The Counsel of the Founders

Welcome to my blog, "The British Are Coming, Y'all!" The week of 29 June – 5 July, I'm participating with more than two hundred other bloggers in the "Freedom to Read" giveaway hop, accessed by clicking on the logo at the left. All blogs listed in this hop offer book-related giveaways, and we're all linked, so you can easily hop from one giveaway to another. But here on my blog, I'm posting a week of Relevant History essays, each one focused on some facet of the American War of Independence. To find out how to qualify for the giveaways on my blog, read through each day's Relevant History post below and follow the directions. Then click on the Freedom Hop logo so you can move along to another blog. Enjoy!

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Earlier this year, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Diamond Jubilee. Much has been made of a poll finding that, among Americans, the queen had a 61% approval rating while President Obama's approval rating was a mere 45%. Some Americans declared, "Yes! Let's return to the fold!" Brits quipped, "We welcome you, as long as you pay that back tax on tea first!"

Those findings don't mean that most Americans are ready to chuck it all and leap into the lap of monarchy. The poll compares an elected official with a non-elected official. So it's an "apples and oranges" comparison.

However Americans are undeniably fascinated with Britain. Helped along by Hollywood and American mythology, Britain represents an icon of both urbanity and villainy. Many Americans with ancestors from the British Isles succumb to the genetic pull and vacation in the UK. And let's face it, the Brits do pageantry 24/7 to the heights that Americans, caught up in Calvinistic roots, cannot begin to approach—although certain annual events such as the Kentucky Derby come close.

The year 2012 is an election year in America. A good many "issues" are on the table. People are disgruntled. Beneath everyone's vitriolic exchanges over the issues, the suspicion skulks for many Americans that the country is tromping through a tangled, endless forest. That it stepped off a path defined by founders more than two hundred years ago. And that squabbling over issues is not what the founders envisioned for the future of America.

It so happens that the country's founders addressed a number of these hot issues in their speeches and writings. Read the counsel of America's founders:

"Experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor." (Thomas Jefferson)

"I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on Geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party, generally." (George Washington)

"The essence of a free government consists in an effectual control of rivalries." (John Adams)

"If we mean to have Heroes, Statesmen and Philosophers, we should have learned women." (Abigail Adams)

"Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war." (John Adams)

"Each generation should be made to bear the burden of its own wars, instead of carrying them on, at the expense of other generations." (James Madison)

"I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious." (Thomas Jefferson)

"And I have no doubt that every new example will succeed, as every past one has done, in showing that religion and Government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together." (James Madison)

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." (Thomas Jefferson)

Did any of that resonate with you? Do American people know that the country's founders said these things? Do you get the feeling that America would be better off if citizens actually took the counsel of the founders?

This week, my guests have covered territory that was probably omitted from your high school history class. Omitted details often point to lessons we should be learning about human nature, religion, government, and society. In other words, they're what makes history relevant.

We aren't learning from history very well. Why does this matter? Because every time we don't learn a lesson, we risk making a costly mistake. Ask yourself what can be done about it. (And the answer isn't leaping into the lap of monarchy.)

This second annual week-long Fourth of July wouldn't have been possible without you or my talented guests: Don Troiani, Peggy Earp, Don Hagist, Christine Blevins, and John Buchanan. What worlds can they open for you? Browse back through the posts. Look for their works. Then comment here on something you learned at "The British Are Coming, Y'all!" this week that made history relevant to you. Thanks for stopping by!

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Contribute a legitimate comment on this post by today at 6 p.m. ET to be entered in a drawing to win one of two autographed copies of Regulated for Murder. Delivery is available worldwide. Make sure you include your email address. I'll publish the names of all drawing winners on my blog the week of 9 July.

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Comments

[Tracy Smith]

Thanks to you and your guests, Suzanne, for this week's series of thought-provoking posts. It was a great success and I look forward to next year's lineup.

In parting, I am reminded of the old familiar quote -- "Those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it" -- the mistakes, at least.

[Linda]

This post resonates deeply, as have all the posts this week (Huzzah to you and your guests for keeping history relevant). Thanks to all of you!

We have definitely lost sight of the vision of the Founding Mothers and Fathers of this land--even the landed gentry who saw they had a long way to go regarding slavery and the rights of women acknowledged that the more privileged a person was, the more responsibility they had to serve their country in whatever way was necessary for the good of the nation.

I watched the Naturalization ceremony at the White House yesterday and was moved by the wording of the oath any naturalized citizen takes. I wonder how many of us "born in the USA" citizens have ever read it, much less tried to follow it??

Thank you again for a wonderful week (I follow you the rest of the year as well, of course, but too often only lurk--I must apologize for that and attempt to do better).

[Suzanne Adair]

Hi Tracy! I hope your Fourth of July went well. Thank you for participating all this week. I'm glad you got so much out of the second annual Week-Long Fourth of July.

That particular quote has been attributed to several people. Otherwise I'd have used it in one of my posts this week. :-)

Nevertheless, the sentiment imparts a great warning, and you're so right to highlight it. For the most part, Americans dismiss history in public schools; in some areas it's becoming an elective, rather than a requirement.

We cannot plot where we're going unless we know where we've been. What we're seeing right now in terms of "issues" is a result in part of not reviewing where we've been.

History is relevant to the future, indeed.

[Suzanne Adair]

Linda, thanks for hanging in there all week and commenting so much!

There are several versions of the Oath, but I think the standard one runs as follows:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perfor m noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.

I hope everyone who's read this blog this week takes a look at that and thinks about it. I appreciate your mentioning it!

[Warren Bull]

What a wonderful week of blogs. You could quote the country's founders on the corrosive effect slavery would prove to have. From the earliest times they knew it would have to be ended. I already have your book and it's great so please don't include me in the drawing.

[Suzanne Adair]

Warren, yes, I saw those quotes and was tempted to post them. Right after the Revolution, Congress voted on abolishing slavery. Didn't it lose by one vote? There's another idea for an alternate history story.

[Eric Oppen]

Many people are honestly shocked (blame the Second Great Awakening and nineteenth-century historians) to find out how indifferent to religion many of the Founders, including Washington, were. If they were alive and saw how much piety is expected of candidates, Washington and friends would be deeply shocked.

[Suzanne Adair]

Welcome to my blog, Eric! I agree that America's founders would be taken aback at the amount of religion infusing the political landscape now. But rather than being indifferent to religion in their time, I suggest that they were cautious of involving religion, cognizant of how European powers had achieved atrocities with it.

[Georgia Wilson]

Thanks for adding on the Naturalizati0on Oath mentioned by Linda.I had never read it. I am researching a story set in the 8th century and learned for the first time of the Zoroastrian scriptures of the Sasanian Empire when Arabs brought the rule of Islam into Iran. I recently finished Elizabeth,the Golden Age with the bitter debate between Catholics and Protestants. Religious views play a signiicant role in world history, and I don't think our Founders were indifferent to them.I do agree they wanted to avoid volatile conditions permitting one religion to control government.IMHO
georgiaruthwilson@gmail.com

[Denise Z]

I think that Thomas Jefferson's comment "I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious." (Thomas Jefferson) is pretty eyeopening considering this very same argument is being made today. Makes me wonder if we will ever learn from the past. Thank you for participating in this fun hop.
dz59001[at]gmail[dot]com

[Suzanne Adair]

Georgia, indeed, you don't have to look very far to find a situation from the past or the present in which a religion and a government are enmeshed, then take note of the results.

[Suzanne Adair]

Hi Denise, I love Jefferson's use of the word "parasite" in that sentence. It's so right. The man was brilliant.

[Marilyn E. Rothstein aka: M. E. kemp]

I was at the Saratoga Battlefield on the 4th of July where a group of people were made citizens. After musket and cannon demonstrations we toasted the 13 colonies. This is an annual tradition with us.

[Suzanne Adair]

That sounds like a stirring ceremony, Marilyn. Thanks for sharing.