The tyranny that preceded our United States Constitution: Do you know the history that caused our Founding Fathers to risk everything—literally everything on our continent, including their own immediate and their own families’ lives—to establish our government of Liberty? First, the definition of Liberty: ~the freedom to think or behave in the way that you want and not be controlled by a king or a government or by other people. It connotes particularly to the rights to act and speak and travel freely. The word comes to our day and age up through Old French, from a Latin word that meant free, as in freedom. The back-story behind our Constitution really begins way back when all nations were ruled by kings. Not quite a thousand years ago, when a strong soldier who had made a name for himself as a successful conqueror with a very strong army invaded England and took the throne by force to become its king. His name was William of Normandy, also known as William the Conqueror. He was the first King William. The king who he overthrew had England running well and with fair laws that were upheld and enforced. (Actually, England was running well mostly due to the last king before the overthrown one, but it was running well when the overthrow happened.) But the new King William the Conqueror was a selfish asshole. He charged oppressively high taxes. He and his judges ignored laws against making legal decisions in favor of friends and people with power. And he brazenly took land from people by force to give it to his foreign friends. When King William the Conqueror’s life was coming to an end, his son, the next-in-line-king-to-be, William the second, was killed in a “hunting accident.” (Most historians suspect the “accident” was caused not by the brother, but by people in the know who wanted to assure that William II would not become King.) Nonetheless, because of that “hunting accident,” the son who then became king was therefore disrespected by the people. So he, as new King—King Henry the first—wrote up a promise to his people that he would not be the sort of selfish asshole that his father and brother were. He actually wrote, “I shall end all the oppressive practices which have been an evil presence in England.” A few of his written specifics were that there would be no more taking land; there would be no more inheritance tax; there would be more power to women, particularly widows; that rich, powerful people would no longer be able to buy their way out of broken laws, but would be held as accountable as common folk; and that forests would be maintained—meaning common folk could hunt in the kingdom’s forests. Further, he promised with this writing that he was restoring the good laws of the good king who had been overthrown by his asshole, conquering father. No king had ever before written promises to the people. This was in the year 1100. As such this document of promises has become known as The 1100 Charter Of Liberties. Then about 100 years later, there was a new king who most say, even to this day, was the worst tyrannical asshole of all kings of England, ever. He was not just greedily selfish, he was evilly cruel. (King James.) He brazenly ignored the 1100 Charter of Liberties. Therefore, powerful men got together and wrote up a new document based on The 1100 Charter Of Liberties so as to give a voice to the people and to give them some power to enforce their liberties upon a tyrannical king. These powerful men wrote The Magna Carta of 1215. The people had to revolt to establish The Magna Carta as law, but they did get the king to sign it. The people were learning that Liberty had to be fought for and defended to keep it. (It was subsequently fought for by the people again and again and again; but Liberty was always won back to some degree or another again and again and again.) Next, about 400 years later, a new asshole king named Charles became tyrannical. He took land and taxes and even skipped trials to throw people in jail as he so decided. When he started taking hungry peoples guns, the people rose up in revolution. In the end he was legally tried and executed for high treason. Then, toward the end of the 1600s, yet another king became tyrannical. The people rose up again, this time swiftly and with little bloodshed. (This king, King James II, actually ran away.) They then demanded their rights be upheld from here on out by writing up The Bill Of Rights of 1689. The people had learned that not only the king could declare law, but also they the people could declare law. One of the rights written in it was the beginning of the declaration of the freedom of speech. The people demanded the right to petition the king without fear of retribution. Bottom line; it establishes that the people have their own power in their government. These ideas as written in the English Bill Of Rights were based upon the recent writings of the very popular English philosopher and physician, John Lock. John Lock understood well the history above. Our Founding Fathers also understood well the history above. Our U.S. Declaration of Independence is almost directly from the writings of John Locke. Here is a funny three minute video on John Locke: https://youtube/watch?v=X-buzVjYQvY
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 21:25:56 +0000
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