyton Randolph
2. Nathaniel Folsom
3. John Sullivan
4. Thomas Cushing
5. Samuel Adams
6. John Adams
7. Robert Treat Paine
8. Stephen Hopkins
9. Samuel Ward
10. Eliphalet Dyer
11. Roger Sherman
12. Silas Deane
13. Isaac Low
14. John Alsop
15. John Jay
16. James Duane
17. Philip Livingston
18. William Floyd
19. Henry Wisner
20. Simon Boerum
21. James Kinsey
22. William Livingston
23. Stephen Crane
24. Richard Smith
25. John De Hart
26. Joseph Galloway
27. John Dickinson
28. Charles Humphreys
29. Thomas Mifflin
30. Edward Biddle
31. John Morton
32. George Ross
33. Caesar Rodney
34. Thomas McKean
35. George Read
36. Matthew Tilghman
37. Thomas Johnson, Jr.
38. William Paca
39. Samuel Chase
40. Richard Henry Lee
41. George Washington
42. Patrick Henry, Jr.
43. Richard Bland
44. Benjamin Harrison
45. Edmund Pendleton
46. William Hooper
47. Joseph Hewes
48. Richard Caswell
49. Henry Middleton
50. Thomas Lynch
51. Christopher Gadsden
52. John Rutledge
53. Edward Rutledge

Signers of the Declaration of Independence

Delegates to the Constitutional Convention

Signers of the Constitution

Delegates who left the Convention without signing

Convention delegates who refused to sign

Signers of the Articles of Confederation

The following people signed the Articles of Confederation:

Other founders

The following people are referred to in the cited reliable sources as having been fathers or founders of the United States.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ americanrevolution.org Key to Trumbull's picture
  2. ^ Stanfield, Jack. America's Founding Fathers: Who Are They? Thumbnail Sketches of 164 Patriots(Universal-Publishers, 2001).
  3. a b c Wright, William D. (2002). Critical Reflections on Black HistoryWest PortConnecticut: Praeger Publishers. p. 125.
  4. a b c d e f R. B. Bernstein, The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
  5. a b Richard B. Morris, Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries(New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
  6. ^ Bernstein, Founding Fathers Reconsidered, prologue (which collects all citations for Harding's uses of the phrase or variants thereof between 1912 and 1921).
  7. ^ Burnett, Continental Congress, 64–67.
  8. ^ Fowler, Baron of Beacon Hill, 189.
  9. ^ "Confederation Congress". Ohio Historical Society. Retrieved October 23, 2010.
  10. ^ Calvin C. Jillson (2009). American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change (5th ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-203-88702-8. Unknown parameter |isbn10= ignored (help)
  11. ^ See the discussion of the Convention in Clinton L. Rossiter, 1787: The Grand Convention (New York: Macmillan, 1966; reprint ed., with new foreword by Richard B. Morris, New York: W. W. Norton, 1987).
  12. ^ See Brown (19764); Martin (19739); "Data on the Framers of the Constitution," at [1]
  13. ^ Martin (1973); Greene (1973)
  14. ^ Greene (1973)
  15. a b Brown (1976)
  16. ^ Greene (1973).
  17. ^ Brown (1976); Harris (1969)
  18. ^ Staar (January 2009). "Our Founding Fathers"Huffington Post. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  19. ^ Letter to Alexander von Humboldt, December 6, 1813 "History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government,"
  20. ^ Letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814 "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
  21. ^ The Religion of Thomas Jefferson Retrieved July 9, 2011
  22. ^ Quoted in The New England Currant (July 23, 1722), "Silence Dogood, No. 9; Corruptio optimi est pessima." "And it is a sad Observation, that when the People too late see their Error, yet the Clergy still persist in their Encomiums on the Hypocrite; and when he happens to die for the Good of his Country, without leaving behind him the Memory of one good Action, he shall be sure to have his Funeral Sermon stuff'd with Pious Expressions which he dropt at such a Time, and at such a Place, and on such an Occasion; than which nothing can be more prejudicial to the Interest of Religion, nor indeed to the Memory of the Person deceas'd. The Reason of this Blindness in the Clergy is, because they are honourably supported (as they ought to be) by their People, and see nor feel nothing of the Oppression which is obvious and burdensome to every one else."
  23. ^ See, e.g., Religioustolerance.org/DeismJim Peterson (2007) "The Revolution of Belief: Founding Fathers, Deists, Orthodox Christians, and the Spiritual Context of 18th Century America Robert L. Johnson, "The Deist Roots of the United States of America"
  24. ^ Gregg L. Frazer, The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders: Reason, Revelation, and Revolution(University Press of Kansas; 2012)
  25. ^ Martin (1973)
  26. ^ Freehling, William W. (February, 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77 (1): 84.
  27. a b c Freehling, William W. (February, 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77 (1): 87.
  28. a b The Cambridge History of Law in America. 2008. p. 278.
  29. ^ Freehling, William W. (February, 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77 (1): 88.
  30. ^ Freehling, William W. (February, 1972). "The Founding Fathers and Slavery". The American Historical Review 77 (1): 85.
  31. ^ Joseph J. Ellis; Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams. (2001) p. 214.
  32. ^ Côté, Richard. Strength and Honor: The Life of Dolley Madison, pp. 187 and 393 (Corinthian Books, 2005).
  33. a b c d e Wright, Robert and Cowen, David. Financial Founding Fathers: the Men who Made America Rich (University of Chicago Press, 2006).
  34. a b c d e Encyclopaedia Britannica. Founding fathers: the essential guide to the men who made America (John Wiley and Sons, 2007).
  35. ^ McWilliams, J. (1976). "The Faces of Ethan Allen: 1760-1860". The New England Quarterly 49 (2): 257–282. doi:10.2307/364502. edit
  36. ^ Newman, Richard. Freedom's Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers (NYU Press, 2009).
  37. ^ Ballenas, Carl. Images of America: Jamaica (Arcadia Publishing, 2011).
  38. a b Antieau, Chester James (1960). "Natural Rights and the Founding Fathers—The Virginians".Wash. & Lee L. Rev.: 43.
  39. ^ Holmes, David. The Faiths of the Founding Fathers. (Oxford University Press US, 2006).
  40. ^ Wood, Gordon S. Revolutionary Characters, What Made the Founding Fathers Different. (New York: Penguin Books, 2007) 225–242.
  41. a b c d e f g h i Buchanan, John. "Founding Fighters: The Battlefield Leaders Who Made American Independence (review)". The Journal of Military History (Volume 71, Number 2, April 2007), pp. 522–524.
  42. a b c d e Dungan, Nicholas. Gallatin: America's Swiss Founding Father (NYU Press 2010).
  43. ^ LaGumina, Salvatore. The Italian American experience: an encyclopedia, page 361 (Taylor & Francis, 2000).
  44. ^ Unger, Harlow (2009). James Monroe: The Last Founding Father. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81808-6.
  45. ^ Kann, Mark E. (1999). The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy. ABC-CLIO. p. xi. ISBN 978-0-275-96112-1.
  46. ^ "Founding Father Thomas Paine: He Genuinely Abhorred Slavery". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (48): 45. 2005. doi:10.2307/25073236. edit
  47. ^ Hall, Max. Harvard University Press: a history, page 138 (Harvard University Press 1986).
  48. ^ Burstein, Andrew. "Politics and Personalities: Garry Wills takes a new look at a forgotten founder, slavery and the shaping of America", Chicago Tribune (November 09, 2003): "Forgotten founders such as Pickering and Morris made as many waves as those whose faces stare out from our currency."
  49. a b Rafael, Ray. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Founding Fathers: And the Birth of Our Nation(Penguin, 2011).
  50. ^ Schwartz, Laurens R. Jews and the American Revolution: Haym Solomon and Others, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 1987.
  51. ^ Kendall, Joshua. The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture (Penguin 2011).
  52. ^ Wright, R. E. (1996). "Thomas Willing (1731-1821): Philadelphia Financier and Forgotten Founding Father". Pennsylvania History 63 (4): 525–560. doi:10.2307/27773931. edit
  53. ^ "A Patriot of Early New England", New York Times (December 20, 1931). This book review referred to Wingate as one of the "Fathers" of the United States, per the book title.
  54. ^ The New Yorker, Volume I, page 398 (September 10, 1836): "'The Last of the Romans' — This was said of Madison at the time of his decease, but there is one other person who seems to have some claims to this honorable distinction. Paine Wingate of Stratham, N.H. still survives."

References

  • American National Biography Online, (2000).
  • Richard B. Bernstein, Are We to Be a Nation? The Making of the Constitution (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1987).
  • R. B. Bernstein, The Founding Fathers Reconsidered (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
  • Richard D. Brown. "The Founding Fathers of 1776 and 1787: A Collective View," William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd Ser., Vol. 33, No. 3 (Jul. 1976), pp. 465–480 online at JSTOR.
  • Henry Steele Commager, "Leadership in Eighteenth-Century America and Today," Daedalus 90 (Fall 1961): 650–673, reprinted in Henry Steele Commager, Freedom and Order (New York: George Braziller, 1966).
  • Joseph J. Ellis. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History.
  • Joanne B. Freeman, Affairs of Honor: National Politics in the New Republic (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001).
  • Jack P. Greene. "The Social Origins of the American Revolution: An Evaluation and an Interpretation,"Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 88, No. 1 (Mar. 1973), pp. 1–22 online in JSTOR.
  • P.M.G. Harris, "The Social Origins of American Leaders: The Demographic Foundations, " Perspectives in American History 3 (1969): 159–364.
  • Mark E. Kann; The Gendering of American Politics: Founding Mothers, Founding Fathers, and Political Patriarchy (New York: Frederick Praeger, 1999).
  • Adrienne Koch; Power, Morals, and the Founding Fathers: Essays in the Interpretation of the American Enlightenment (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1961).
  • Frank Lambert. The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America. (Princeton, NJ> Princeton University Press, 2003).
  • Martin, James Kirby. Men in Rebellion: Higher Governmental Leaders and the coming of the American Revolution, (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1973; reprint, New York: Free Press, 1976).
  • Morris, Richard B. Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries (New York: Harper & Row, 1973).
  • Robert Previdi; "Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America,"Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 29, 1999
  • Rakove, Jack. Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 2010) 487 pages; scholarly study focuses on how the Founders moved from private lives to public action, beginning in the 1770s
  • Cokie Roberts. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation (New York: William Morrow, 2005); popular
  • Gordon S. Wood. Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different (New York: Penguin Press, 2006)

External links


ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Founding_Fathers_of_the_United_States

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Monday, May 13, 2013

0 First Amendment: Time for All Good People to Join our Movement to Renew Congress & Respect our Constitution


Watergate Was For Amateurs: Justice Department Spied For Months On Associated Press Reporters


And so the final curtain falls on the myth of what was supposed to be, in its own words, the "most transparent administration" in history. As it turns out, the big Friday story of Bloomberg journalists snooping on its clients was just amateur hour compared to what the AP was about to serve. In fact, the Watergate affair may soon appear like a walk in the park compared to the First Amendment s**tstorm that is about to be unleashed following the just reported news that the US Department of Justice had "secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news." First amendment? Freedom of speech and press? Surely not when it comes to the Nobel-peace prize winning President and those who dare to expose his secret ways. And what's worst, is that the AP breach has all the makings of a spiteful hack driven by personal vengeance against one of America's premier news outlets.


Let's get crackin'

We need to replace all public servants who violate our Constitution

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Monday, April 29, 2013

Voting Record Revealed for Las Vegas, Nevada Congressional District 1 US Rep

The current Las Vegas District 1 US Representative lost election in US District 3 and filled the seat of a US Senator candidate from District 1 who lost election. 

As we show here with actual objective voting records, the current Las Vegas District 1 US Representative did not protect, reflect or represent the majority of Constituents. 

Recent political campaigns used special interest money to buy Funny House Mirrors with Shameful Emotional Knee-jerk Smears in Media Campaign Pieces and Sound Bites. 

Most voters prefer to know actual voting records of representatives, so we can elect the best government advocate for our future, one who actually upholds our Constitutional Oath to "We The People":

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

The current US Rep in Nevada District 1 represented Nevada District 3 just two years from 2009 to 2011, before losing re-election in 2010 to Joe Heck.

This former US Rep sat out two years, retired from school with a six-figure buyout, then claimed the District 1 Seat vacated by Shelley Berkley when she lost the Nevada Senate Race to Dean Heller in 2012.

District 1 is conventionally considered a safe Democrat District, with 2.29 times as many active registered D's as R's:

http://nvsos.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=2693

The current Las Vegas Nevada District 1 US Rep's voting record defines them as a big government Democrat.

This is at a time when government is broken, serving special interests, borrowing funny money and raising taxes on current and future generations to stay in business.

The current Las Vegas US Representative made two recent Aye votes on Helium that failed to rise, and one Nay vote on a Helium Bill that passed gas. (Helium was a hot air topic in DC):

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/dina_titus/412318

When we add Independent, Libertarian, Non-Partisan and Other registrations that actually vote when they have a real candidate, the D ratio falls to 1.14 times as many D's as other parties.  

2014 is a winnable issue-driven race.

We learned working successful races for various parties since 1970, that while the numbers are interesting, they are not persuasive or compelling. 

Committed Heart, Mind, Money, Principle and Soul win elections.

A modern Thomas Jefferson or Teddy Roosevelt can unite many votes from dissatisfied members of the incumbent's party, as well as the other parties, to win one for the American people.

Our economy continues to contract with 10% real 1980 measured inflation and 23% real unemployment, for a record 33% Misery Index:

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

There will be a lot of dissatisfied voters in 2014, willing to elect new representation, instead of endure more of the same old:

http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

The current US Congressional District 1 officeholder has two years and four months of Congressional Voting Records for Las Vegas voters to verify and vet BEFORE we vote smart for our best interests in 2014.

Working backward from now to then, here are key Las Vegas US Rep issues and votes by the incumbent (before the DC Helium vote):


April 18, 2013HR 624Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection ActBill Passed - House
(288 - 127)
Yea
This bill had so many violations of Bill of Rights, Constitutional Civil Liberty protections and confidentiality, that the President and 11 citizen advocate groups advised it be vetoed. 

Not many people like the idea of government espionage on American citizens with a cellphone and internet kill switch controlled by government. 

Yet the Las Vegas District 1 US Rep voted for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyber_Intelligence_Sharing_and_Protection_Act


April 15, 2013HR 249Federal Employee Tax Accountability Act of 2013Bill Failed - House
(250 - 159)
Nay
More than 100,000 Federal Employees now owe more than $1 Billion in unpaid federal taxes. 

This bill would have fired seriously tax delinquent government employees to open jobs for more productive and responsible workers.

Yet the Las Vegas District 1 US Rep voted against it:



April 12, 2013HR 1120Preventing Greater Uncertainty in Labor-Management Relations ActBill Passed - House
(219 - 209)
Nay
This bill enjoyed up to 86% support among small business employers, workers and voters put out of business and pocket by Obamacare red tape and other tax hikes. 

Yet the Las Vegas District 1 US Rep voted against it:


This concurrent House resolution with the Senate joined the first Senate Budget Bill passed in four years. 

It affected budgets and taxpayers as far out as 2023. 

Yet the Las Vegas District 1 US Rep voted against it:  


March 21, 2013HR 933Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013Concurrence Vote Passed - House
(318 - 109)
Yea
This budget bill included an anonymous rider that generated significant anger over the "Monsanto Protection Act."



Voter anger grew like Roundup(R)-resistant crop weeds, fueled by news the rider was anonymously added to a U.S. budget bill as an apparent favor to certain biotech firms whose name began with MON.


The measure made allies of Tea Party and environmental groups. 


It inspired more than 250,000 people to sign a petition opposing it. 

It even prompted the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee to retroactively disavow it. 



Yet the Las Vegas District 1 US Rep voted for it:

http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/politics/blogs/what-is-the-monsanto-protection-act



March 15, 2013HR 803SKILLS ActBill Passed - House
(215 - 202)
Nay
This bill was introduced and sponsored by Joe Heck, the Las Vegas US Rep in District 3 who retired the current Las Vegas US Rep in District 1 in 2010. 

It reauthorized the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), consolidating 35 existing federal employment and training programs into a single $6 billion Workforce Investment Fund.

It particularly addressed Adult and Family Literacy to create lifelong Work Skills to put unemployed Americans back to work. 

The SKILLS Act was supported by up to 75% of voters and more than 11 grassroots organizations:

https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr803

It is curious a UNLV educator, whose tenure was bought out with $162,000 of taxpayer money to run for Congress again, after losing her seat, opposed SKILLS for the people:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jun/23/dina-titus-retires-unlv-162000-buyout/


March 13, 2013HR 890Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act of 2013Bill Passed - House
(246 - 181)
Nay


 
In 1996 President Clinton kept his 1992 campaign promise to end welfare as we know it. 

He required people on welfare to go to work to get off welfare. 

Since then the welfare government bureaucracy backslid under three Presidents into a magnet for illegal immigrants getting free rides at taxpayer expense and displacing American workers. 

Up to 96% of voters supported Work for Welfare. 

Yet the Las Vegas District 1 US Rep voted against it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_Responsibility_and_Work_Opportunity_Act

https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr890


March 6, 2013HR 933Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013Bill Passed - House
(267 - 151)
Yea
This bill funded domestic government military weapons and propaganda for unpopular attacks on Americans and Iran.

Journalist Joe Wolverton II noted the 2013 NDAA House version did nothing to prevent the indefinite detention of Americans under the 2012 NDAA:


"It only reiterated that habeas corpus is a right in courts established under Article III of the Constitution. That such a right exists in the courts of the United States was never the issue." 


The concern of millions of Americans from every band in the political spectrum is that Americans detained as “belligerents” under the terms of the NDAA will not be tried in Article III courts, but will be subject to military tribunals governed by Article I, such as the one currently considering the case of the so-called “Gitmo Five.”"



Some of these are the same military tribunals that ignored, condoned or even committed sexual harassment.

How could a female professor of political science, who won election as US Rep and then lost it for ignoring the will of the people, pass this?:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization_Act_for_Fiscal_Year_2013


Feb. 15, 2013HR 273Eliminates the 2013 Statutory Pay Adjustment for Federal EmployeesBill Passed - House
(261 - 154)
Nay


Up to 83% of voters supported legislation to put Federal Employees on a pay freeze until Congress balances the budget.

They wanted Congress to stop raising debts and taxes faster than economic and population growth, putting more and more working Americans in the poorhouse.

So why did this Las Vegas District 1 US Rep vote against that common sense legislation?:

https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr273


Jan. 15, 2013H Amdt 4Offsets Cost of Disaster Relief Appropriations Through Discretionary Budget CutsAmendment Rejected - House
(162 - 258)
Nay



One of voters' biggest complaints since 1776 is taxation without representation. 

Congress claimed to cut spending and taxes. 

Congress actually continued to increase debts, regulations, spending and taxes on taxpayer backs, wrecking our economy. 

This public employee Las Vegas District 1 US Rep refused to cut the budget on a discretionary basis, leading to the sequester mess.


Jan. 15, 2013HR 152Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013Bill Passed - House
(241 - 180)
Yea
Hurricane Sandy disaster relief was another feel-good bill that professional politicians love to pass.

They never seem to accept responsibility when they fail. 

As of today Drudge Report found "6 Months After Sandy, Thousands Still Homeless...Looters STILL Raiding Homes Under Repair...'Where are the politicians now?'

Up to 84% of voters opposed this bill that the Las Vegas US Rep in District 1 passed:

https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr152


Dec. 21, 2010HR 2751FDA Food Safety Modernization ActConcurrence Vote Passed - House
(215 - 144)
Yea
You would have to be blind, deaf, dumb or taking money from Monsanto to not know how destructive the anti-freedom monopoly unconstitutional FSMA was to consumers, farmers and home gardeners. 

We are now forced to buy and eat factory GMO food without knowing what's in it. 

The FSMA drove farmer's markets, lemonade stands and raw milk producers out of business or put them in jail. 

Yet the Las Vegas District 1 US Rep passed it:

http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=3f59f82202d42a6e9cefa2d1eabbfc4e 


Dec. 16, 2010H Amdt 786Amending the Estate TaxAmendment Rejected - House
(194 - 233)
Yea
This bill raised Estate Taxes 28% to 45% on estates over $1.5 Million. 

(One of these days it may cost a million to make a phone call unless Congress puts our financial house in order.) 

45% Estate Taxes further deplete America of family farms and small businesses that create jobs. They force distress sales and loss of up to 45% of family assets and income at a time of deep sorrow and need. 

A Professor of Political Science, Las Vegas US District 1 Rep, apparently did not feel it, see it, need it or vote that way:

http://votesmart.org/bill/12450/32978/2629/amending-the-estate-tax#.UX67kLXqlyY


Dec. 8, 2010HR 5281DREAM ActConcurrence Vote Passed - House
(216 - 198)
Yea
The law of unintended consequences, sometimes called blowback, can be a beast. Up to 60% of Americans opposed the DREAM Amnesty Act for illegal aliens. 

Americans and Nevadans, even those close to borders overrun by illegals, are not against responsible legal immigration and assimilation. 

The melting pot made America Great. 

The majority of Americans do not support free rides for illegal immigrants who displace American workers and ruin prosperity with more government spending and taxing for illegal votes with lower wages to the global poverty level. 

The Governor of Nevada neighbor Arizona opposed the DREAM Act as a budget buster.

DREAM, in reality a nightmare amnesty bill passed as a feel-good measure, put the higher costs of illegal immigration onto states like Nevada and taxpayers by making illegals legal for additional government spending to buy political party votes.

You might think a bright Professor of Political science turned Las Vegas US Representative opposed this, as most legal workers and voters in the district did, but no:

https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/112/s952

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0816/Jan-Brewer-leads-constitutional-throwdown-against-DREAM-Act-lite

http://votesmart.org/bill/12443/32955/2629/dream-act#.UX6-xLXqlyY


July 27, 2010H Con Res 301Directing the President to Remove Armed Forces from PakistanJoint Resolution Failed - House
(38 - 372)
Nay
Anyone who survived the Vietnam War quagmire and the longer more costly Afghanistan-Pakistan military adventurism fiasco, or who knows the Pat Tillman Story, is in favour of cutting out-of-control spending for seemingly endless wars of aggression on foreign countries with abundant natural resources like gold, opium, petroleum and water. 

Not the US Rep from Las Vegas District 1, where thousands of disabled vets still do not receive the benefits and medical care they were promised for service to their country:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman


March 21, 2010HR 3590Health Care and Insurance Law Amendments ("Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act")Concurrence Vote Passed - House
(219 - 212)
Yea
March 21, 2010HR 4872Health Care Reconciliation ActBill Passed - House
(220 - 211)
Yea
In 2010, calls to Congress ran 100 to 1 and higher opposed to Obamacare death panels, healthcare controls, mandatory insurance fines with prison, medicare shutdowns, red tape, special interest waivers, with trillions of dollars of higher taxes, 20,000 more IRS agents and government control of the economy.

Yet the current Las Vegas District 1 US Rep ignored her constituents in District 3 and voted for it anyway. 

Up to 86% of voters and many states oppose 0Care as a big expensive painful government intrusion into our health, liberty and lives. 

Perhaps this is why the Nevada District 1 US Representative was defeated and replaced in the 2010 Congressional election. 

It's not too late to do it again:

https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr1005

There are many more voting record examples showing this US Rep did not represent the simple will of the people and common sense, but voted lockstep with her party special interests.

While serving House Speaker Nancy <You have to pass it to see what's in it> Pelosi, did she actually read the long secret bills before she voted for them? 

In the interest of brevity with internet attention spans rather than sound bites, we refer avid readers and motivated talented Richard Charles Volunteers for America to this link for the rest of the voting record story:

http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/2629/dina-titus/?p=3#.UX7DybXqlyY

We welcome the opportunity to debate this US Las Vegas Nevada District 1 Representative in an objective forum.

Isn't it time for a US Rep of, by and for the people, instead of the usual special interests?

To make that possible, we invite funding under $100 from as many Richard Charles Volunteers for America as possible. 

Here's the basic math:

To match the US Congressional District 1 Las Vegas Nevada Representative's 2012 campaign chest of $1,300,000: 

13,000 committed Americans give $100

26,000 give $50

52,000 give $25 

130,000 give $10 

for the Constitutional candidate to represent All Las Vegans, Nevadans and Americans, not just the usual special interest suspects:

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=n00030191

By the way, here is a breakdown of the current Las Vegas District 1 US Representative donors, many of them lobbyists:


http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/industries.php?cycle=2012&cid=n00030191&type=I&newmem=N

We do not accept political contributions from special interest lobbyists.

There are 143,635,167 Americans in our workforce. 

There are 21,550,169 actual unemployed Americans who deserve better representation and are willing to give, work and vote for it:

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Nevada has record foreclosures and unemployment.

There are 1,302,562 active voters in Nevada who want better representation as they showed in the last election.

There are 257,797 active voters in Las Vegas US Congressional District 1, more than enough to make a big difference for a more Constitutional America:

http://nvsos.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=2636

Again, we do not accept donations from special interest lobbyists. 

Ten dollars from each active voter will turn the tide for a better America faster than the usual special interest suspects.

One of our first steps, if/when we have the campaign chest to run, is to accept more dedicated volunteers and register more active voters:

Richard Charles => 
Real Candidate => 
Real Choice => 
Respect Constitution => 
Represent Constituents=>

We know we can do a better job than the current US Rep only with your help and support. 

Please click here now to start America, Nevada and Las Vegas winning again today:
                                                          
Thank you.

We will be in touch...

New campaign book:

http://amzn.to/14T44Bh

Saturday, April 27, 2013

To End Government Violence

Big bloated corporate government seem to have forgotten who is boss. We the people are. They answer to US.

BBCG rely on Hollywood TV mainstream media aided and abetted false flags and psyops to keep US silent or hiding out in a disabled hypnotic violent state of fear or loathing.


According to the anonymous Gallup Poll, citizen trust in Federal Government reached a new low since 1935 when Gallup began.


Just 19% of Americans trust government always or most of the time, while 81% do not:


http://www.gallup.com/poll/5392/trust-government.aspx 


What is the reason for this widespread distrust?


In a nutshell, government instituted violence denies peace, prosperity and constitutional protections of freedom and responsibility for the people.


America was at war most of the last five decades: 

Wars on our Bill of Rights, wars on drugs run by and for government elite, wars on family, wars on liberty, wars on resource rich countries that won't use the devalued indebted dollar, wars on peace, wars on property, wars on prosperity, wars on work, wars on the American Way of Life.

We saw government connected Wall Street CEO criminals too big to jail waltz away to their French Chateaus and yachts with immunity and impunity from government courts, regulators and prosecutors not doing their Constitutional jobs to try and jail corrupt government cronies.


We saw Congress run by banks and corporate media military industrial complex pass Affordable Health Care, Department of Homeland Security, Fast and Furious Gun Running, Food Safety Act, Gun Safety, Mandatory junk vaccines like Gardasil, National Defense Authorization of Standing Armies, Patriot and Transportation Safety Acts and Peace in the Middle East and Africa that were anything but what their titles claimed.


Congress proved it would not do the Constitutional job balancing the budget, eliminating its own insider trading, lowering red tape and taxes, retiring the public debt or upholding our Constitution. 


Corrupt national representatives not doing their job must be voted out of office in 2014 and replaced by those who will defend, protect and serve our Constitution, not corporate union insider pets taking $162,000 buyouts to not do their job, while voting to shut down the internet and not requiring government employees to pay their taxes or welfare recipients to work:


http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/2629/dina-titus#.UXwJ4LXqmSo


We the people will no longer allow MSM political divide and conquer shenanigans like 9000 Police and SWAT Teams armed with military equipment, including Infra-red Armoured Helicopters and Assault Vehicles invading homes and shooting an unarmed 19 year-old hiding in a boat, ignoring a Saudi national on the terrorist list with ten relatives, who repeatedly visited the White House with a First Lady visit in the hospital, DHS shutting down Amtrack to NYC and overrunning Boston streets in an exaggerated display of power run amuck with friendly fire casualties and subterfuge from elected politicians as drunken crowds chanted 'USA' and threw beer cans in the air for political cover:


http://www.dailypaul.com/283525/boston-police-caught-in-lies


http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/04/25/authorities-investigate-friendly-fire-wounded-mbta-officer-shoot-out-with-boston-marathon-bombing-suspects/pnPFWw6A3irQKRzhlB6zIN/story.html


http://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/ministry-of-truth-makes-boston-bombing-suspect-disappear/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIVsBVl3V8Y 0:43

http://www.youtube.com/v/S1fqWL-NEn4&hl=en_US&fs=1& 2:01

MSM just rolled over to perpetrate more Government lies, while internet bloggers with integrity asked the right questions and were jammed or shut down:


http://www.nomorefakenews.com/ 


Anyone who questions the official MSM BBCG narrative is smeared as a conspiracy theorist or enemy of the state. 


Anyone who believes The State may be headed for indefinite detention by The State.


Take your pick.


We know the good guys win in the end. 


It will require the courage and commitment of the 81% majority of American voters to end government violence and restore our Constitutional Democratic Republic from what Newsweek called a Police State:

(Actual) Newsweek Magazine : Police State - America's New Way of Life & School Children First in Line for Security Chip Implants


(Actual) Newsweek Magazine : Police State - America's New Way of Life & School Children First in Line for Security Chip Implants


Read more: 


http://occupymedfordoregon.org/martial-law-coming-to-a-neighborhood-near-you-yet-its-already-here/#ixzz2Rgg9W84F
@occupymedford 


To donate and join our Task Force to Renew Congress, click here now: