Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our sacred Honor
Mar 3, 2010 23:49:09 GMT -5
Post by hefferman1 on Mar 3, 2010 23:49:09 GMT -5
In 1775 our fore fathers faced a tyrannical government that didn't care what the people wanted. That government ignored what the people said, trampled on the people's God given Inalienable Rights, and sought to control the American people through threats, taxation, and illegal laws backed by force and imprisonment.
The American people suffered this abuse of power, usurpation of authority, and indifference for a long time. As they were pushed and backed into a corner. The American people tried to avoid a confrontation and drew many lines in the sand. They backed up and gave ground time after time. When men were shot at the "Boston Massacre", when unfair taxes where imposed, when their elected and appointed leaders sold them out for political and personal gain, they drew another line in the sand, and then another. Till their last chance for freedom from tyranny was threatened.
Only then was a shot heard on Lexington Green, only then did men take up arms and stand as Emerson wrote" BY the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. "
It was not till the next summer that men from every colony came together and signed the Declaration of Independence. It was not till then that Jefferson wrote,
"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,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
The Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 men, and on this great document was written a pledge.
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Many more men than the 56 who signed. Swore in their hearts and fulfilled with their sweat, toil, blood, and means that pledge. Thousands gave their lives, lost their fortunes, and saw loved ones die to win our freedoms from that tyrannical government.
Today we are faced with a government that is ignoring what the American people want. A government that is trampling on the people's God given inalienable rights, is seeking a way to control the American people through threats, taxation, and Un-Constitutional laws backed by force and the threat of imprisonment. We have suffered much, just as our fore fathers did.
We have not yet come to the point where the next first shot fired in defense of freedom has been fired. We have not yet come to the point, where men with freedom in their hearts and determined minds have unfurled our flags and forced the over reaching hands of a tyrannical government to take it's first steps back wards. We have not yet come to the point where our last chance for freedom from tyranny is expressed from a rifle barrel.
However this day I pledge, With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, my Life, my fortunes and my sacred Honor to freedom and the restoration of liberty in this my country.
The American people suffered this abuse of power, usurpation of authority, and indifference for a long time. As they were pushed and backed into a corner. The American people tried to avoid a confrontation and drew many lines in the sand. They backed up and gave ground time after time. When men were shot at the "Boston Massacre", when unfair taxes where imposed, when their elected and appointed leaders sold them out for political and personal gain, they drew another line in the sand, and then another. Till their last chance for freedom from tyranny was threatened.
Only then was a shot heard on Lexington Green, only then did men take up arms and stand as Emerson wrote" BY the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April's breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood, And fired the shot heard round the world. "
It was not till the next summer that men from every colony came together and signed the Declaration of Independence. It was not till then that Jefferson wrote,
"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,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
The Declaration of Independence was signed by 56 men, and on this great document was written a pledge.
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our fortunes and our sacred Honor."
Many more men than the 56 who signed. Swore in their hearts and fulfilled with their sweat, toil, blood, and means that pledge. Thousands gave their lives, lost their fortunes, and saw loved ones die to win our freedoms from that tyrannical government.
Today we are faced with a government that is ignoring what the American people want. A government that is trampling on the people's God given inalienable rights, is seeking a way to control the American people through threats, taxation, and Un-Constitutional laws backed by force and the threat of imprisonment. We have suffered much, just as our fore fathers did.
We have not yet come to the point where the next first shot fired in defense of freedom has been fired. We have not yet come to the point, where men with freedom in their hearts and determined minds have unfurled our flags and forced the over reaching hands of a tyrannical government to take it's first steps back wards. We have not yet come to the point where our last chance for freedom from tyranny is expressed from a rifle barrel.
However this day I pledge, With a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, my Life, my fortunes and my sacred Honor to freedom and the restoration of liberty in this my country.