2016 has been rife with difficult events here at home and abroad. Each new day seems to tear away another piece that unites us as Americans. The cacophony of opinions and slurs plays out on a precipice of tyranny vs. freedom. We are in turmoil over the future of our great republic. Yet, within this din of chaos the Library and Museum of Revolutionary War History celebrated America’s 240th birthday on Friday July 15th at the museum’s monthly Evening With Program.
We were privileged to learn from patriot Judge Robert Chumley who enlightened us about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. These great men risked their lives and fortunes to declare to the world The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. Mr. Chumley read a few paragraphs of the Declaration and then asked us “What do these words mean?” In order to answer that question, we had to first understand the context of history that influenced Thomas Jefferson’s inspirational writing and the signers to pen their name to a document separating the citizens of the unanimous states from King George III.
The first readers of the Declaration would have easily understood Mr. Jefferson’s eloquent words, because both were steeped in British political thought and philosophy. Ideas such as consent of the governed and trial by jury were considered the rights of the people based on over 300 years of British history. In 1066 England was governed by “rex lex”: whatever the king says is law. However, by 1215 the Magna Carta was established, which weakened the power of the king and allowed the nobles to rule. By 1640 England was in a civil war called The Glorious Revolution - The Parliament (Round Heads) vs. The Cavaliers (supporters of the divine right of kings) – over the consent of the governed. Parliament won and beheaded King Charles I and the citizens of England won the right to govern themselves.
Therefore in 1776 when the signers read such phrases as “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle men” or “endowed by their creator with certain and unalienable rights” they understood those phrases to mean that rights do not come from government, but from God. The government is merely an institution to preserve man’s God-given rights, not to parse or hand those rights out to the governed according to whims. Based on this historical political doctrine Mr. Jefferson then laid out an indictment of King George’s egregious usurpations of the colonials’ rights as British citizens. The citizens of the thirteen colonies informed King George and their brethren in Parliament that when a government denies the natural freedoms of its citizens – the citizens have a moral duty to throw off the government. And so our founding fathers formed a government fit to rule a free people whose rights are derived from Nature’s God.
In closing Mr. Chumley asked us two questions. The first was. “Do we have the same caliber of leaders today?” and the second was “Is freedom dangerous?” Would our current leaders sign a document ensuring their loss of wealth, loss of reputation and loss of life? To paraphrase signer Benjamin Franklin, would our leaders agree to hang together figuratively and physically for freedom’s sake? 56 patriot leaders on July 4th, 1776 were courageous enough to tell a despotic government that they wanted their rights restored. They preferred freedom over safety. Mr. Chumley reminded us what Edmund Burke said regarding freedom. “Freedom requires strength and sacrifice, it requires a moral and self-disciplined people to keep freedom. If we are unable to restrain ourselves, a powerful tyrant will step in to do so. “
So the Library and Museum of Revolutionary War History asks you – do you want liberty under a restrained government or death under a tyrant? Liberty is ours, if we can keep it.
We were privileged to learn from patriot Judge Robert Chumley who enlightened us about the signers of the Declaration of Independence. These great men risked their lives and fortunes to declare to the world The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America. Mr. Chumley read a few paragraphs of the Declaration and then asked us “What do these words mean?” In order to answer that question, we had to first understand the context of history that influenced Thomas Jefferson’s inspirational writing and the signers to pen their name to a document separating the citizens of the unanimous states from King George III.
The first readers of the Declaration would have easily understood Mr. Jefferson’s eloquent words, because both were steeped in British political thought and philosophy. Ideas such as consent of the governed and trial by jury were considered the rights of the people based on over 300 years of British history. In 1066 England was governed by “rex lex”: whatever the king says is law. However, by 1215 the Magna Carta was established, which weakened the power of the king and allowed the nobles to rule. By 1640 England was in a civil war called The Glorious Revolution - The Parliament (Round Heads) vs. The Cavaliers (supporters of the divine right of kings) – over the consent of the governed. Parliament won and beheaded King Charles I and the citizens of England won the right to govern themselves.
Therefore in 1776 when the signers read such phrases as “the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle men” or “endowed by their creator with certain and unalienable rights” they understood those phrases to mean that rights do not come from government, but from God. The government is merely an institution to preserve man’s God-given rights, not to parse or hand those rights out to the governed according to whims. Based on this historical political doctrine Mr. Jefferson then laid out an indictment of King George’s egregious usurpations of the colonials’ rights as British citizens. The citizens of the thirteen colonies informed King George and their brethren in Parliament that when a government denies the natural freedoms of its citizens – the citizens have a moral duty to throw off the government. And so our founding fathers formed a government fit to rule a free people whose rights are derived from Nature’s God.
In closing Mr. Chumley asked us two questions. The first was. “Do we have the same caliber of leaders today?” and the second was “Is freedom dangerous?” Would our current leaders sign a document ensuring their loss of wealth, loss of reputation and loss of life? To paraphrase signer Benjamin Franklin, would our leaders agree to hang together figuratively and physically for freedom’s sake? 56 patriot leaders on July 4th, 1776 were courageous enough to tell a despotic government that they wanted their rights restored. They preferred freedom over safety. Mr. Chumley reminded us what Edmund Burke said regarding freedom. “Freedom requires strength and sacrifice, it requires a moral and self-disciplined people to keep freedom. If we are unable to restrain ourselves, a powerful tyrant will step in to do so. “
So the Library and Museum of Revolutionary War History asks you – do you want liberty under a restrained government or death under a tyrant? Liberty is ours, if we can keep it.