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Streetcar Line
Declaration of Admiration
Two little-celebrated Founders teach key lessons.
As much as the American book-buying public has shown deep interest in the superstars of the nation’s founding period, too little attention has been paid to some of the other legislative workhorses and statesmen of the period, and too few lessons thus learned from their examples. As we celebrate Independence Day on Monday, we should move beyond the famous Jefferson-Adams-Franklin troika, in order to marvel at the great decades of public service of the two other members of the committee charged with drafting the Declaration of Independence.
Those two were Roger Sherman of Connecticut and Robert R. Livingston of New York — and they were no mere window-dressing on the committee, much less in public life.
First, consider a little background. The Declaration did not merely spring like mental lightning from the fertile mind of Jefferson (although his genius came through in the document’s particular eloquence), but rather represented what Jefferson himself rightly described as “an expression of the American mind.” The impressively researched 1997 American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, by Pauline Maier, shows just how widespread throughout the colonies were the ideas and sentiments given voice in the Declaration. At least 90 townships, county organizations, and state legislatures alike, all across the land, had passed similar petitions or declarations in the months immediately preceding the great act of the Continental Congress.
That said, the Continental Congress chose with some care the committee to draft the Declaration, wanting just the right people to best enunciate the views of that “American mind.” The five members (or perhaps only four — Franklin was ill) met several times before Jefferson was chosen as chief draftsman, during which meetings the committee (according to Maier) “outlined the document, dividing it into sections or ‘Articles,’ probably decided in at least general terms what its various parts should say, and committed those conclusions to paper is ‘minutes’ or instructions to its draftsman.”
After Jefferson produced his first draft, the committee (including Franklin, who had returned) reviewed it and offered several alterations that Jefferson accepted. Among them, significantly (although Maier does not note this first example), were the addition that the “unalienable rights” at issue were specifically endowed by a Creator, and the emphasis that government was instituted not just to secure “ends” but to secure “rights,” which of course is a stronger assertion.
Meanwhile, all five were busy serving on numerous other time-sensitive committees, playing leading roles in doing the hard work of creating a new nation, in time of war, from 13 distinct colonies.
Now who, exactly, were these men? We know about the famous
three; what’s instructive is that the disparate backgrounds of the
other two, Sherman and Livingston, demonstrate the wonderful
meritocracy and social mobility that existed, even then, in the
bustling New World. Note the details of Sherman’s impressive,
self-made career, as described in wonderful language in the
“official history of the celebration of the one hundredth
anniversary of the promulgation of the Constitution of the United
States, published by the official Constitutional Centennial
Commission in 1889” (with my emphases in bold):
Roger Sherman is the only man who enjoys the singular distinction of having signed the four most important state papers in American history — the Articles of Association of the Congress of 1774, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution of the United States…. He was a shoemaker by trade, and, after the death of his father, supported his mother and several younger children, devoting all the time which he could spare from his bench to study, especially to mathematics. At the age of twenty-two he removed to New Milford, Conn., and subsequently kept a small store with his brother, and for some years acted a county surveyor, at the same time furnishing astronomical calculations for an almanac published in New York. Late in life he studied law, and rose to be a judge of the highest court in Connecticut, a position which he held for twenty-three years. His chief qualities were his great practical wisdom and concise methods of speech…. To the ratification of the Constitution he gave important support in the state convention, and published a series of articles in its favor. He was elected to Congress, and thereupon resigned his judicial station. In 1791 he was elected a senator of the United States, but did not live to complete his term of office. At the time of his death he was mayor of New Haven, a position he had held since 1784.
Shoemaker, mathematician, surveyor, judge, mayor, congressman, senator — several of those roles simultaneously! Amazing. Even better, Sherman’s imprint on the final form of the Constitution, in the great convention of 1787, was arguably more substantial than any delegate except James Madison. Remarkably, Sherman had been promoting the substance of great agreement known as the “Connecticut Compromise” (significantly minus the now-infamous “three-fifths” clause regarding slavery), which provided for proportional representation in one chamber of Congress and equal representation for the states in the other, as far back as the Continental Congress of 1776. In short, eleven years before its acceptance became the essential compromise that saved the constitutional convention and, with it, the nation, this wise man had foreseen the problem of uniting large states with small ones — and had proposed a near-perfect solution. Repeatedly throughout the convention he pushed this solution, and repeatedly was rebuffed, until finally his recalcitrant colleagues realized he had been right all along.
It was for good reason that Thomas Jefferson once asserted that Sherman “never said a foolish thing in his life.”
Sherman also was the convention’s most effective proponent of letting states retain significant authority rather than vesting it all in the national government, and in keeping at least some significant restraints on executive power while retaining prerogatives for the legislative branch — both of them important conservative positions to this day. On issue after issue and committee after committee, reported historian Carol Berkin in A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution, it was “the indefatigable” Sherman who “did more than yeoman’s duty” to pull the Constitution together.
And, as if his own service to country weren’t enough, three of his grandchildren served in the U.S. Senate, with one of them also serving as governor of Connecticut, another as U.S. Attorney General, and yet a fourth grandson also serving as AG.
In the 18th century, it was only in the American colonies that a cobbler could rise to be such a significant statesman.
LIVINGSTON’S ORIGINS WERE as different from Sherman’s as could be imagined, but his rise to revolutionary prominence was equally admirable. He came from a family of wealth and prestige; yet even though his circumstances left him much to lose and almost nothing to gain economically from opposing the Crown, he nevertheless became a key proponent of independence and a stalwart for liberty. Indeed, his activities made him a major target for the British army, which burned his manor to the ground in 1777.
Beginning with his service on the committees that drafted both the Declaration and the Articles of Confederation, Livingston had a knack for being a key player in the seminal public events of the new nation. He served for 24 years as the top judicial officer — Chancellor — in New York State, where he oversaw the legal system that protected what even then was the commercial hub of the United States. He added much to commerce himself, working as partner with Robert Fulton to develop the first viable steamboat, and also playing a crucial role in developing the Erie Canal.
About the Author
Quin Hillyer is a senior editor of The American Spectator and a senior fellow at the Center for Individual Freedom. Follow him on Twitter @QuinHillyer.
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Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 6:26AM
Yes, too bad the GOP can't run candidates of the Founders' quality for public office today.
Lawrence Boccardi| 7.1.11 @ 6:57AM
You are stoop-shouldered from carrying water for the disgrace that occupies our house, today, and the best this fine essay elicits from you, is a dig at the GOP???
Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 8:05AM
What is your remedy? another GOP post-Reagan mediocrity next year, to say something along the lines of 'read my lips no new taxes'? you wasted 12 years with the Bush dynasty, two failed candidacies involving damaged old war vets, and now you expect me to be enthusiastic about future GOP candidates?
But you have to hand it to Dubya: LBJ only wasted five years; Nixon only wasted five years; Carter and HW Bush only wasted four-- yet Dubya wasted eight.
Dubya grabbed the brass ring.
Jeamar37| 7.1.11 @ 2:00PM
Right on Mr. Boccardi. Mr. Brooks must read everything through special lenses that dismisses the significance of anything before WWII.
Oldefarte| 7.2.11 @ 11:41AM
No, he's just proclaiming STUPIDLY, as his idol once said!!!!!!!!!!
lydia | 7.1.11 @ 8:25AM
I am a 28 years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username Andromeda2002 on--s'e'ek'c'ou'ga'r.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck 'it out or tell your friends!
The future is as grim as it has been since the Vietnam era, and all AS can do is escape to 1776.
Cosmo| 7.1.11 @ 10:47AM
Lydia: If you are an MD, you don't need to be
running a prostitution ring on the Spectator...
Just put your info out on Craig's list and the
perverts will find you soon enough..
Al Adab| 7.1.11 @ 11:15AM
The link is to a "mature women seeking younger men" site. Ignore it (there is no Lydia) and maybe the AmSpec webmaster can block it.
Mimi| 7.1.11 @ 12:51PM
Listen BUD....The democrats are the "GRUBBY PERSUITERS"......Most often the GOP+ Conservative are the "NOBLE" ones. Look around you what you see happening to this country is a shame and a DISGRACE !!!
Purpleguy| 7.1.11 @ 3:24PM
You mean noble like David Vitter, Mark Foley, Larry Craig, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed, Duke Cunningham, Glenn Beck and on and on and on? You mean that bunch of low-lifes? And don't bother to throw up any Democrats - you said "Most often the GOP+ Conservative are the "NOBLE" ones." I'm just pointing out the delusion to your premise...
Mimi| 7.1.11 @ 6:43PM
I can make a list 1000 times longer than yours...BUD # 2. and you KNOW IT !!!
Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 8:04PM
Purpleguy,
they wont pay attention; they refuse to take notice of how Glenn Beck just for starters is a rightist demagogue, not a Goldwater (who for instance thought gays ought to be permitted induction into the services).
Why do you think Beck was heckled the other day?: there is a sense that Beck possesses all the oversimplification of Rush Limbaugh, but sans the sense of humor and Roy Rogers talent.
BTW they want me to be on-topic? the first comment is.
skip| 7.2.11 @ 11:42AM
Brooks no intelligent thoughts. Ever
Quit skirting around the real issue plaguing this rapidly deteriorating nation:
Evil Rich Fly
American Kids Die
Evil Rich Fly
American Kids Die
Evil Rich Fly
American Kids Die
Evil Rich Fly
American Kids Die
Evil Rich Fly
American Kids Die
Evil Rich Fly
American Kids Die
Four more years for 'the one' who venerates the lives, fortunes, and sacred honors of the founders every day in every way. Dependence now!
Oldefarte| 7.2.11 @ 11:43AM
For every un-noble Republican, I can name 10000 so Democrats, idiot!!!!!!!
Alan Brooks| 7.2.11 @ 11:29PM
"Evil Rich Fly
American Kids Die"
Kids? you must know by now Americans can only do business; education will never improve.
In fact, America is not the greatest country in the world, it merely has the best agriculture-- but you cannot admit that.
Mimi| 7.3.11 @ 10:50AM
My, My Alan....That Harvard study on Independence Day makes you Dems out to be TRAITORS & UN-PATRIOTIC. Your above post proves the Harvard study right...Only Agriculture?....NOW WE KNOW ....REALLY WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!
Mimi| 7.3.11 @ 10:50AM
My, My Alan....That Harvard study on Independence Day makes you Dems out to be TRAITORS & UN-PATRIOTIC. Your above post proves the Harvard study right...Only Agriculture?....NOW WE KNOW ....REALLY WHO YOU ARE!!!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 7.3.11 @ 12:40PM
You're correct, American is no longer the greatest country since the Democrats have been dragging it down for decades with their socialistic policies established from their control over our government!!!!!!!!!!!
Reagan Loyalist| 7.4.11 @ 11:37AM
Why doesn't AS patrol this blog for trolls? It was once a source of intelligent, sometimes humorous and always mature and respectful discourse but has sadly dissolved into the same old angry teenage-like verbal dump the rest of the net houses. Sad :(
jothepro| 7.1.11 @ 9:47AM
Alan, you could comment on the article rather than slam the GOP. There will be other articles that you can rant about that pertain to your rage.
Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 8:06PM
the first comment is pertinent. 1776 was your best year.
Oldefarte| 7.1.11 @ 11:10AM
Yeah, dimwit, and Democrats do so? No doubt your contemplation of the FORMER representative from NY or possibly the current president of the US is foremost in your decrepit mind, huh?????????
Occam's Tool| 7.1.11 @ 4:57PM
Michele Bachmann foster mothered kids with eating disorders and at points in time had 9 kids in the house, so much so that she applied for a group home license. She's an education reformer, a tax attorney, a highly principled individual.
Nobody thought Lincoln or Reagan had the spark of genius in them, either.
Quartermaster| 7.1.11 @ 8:07PM
Lincoln, OTOH, refounded the country and gave us the government that has run amok ever since. Lincoln was a mediocrity and none of the GOP has stood up and acknowledged the problem their first president created.
chuck| 7.2.11 @ 8:32AM
Spot on, Lincoln transformed this country from States united for their common good, to the United States, federal government overriding the States authority over most matters. He destroyed the concept of federalism that the country was founded on.
He should be at the top of the list of worst-ever Presidents, along with Obama, Carter, and pre-WWII FDR.
RCV| 7.4.11 @ 11:44PM
Lincoln did indeed transform our country into a nation, for which I and most Americans will honor him. Without him, we'd all be learning German or Russian instead of extending liberty throughout the world. Those nostalgic for the days of slavery can stuff it for all I care.
Handy| 7.1.11 @ 7:32AM
Alan Brooks has a right to write, of course, but he hogs the threads. He's a traffic jam on the superhighway of ideas.
This is the first time I have ever commented upon him, and the last. Suggest you all do the same.
Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 8:07AM
"superhighway of ideas"
the GOP is a clogged artery, all right..
Oldefarte| 7.1.11 @ 11:12AM
Well, that renders the Democrat Party the cesspool of the world, huh????????
Quartermaster| 7.1.11 @ 8:08PM
The Dhimmicrats are a cesspool. The GOP is completely irrelevant in that.
Alan Brooks| 7.2.11 @ 11:35PM
I'll stick to the topic: the Founders would be ashamed of BOTH the Dems and the GOP.
So what good is hiding behind the Founders if you are not worthy of the Declaration Of Independence? you all write as if 2011 is 1776!
1776 was your best year, and you were not even alive then.
Oldefarte| 7.3.11 @ 12:44PM
No your're incorrect, since the founders would be only ashamed of Democrats due to their socialistic agenda. However Stalin, Putin, Castro, Chavez etc would all be tremendously proud of these Democrats [especially Teddy K who conspired with the Russians against Reagan]!!!!!!!!
Clint| 7.1.11 @ 7:47AM
"Gouverneur Morris was the author of large portions of the U.S. Constitution. He led the committee which produced the final draft of this influential document. "
Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 8:22AM
The future is as grim as it has been since the Vietnam era, and all AS can do is escape to 1776.
CB| 7.1.11 @ 8:32AM
Forgive Mr. Brooks as he commands an army of pompous phrases moving across the landscape in search of an idea....
Clint| 7.1.11 @ 8:39AM
ObamaBoy Brooks Is Jonesing For His Daily Negative Attention Fix.
Stormzeye| 7.1.11 @ 8:50AM
Alan, you pathetic creature. Only a liberal such as yourself would harken back to the Vietnam era while those of us who love this country celebrate its founding. Only when those who see the future as you do become the majority will that future be grim.
Drunken Sailor| 7.1.11 @ 9:16AM
My guess is Alan read that Harvard rag that said 4th of July celebrations are a GOP tool to indoctrinate our youth with Republican ideas. Just goes to show how far Harvard and it's qualities of intelligence have fallen.
Al Adab| 7.1.11 @ 11:17AM
I saw that report too. Does that not mean that one of our major political parties actually opposes the foundational concepts of the United States as expressed in the Declaration?
Drunken Sailor| 7.1.11 @ 12:26PM
I took it as a confession myself. Not that we didn't already know that. It simply amazes me how many Democrat supporters can not see that their party is no longer the same party of the fathers and grandfathers. It has been taken over by the far left. I knew that when the put the enuthisastic nut Howard Dean in charge. Enjoy your 4th celebrations!
Al Adab| 7.1.11 @ 2:21PM
Sailor:
Thanks for the good wishes and please accept mine as well.
The Once proud Dem party is no more. In 1924 their Presidential candidate, John W. Davis said, "To tax one person, class or group to benefit another person, class or group, is theft." Certainly shows how far we have fallen.
Have a Jack and enjoy the 4th (that right wing jingoistic holiday).
Occam's Tool| 7.1.11 @ 4:58PM
Yes, Al, Unfortunately I believe it does. I note the Dems didn't want the Constitution read to start the legislative session in the House.
Al Adab| 7.1.11 @ 7:09PM
Or the Pledge recited before city council or legislative meetings. If they cannot in good conscience repeat such phrases, how can we trust them to fulfil their oath of office?
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 3:03PM
And some STILL say that there is no difference between the 2 parties.
Yes there IS. And it is finally showing!
Go Michele, Go Herman Cain, and GO ALL of the candidates who are running in OPPOSITION to the Democrats.
May the best man or woman win.
But in order for that to happen we must all VOTE for them.
Oldefarte| 7.1.11 @ 11:13AM
Yeah, the FUTURE WILL BE GRIM until November of next year, at which time it will approach THE SHINING CITY ON THE HILL!!!!!
Mimi| 7.1.11 @ 1:00PM
Yeah O.F....The Libs should realize their days are numbered...they don't have the people with them. Their only tools left are LIES,LIES and more LIES!
Oldefarte| 7.1.11 @ 2:57PM
Yep, but the liberals have El Chosen One, who is THE [POLITICAL] GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.
Purpleguy| 7.1.11 @ 3:26PM
That's what you said about 2010 - when are you ever right?
chuck| 7.2.11 @ 8:37AM
2010 was about stopping the damage being done by O and the democrats. 2012 is about repairing the damage, and starting anew.
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 3:10PM
I like that~ well said!
Oldefarte| 7.3.11 @ 12:48PM
PurpleMoron, try seeing the obvious. 2010 was a Republican victory and a preview of 2012, and there was no presidential election then [since El Chosen One wasn't on the ballot, his typical indigents didn/t be motivated to stop blowing smoke up their noses in order to go to the voting booths]!!!!!!!
Oldefarte| 7.2.11 @ 11:46AM
As long as we can look into the future for a possible solution to the HOPE/CHANGE bullexcrement, there is much room for celebration!!!!!!!
Al Adab| 7.1.11 @ 1:05PM
G. Morris chaired the committe on style and wrote the Preamble. There is actually an interesting anecdote there about changing a colon to a comma in the list of enumerated powers.
Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 8:09PM
AS is hiding behind the founders.
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 3:09PM
But Alan,
There is hiding and there is proclaiming. I am accused by some, of Hiding behind the Scriptures~ but no I choose to proclaim them, my life is "hid with God in Christ".
To boldly proclaim the good that the Founding Fathers have done is not hiding.. it is out of love~ as one who preaches His Holy Word does it.
What do you love, Alan? Do you hide behind the -isms of the Left? That is what you proclaim here~ do you REALLY love the Left?
Or are you just bluffing?
Alan Brooks| 7.2.11 @ 11:43PM
Marge,
I am upset that the last 20 years have been such a waste, politically... and am sure the GOP will run another memoir-writer next year-- who might win.
You forget how there was a grudging respect in the '80s, or how else would Reagan have won 49 states in 1984? now the respect is gone, the grudge remains.
I live in the heartland, I know how old fashioned America is; if your side runs a good candidate he or she will win.
Oldefarte| 7.3.11 @ 12:50PM
No, TAS is not hiding behind anyone/anything; but is simply trying [failing in your case] to educate readers/public as to what the truth is, not the bullexcrement dripping from the NYT etc!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alan Brooks| 7.4.11 @ 6:15AM
Oldfarte,
America can only do business, it cannot do a good court, penal, or school system, etc.
Otherwise it would not be America.
Allan| 7.1.11 @ 9:21AM
I am finding that the founders were men of principle, upright ones at that. Perhaps we need to look at characters and integrity a little more closely. People who could spend many years of service and still stand for your right to life, liberty, and lawful pursuits instead of the "I know what you need" attitudes are a rare find indeed. We need more of this type. It seems that those of this calibre are God-fearing and not God-hating. What a sorry lot we have entrusted our diminishing liberties to.
Alan Brooks| 7.1.11 @ 8:12PM
esp. since 1/20/'89, with the In-hog-uration of
"read my lips, no new taxes"
chuck| 7.2.11 @ 8:43AM
Alan, I believe most people here will agree that Bush I, Dole, Bush II, and McCain were, shall I say, less than perfect candidates. However, they were certainly much more preferable than Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry, and Obama.
Our side has put up some crappy candidates, but at least they love this country, and want what is best for it. Can you say the same for your candidates?
Oldefarte| 7.2.11 @ 11:49AM
Most of us would gladly take 'read my lips' and 'evil-do'ers' anyday, any time, anywhere over HOPE & CHANGE from a lying, bullexcrement artist from Chicago!!!!!!!!
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 3:00PM
Amen & Amen to that!!
Alan Brooks| 7.2.11 @ 11:47PM
That's like saying
'our people are at least Frank Costellos, not Albert Anastasias'.
PLEASE, can't you at least run better candidates for office? the Founders would be ashamed of not only the Dems, but also the GOP. Is that too far off topic?
Oldefarte| 7.3.11 @ 12:52PM
No the founders would only be ashamed of Democrats and their putrid hypocritical class warfare merchants!!!!!!!!
C Smith| 7.1.11 @ 10:18AM
All those who reverence Jefferson's Declaration and alter ego as "American Scripture," and eulogize the like-minded pseudo sainthood of our founding fathers, would do well to read the "Jefferson Bible. Eliminating angels, miracles, and concluding with the stone sealed sepulcher in his final verse, Jefferson created a "sanitized" version of Scripture to fit his "faith":
"... the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus... will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" (Jefferson to Adams, April 11, 1823).
Purpleguy| 7.1.11 @ 3:27PM
And a lot of Jefferson's ideas are from Rousseau and Lock in origin.
Occam's Tool| 7.1.11 @ 4:59PM
Locke.
Occam's Tool| 7.1.11 @ 4:59PM
Rousseau was a contemptible pig as a human. Not much better as a theoretician.
Hillel| 7.1.11 @ 11:02AM
We are right to celbrate our Independence and the "founding fathers." The Constitution makes sense in the context of the"The Declaration." One should also read "The Federalist Papers." Madison Hamilton and Jay knew that they were neither demigods nor angels. They devised a government by men:"A Republic, if you can keep it!"
Oldefarte| 7.1.11 @ 11:16AM
Excellent article as usual, Quin! In celebration, I'd recommend everyone renting the HBO dvd/miniseries on John Adams. I've watched it only once, but it provides an outstanding picture of those political times!!!!!!
Al Adab| 7.1.11 @ 11:22AM
Wouldn't it be a great thing if the publicly funded school system taught the children about such men and the political concepts that motivated them instead of such indoctrination in "diversity" and "environmentalism" et al as they do. They might even teach the meaning of that "endowed by their Creator" part.
Mimi| 7.1.11 @ 1:06PM
We all got working so hard...some of us two to three jobs we didn't pay attention. Long ago we didn't have to..we lived our lives. WE are AWAKE now and thank God for that and thanks for the TEA PARTY. HAPPY FOURTH TO ALL.
Mimi| 7.1.11 @ 8:37PM
The Tea Party is spreading like branches on trees and green grass to the schoolboards....Local, state and FEDERAL! Far and wide to protect and fight for this generation's contribution , To preserve our freedom !
Oldefarte| 7.2.11 @ 11:52AM
Absolutely correct, AA, but just like with 11/4/2008; we all are [directly or indirectly] RESPONSIBLE for both/all of these things. We as a nation have to [in tea party fashion] turn this country around and bring back the core principles of its foundation!!!!!!
Occam's Tool| 7.1.11 @ 5:00PM
One should check out Mike Church's two CD series on the arguments leading up to the Constitution. I plan to watch it with the kids this 4th.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.1.11 @ 5:11PM
Quin,
thank you sir. I appreciate the history lesson... and the reminder of how blessed we are.
Jeff Perren| 7.1.11 @ 5:47PM
Quin,
Moving from strength to strength. More please!
Naturalborn Texican| 7.1.11 @ 7:37PM
Great site to read up on REAL American history facts is:
Wallbuilders.com
Courtesy of David Barton and his fellow historians/researchers, backed by original essays and documents of every kind from original letters, to actual American govt documents.
A treasure house! Check it out!
C Smith| 7.2.11 @ 2:31PM
All those who reverence Jefferson's Declaration and alter ego as "American Scripture," and eulogize the like-minded pseudo sainthood of our founding fathers, would do well to read the "Jefferson Bible." Eliminating angels, miracles, and concluding with the stone sealed sepulcher in his final verse, Jefferson created a "sanitized" version of Scripture to fit his "faith":
"... the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus... will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter" (Jefferson to Adams, April 11, 1823).
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 2:58PM
Let us hope that the Lord saw fit to bring our beloved Thomas Jefferson to the knowledge of His Truth before his earthly departure.
God uses even the backs of us who preach His Word, ruined sinners that we are, to preach His Gospel~ and He certainly saw fit to use Thomas Jefferson!
POST American| 7.1.11 @ 11:49PM
"John Calvin was America's REAL founding
father."
-George Bancroft
America's First Historian Emeritus
1830
Bancroft was there.
BEWARE FREEMASONRY
BE AWARE of the Arminian Heresy and its
frontman, pracitioners and promoters
(Billy Graham, Oprah, Glenn Beck, Jim and Tammy etc.)
KNOW your history. SEE the CON.
KNOW the poison.
chuck| 7.2.11 @ 8:46AM
Dee See, is that you?
C Smith| 7.2.11 @ 2:37PM
John Calvin, commonly regarded as the “Father” of Presbyterianism, was 6 when Luther nailed his grievances to a Wittenberg door. Supposedly endorsing a strict grammatical—historical hermeneutic, he clung to Luther’s Augustinian arrogance (cf. Romans 11:17-27) spiritualizing God’s promises for His first love Israel. Although grudgingly conceding in commentary that God will fulfill His Word for a “sanitized” remnant of the Jews, Calvin perpetuates Gentile arrogance toward the root of our faith, teaching that the Church has inherited the title: “The Israel of God.”
Their [the Jews] rotten and unbending stiffneckedness deserves that they be oppressed unendingly and without measure or end and that they die in their misery without the pity of anyone (John Calvin, Ad Quaelstiones et Objecta Juaei Cuiusdam Responsio, The Jew in Christian Theology, Gerhard Falk, McFarland and Company, Inc., Jefferson, NC and London, 1931).
As the angels of God ascended and descended upon a ladder set up on the earth, God made promises to Jacob and to his seed before it came to be (cf. Genesis 28:12-15).
However, Calvin spiritualized these promises, using them to justify his doctrine of “infant baptism.”
God pronounces that he adopts our infants as his children before they are born, when he promises that he will be a God to us and to our seed after us. This promise includes their salvation (Institutes IV xv 20, emphasis added).
Calvin’s Gentile arrogance continued, making Geneva the headquarters of his “New Israel.”
The Genevan Confession was credited to John Calvin in 1536 by Beza who said Calvin wrote it as a formula of Christian doctrine suited to the church at Geneva. … The Confession of Faith which all the citizens and inhabitants of Geneva and the subjects of the country must promise to keep and hold (The Library of Christian Classics; Volume XXII; Calvin Theological Treatises; Translated with Introductions and Notes by the Rev. J. K. S. Reid; The Westminster Press: 1954. pp. 26-33, emphasis added).
And what was the consequence for those who would not submit to the "holy (sic) doctrine which no man might speak against" of Calvin’s Protestant “Papacy”?
Whoever shall now contend that it is unjust to put heretics and blasphemers to death will knowingly and willingly incur their very guilt. This is not laid down on human authority; it is God who speaks and prescribes a perpetual rule for his Church (John Calvin, as cited in: Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity, The Swiss Reformation).
Servetus, a physician condemned to death by the papists, fled to Geneva for refuge. Thought he had criticized Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion through prolonged correspondence with the author, he apparently trusted Calvin’s honor if not his “Christian” affirmation. Their differences predominated in regard to two theological principles: Servetus correctly challenged the absurdity of Calvin’s doctrine of infant baptism. And Calvin was incensed by Servetus’ rejection of the doctrine of the Trinity determined by the Catholic Council of Nicaea. So incensed, he confided to a friend: "si venerit, modo valeat mea autoritas, vivum exire nunquam patiar" (If he [Servetus] comes here, if my authority is worth anything, I will never permit him to depart alive). And opportunity presented its self. While preaching, Calvin recognized Servetus among those of his congregation and as “worship” concluded, he had his nemesis arrested.
At eleven o’clock on the 27th of October, Servetus was led from the prison to the gates of the City Hall, to hear the sentence read from the balcony by the Lord Syndic Darlod. When he heard the last words, he fell on his knees and exclaimed: ‘The sword! in mercy! and not fire! Or I may lose my soul in despair.’ He protested that if he had sinned, it was through ignorance. Farel raised him up and said: ‘Confess thy crime, and God will have mercy on your soul.’ Servetus replied: ‘I am not guilty; I have not merited death.’ Then he smote his breast, invoked God for pardon, confessed Christ as his Saviour, and besought God to pardon his accusers. On the short journey to the place of execution, Farel again attempted to obtain a confession, but Servetus was silent. He showed the courage and consistency of a martyr in these last awful moments. Champel is a little hill south of Geneva with a fine view on one of the loveliest paradises of nature. There was prepared a funeral pile hidden in part by the autumnal leaves of the oak trees. The Lord Lieutenant and the herald on horseback, both arrayed in the insignia of their office, arrive with the doomed man and the old pastor, followed by a small procession of spectators. Farel invites Servetus to solicit the prayers of the people and to unite his prayers with theirs. Servetus obeys in silence. The executioner fastens him by iron chains to the stake amidst the fagots, puts a crown of leaves covered with sulphur on his head, and binds his book by his side. The sight of the flaming torch extorts from him a piercing shriek of ‘misericordias’ in his native tongue. The spectators fall back with a shudder. The flames soon reach him and consume his mortal frame in the forty-fourth year of his fitful life. In the last moment he is heard to pray, in smoke and agony, with a loud voice: ‘Jesus Christ, thou Son of the eternal God, have mercy upon me!’ … The tragedy ended when the clock of St. Peter’s struck twelve (Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, Volume VIII: Modern Christianity, The Swiss Reformation).
Perhaps the most disconcerting part of this affair was Calvin’s apparent lack of remorse:
Many people have accused me of such ferocious cruelty that (they allege) I would like to kill again the man I have destroyed. Not only am I indifferent to their comments, but I rejoice in the fact that they spit in my face (John Calvin, Against the Errors of Servetus, Daniel-Rops, 46:191).
However questionable the doctrine contained in the book bound by his side, that was so soon reduced to ashes, Servetus strove to evangelize those who received the admonition: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD” (Deut 6:4).
http://scriptural-sovereignty......s-god.html
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 2:54PM
Praise God!!!!
It is with good reason that I utterly reject the doctrines of Catholicism~ and I had not known what Calvin believed either, for it is also with good reason that I accept only the teachings taught by God through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and His Apostles, as written in His Holy Word.
The modern day Papal Inquisition continues in spirit to this very day~ and as it is written in the New Testament~ we will again be delivered up again by those who reject His Holy Word~
"Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for My Name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved." Mt. 10:21 & 22.
Paul Windels| 7.2.11 @ 9:18AM
Thanks for a very informative piece. You might also mention Roger Sherman's two famous collateral descendants: Senator John Sherman of the Sherman Antitrust Act and General William T. Sherman.
C Smith| 7.2.11 @ 2:25PM
As we celebrate again our Founding Fathers pseudo spiritual insurrection, we would do well to reflect upon the reality of war:
Charles Spurgeon in his Treasury of David, expounding upon the carnage of Endor (Psalm 83) includes this explanatory note:
Verse 10. "... Who became as dung for the earth." In the year 1830, it is estimated that more than a million bushels of "human and inhuman bones" were imported from the continent of Europe into the port of Hull. The neighbourhood of Leipsic, Austerlitz, Waterloo, etc., where the principal battles were fought some fifteen or twenty years before, were swept alike of the bones of the hero, and the horse which he rode. Thus collected from every quarter, they were shipped to Hull, and thence forwarded to the Yorkshire bone grinders, who, by steam engines and powerful machinery, reduced them to a granulary state. In this condition they were sent chiefly to Doncaster, one of the largest agricultural markets of the country, and were there sold to the farmers to manure their lands. The oily substance gradually evolving as the bone calcines, makes better manure than almost any other substance—particularly human bones. K. Arvine.
"But the Day is coming when "... all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever...." (Isaiah 9:5-7).
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 2:55PM
Oops, meant C. Smith.
Margie| 7.2.11 @ 2:43PM
Say, David C,~ you wouldn't happen to be the guy I sold my set of Spurgeon's Treasury of David to on ebay, would you? :^).
I don't understand though, what you meant when you said, "Founding Father's pseudo spiritual insurrection. (I'm not an intellectual type). But would like to know what you meant if you see fit to want to explain it.
As to the rest of your post I say Amen!
"Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen." Eph. 3:20 & 21.
POST American| 7.4.11 @ 6:41AM
---ALL this on the 2nd of July ----the ever 'overlooked'
and unmentioned anniversary of NON-capstone
member, virulent Bankster opponent James Gerfield's
---ASSASINATION...
TheRightIsAnythingBut| 7.6.11 @ 2:56PM
Thank you. A tour de force on two amazing Americans. My understanding and appreciation is greatly increased.
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