Freedom is expensive. Celebrating it is too! Regardless of how you celebrate this Independence Day, however, have a good time and remember the true cost at which this independence comes. Artwork by Margaret Lucas. The foundation of authority is laid in the free consent of the people,.
They who have power to appoint officers and magistrates have the right also to set the bounds and limitations of the power and place unto which they call them. Within a short space of time he and his people were living under a written constitution in the Colony of Connecticut, said to be the first which established a complete form of government, and the seed of the American Republic was sown, of which the but partial harvest has been so prolific of human welfare.
Another clergyman of like mind was John Wise, of Ipswich, who had been imprisoned for protesting against the despotic rule of Andros. By a coincidence, not to be wondered at, another clergyman of Ipswich, Manasseh Cutler, was the author of the Ordinance of , which organized the Northwest Territory and excluded from it the institution of human slavery.
It would be difficult to cite action of more far-reaching consequences, more productive of human welfare. These are some of the prominent examples of the direct influence of religion and religious teachers on the establishment of the American Republic. In this accomplishment they did not act alone, nor were they unsupported by their people. Rather, they were representative of prevailing ideals, to which they gave form and expression.
They spoke the word that was in the hearts of their countrymen. From their beliefs there flowed naturally and inevitably those principles and those actions which gave us our form of government and raised this nation to the high position it holds in the world. They believed in the divine origin of mankind. They saw in him the image of his Creator.
Out of the mists of doubt and uncertainty there had come to them a revelation of his dignity and glory. Through a common Fatherhood they perceived a common brotherhood. From this conception there resulted the recognition that freedom was a birthright. Each is possessed of the divine power to know the truth.
It is in accordance with these standards that the American people adopted their Constitution and set up their government. In the possession, maintenance, and enjoyment of these rights the individual has the guarantees of public law. Freedom is secured by every means that legislative ingenuity can provide. There are no class distinctions. The government deals with its citizens on the basis of equality.
The high estate of mankind is not disregarded. The government and society provide ever-increasing facilities for education, better living conditions, and around the weak there is thrown the protection of humanitarian legislation. The power to legislate is executed through representative bodies, the greatest safeguards of liberty, chosen directly by the people. The administration of justice has been intrusted to courts as free, impartial, and independent as it is possible for human nature to devise.
The ultimate decision of all questions of law and justice rests with the people themselves. They have the complete authority to enlarge or diminish, to support or to overthrow.
The government is their government, the laws are their laws, the decisions of the courts are their decisions. All speak with their voice. They are in the possession of complete sovereignty.
Along with the solemn assurance of freedom and equality goes the guarantee of the right of the individual to possess, enjoy, and control the dollar which he earns, and the principle that it shall not be taken away without due process of law. This necessarily goes with any theory of independence or of liberty, which would be only a mockery unless it secured to the individual the rewards of his own effort and industry.
These are the ideals which supply the foundation of American institutions. It would be idle to claim that they are always perfectly carried into effect. Before action can be perfect, knowledge must be perfect, and that state has by no means been reached; but it is easy to see what a change in these standards would imply. If we are not to proceed on the assumption of the innate nobility of mankind, then there must be an assignment of some lower estate.
If freedom and equality are not to be maintained, then there must be servitude and class distinction. If all the people are not to be permitted to rule, then there must be a rule of a part of the people. If there is not to be self-government, there must be some form of despotic government. If the individual is not to have the dollar which he himself earns, then he must be forced to hand it over to some one who has not earned it.
Those who advocate a change in our standards, a change in our ideals, a change in our institutions, a change in our theory of government, can only proceed in this direction.
No other course is open to them. The general results of our institutions would appear to be so obvious as to need little defense. If by the increase of civilization we mean the strength and welfare of organized society, the protection and security of the individual, the growth of self-government, the general diffusion of knowledge, a wide distribution of property, the effective direction of productive industry, and the advance of science and invention, there can be no hesitation in declaring that under the system which America represents there has been a most gratifying progress.
This is not to say that in the days of old there were not intellects as keen, nor the perception of truths as profound as any which characterize the modern mind, but no one can deny that at present there is far greater intelligence and a much wider scope of knowledge. It cannot be disputed that at times the old barbarities break out, and there blazes up the ancient ferocity of the cave and the forest, but these are no longer matters of indifference.
Generally they meet with retribution, always with condemnation. The humanity of a common brotherhood asserts itself in the relief of the oppressed and the rescue of the imperilled. There is not wanting criticism of the character of society and the effectiveness of our laws because the general community has not reached a golden age of indolence and profusion. They were compelled to count the cost of freedom , — to say what they would give in exchange for it ; they bought it with exile and sorrow ; they afterwards redeemed it with blood ; and they never repented their choice, for they set its value so high, that they determined within themselves that it was better to sleep under the Sign up to join this community.
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