#declaration of independence

[okimightbecrazy]

I couldn't resist

#you know i had to #national treasure #nicolas cage #declaration of independence #barbie movie #barbie selfie generator

[reality-detective]

Do you get it now?

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think for yourselves #think about it #think for yourself #ask yourself questions #question everything #do your homework #declaration of independence #understand

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

By Josh Marshall

I want to return to this revelatory interview with coconspirator John Eastman, the last portion of which was published Thursday by Tom Klingenstein, the Chairman of the Trumpite Claremont Institute and then highlighted by our Josh Kovensky. There’s a lot of atmospherics in this interview, a lot of bookshelf-lined tweedy gentility mixed with complaints about OSHA regulations and Drag Queen story hours. But the central bit comes just over half way through the interview when Eastman gets into the core justification and purpose for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election and overthrow the constitutional order itself. He invokes the Declaration of Independence and says quite clearly that yes, we were trying to overthrow the government and argues that they were justified because of the sheer existential threat America was under because of the election of Joe Biden.

Jan 6th conspirators have spent more than two years claiming either that nothing really happened at all in the weeks leading up to January 6th or that it was just a peaceful protest that got a bit out of hand or that they were just making a good faith effort to follow the legal process. Eastman cuts through all of this and makes clear they were trying to overthrow (“abolish”) the government; they were justified in doing so; and the warrant for their actions is none other than the Declaration of Independence itself.

“Our Founders lay this case out,” says Eastman. “There’s actually a provision in the Declaration of Independence that a people will suffer abuses while they remain sufferable, tolerable while they remain tolerable. At some point abuses become so intolerable that it becomes not only their right but their duty to alter or abolish the existing government.”

“So that’s the question,” he tells Klingenstein. “Have the abuses or the threat of abuses become so intolerable that we have to be willing to push back?”

The answer for Eastman is clearly yes and that’s his justification for his and his associates extraordinary actions.

Let’s dig in for a moment to what this means because it’s a framework of thought or discourse that was central to many controversies in the first decades of the American Republic. The Declaration of Independence has no legal force under American law. It’s not a legal document. It’s a public explanation of a political decision: to break the colonies’ allegiance to Great Britain and form a new country. But it contains a number of claims and principles that became and remain central to American political life.

The one Eastman invokes here is the right to overthrow governments. The claim is that governments have no legitimacy or authority beyond their ability to serve the governed. Governments shouldn’t be overthrown over minor or transitory concerns. But when they become truly oppressive people have a right to get rid of them and start over. This may seem commonsensical to us. But that’s because we live a couple centuries downstream of these events and ideas. Governments at least in theory are justified by how they serve their populations rather than countries being essentially owned by the kings or nobilities which rule them.

But this is a highly protean idea. Who gets to decide? Indeed this question came up again and again over the next century each time the young republic faced a major political crisis, whether it was in the late 1790s, toward the end of the War of 1812, in 1832-33 or finally during the American Civil War. If one side didn’t get its way and wanted out what better authority to cite than the Declaration of Independence? There is an obvious difference but American political leaders needed a language to describe it. What they came up with is straightforward. It’s the difference between a constitutional or legal right and a revolutionary one. Abraham Lincoln was doing no more than stating a commonplace when he said this on the eve of the Civil War in his first inaugural address (emphasis added): “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.”

In other words, yes, you have a revolutionary right to overthrow the government if you really think its abuses have gotten that intractable and grave. But the government has an equal right to stop you, to defend itself or, as we see today, put you on trial if you fail. The American revolutionaries of 1776 knew full well that they were committing treason against the British monarchy. If they lost they would all hang. They accepted that. They didn’t claim that George III had no choice but to let them go.

From the beginning the Trump/Eastman coup plotters have tried to wrap their efforts in legal processes and procedures. It was their dissimulating shield to hide the reality of their coup plot and if needed give them legal immunity from the consequences. The leaders of the secession movement tried the same thing in 1861.

In a way I admire Eastman for coming clean. I don’t know whether he sees the writing on the wall and figures he might as well lay his argument out there or whether his grad school political theory pretensions and pride got the better of him and led him to state openly this indefensible truth. Either way he’s done it and not in any way that’s retrievable as a slip of the tongue. They knew it was a coup and they justified it to themselves in those terms. He just told us. They believed they were justified in trying to overthrow the government, whether because of OSHA chair size regulations or drag queens or, more broadly, because the common herd of us don’t understand the country’s “founding principles” the way Eastman and his weirdo clique do. But they did it. He just admitted it. And now they’re going to face the consequences.

#us politics #news #talking points memo #2023 #op eds #Tom Klingenstein #Claremont Institute #john eastman #Josh Kovensky #Josh Marshall #jan 6 investigation #jan 6 insurrection #domestic terrorism #treason #traitors #donald trump #capitol riot investigation #Declaration of Independence

[areacode868]

#trini girls #trinigirls #areacode868 #madeintrinidad #trinidad and tobago #declaration of independence #independence day TnT #trini #trinidad #trinidadian

[yuhlobster]

Real.

#hughes brothers #quinn hughes #nhl hockey #jack hughes #nhl players #nhl #luke hughes #declaration of independence #vancouver canucks #canucks hockey #nicolas cage #hockey #ice hockey #nj devils #elias pettersson

[beardedmrbean]

#fourth of july #independence day #declaration of independence #july fourth #july 4

[todaysdocument]

Happy Independence Day! 

Record Group 360: Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention

Series: Miscellaneous Papers of the Continental Congress

Transcription: 

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.____________ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.__ That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security. __Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. _________ He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good._______ He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.________ He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only._______ He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. _______He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.______ He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. _____He has endeavored to prevent the Population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. ______He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.________ He has made judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the Amount and Payment of their salaries. ________ He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. ____He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislature._____ He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. _______He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:__For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:__For protecting them, by mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:__For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:__For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:__For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:__ For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses:___ For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these Colonies:___ For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:____For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.__ He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us._____He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.____He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.____He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.____He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions, We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends._____

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and declare, that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which the Independent States may of right do. ___ And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Button Gwinnett Wm Hooper John Hancock Rob Morris Wm Floyd Josiah Bartlett

Lyman Hall Joseph Hewes Samuel Chase Benjamin Rush Philip Livingston Wm Whipple

Geo Walton John Penn Wm Paca Benj Franklin Fran Lewis Sam Adams

Tho Stone John Morton Lewis Morris John Adams

Edward Rutledge Charles Carrol of Carrollton Geo Clymer Rob Treat Paine

Ja. Smith Elbridge Gerry

Geo Taylor Step. Hopkins

Tho Heyward Jnr James Wilson Rich Stockton William Ellery

Thomas Lynch Jnr George Wythe Gro. Ross Jn Witherspoon Roger Sherman

Richard Henry Lee

Arthur Middleton Th Jefferson Ceasar Rodney Fra. Hopkinson Sam Huntington

Benj Harrison Geo Read John Hart Wm Williams

Th Nelson jr. Tho M Kean Abra Clark Oliver Wolcott

Francis Lightfoot Lee Matthew Thornton

Carter Braxton

#archivesgov #July 4 #1776 #1700s #Independence Day #Fourth of July #Declaration of Independence #American Revolution

[misscromwellsmonocle]

Behind the Myth of Benevolence (2014) by Titus Kaphar

“Titus Kaphar Behind the Myth of Benevolence exposes, complicates and disrupts the notion, narrative and positionality of the so-called ‘benevolent’ founding father, Thomas Jefferson, our third president and author of the Declaration of Independence which articulated ‘all men are created equal with an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ who owned more than 600 human beings.

The ‘curtain’ is simultaneously revealing and concealing Sally Hemings, a Black woman he owned whose six children he fathered, portrayed in a more stark and dark representation than other images of her." (source)

#contemporary art #painting #Titus Kaphar #Behind the myth of benevolence #2014 #Thomas Jefferson #Declaration of Independence #Sally Hemings #Miss Cromwell #2010s

[anastasiamaru]

Independence

Yesterday Ukraine celebrated Independence Day

On August 24, 1991, Ukraine declared its independence. It can't be said that this independence came easily to us. For centuries, we fought for independence. And now, we are also fighting for freedom. Our people are strong and determined not to give up. I believe that we will prevail in this struggle.

Thank you to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for protecting our lives and Freedom

#ukraine #war in ukraine #war for independence #independence day #declaration of independence #independence #ukrainians #ukrainians on tumblr #ukrainian armed forces #love ukraine #war #war for freedom #spirit of freedom #fight for freedom #freedom #freedom for ukraine #stand with ukraine #stand together #pray for ukraine #pray for ukrainians #pray for ukrainian soldiers #glory to ukraine #glory to the heroes #slava ukraini #героям слава #незалежність #свобода #Україна #українці #українцівтамблері

[digitalyarbs]

The Real Face of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s reconstructed life mask. The mask was cast of his head and upper torso by John Henri Issac Browere in 1825. yarbs.net

#thomas jefferson #amrev #american history #president #presidents #american presidents #revolutionary #declaration of independence #history #monticello

[maribwil]

Constitutionbros care SO much about “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” until the pursuit of happiness involves drawings of wolf women with massive hips. What the hell. Sad to see such hypocrisy in this country today.

#196 #r/196 #r196 #rule #furry #declaration of independence #constitution #liberal hypocrisy

[onewhoturns]

#Tumblr poll #poll #look it’s a thing at work okay #escape room stuff #my job #do i tag it or not tag it hmmmm #fuckitweball #national treasure #declaration of independence #oh who knows what will happen with those tags

[waffle-bakerie]

Forever the nation of

the DreamSMP have

cast great sins upon

our great land of the

hto dog van.

They have robbed us.

Imprisoned us.

Threatened us. Killed

many of our men.

This time of tyranny

ends with us

This book declares

that the nation which

shall be henceforth

known as L'Manberg is

seperate, emancipated

and independant from

the nation of

DreamSMP.

The union of the

masters of men.

Together we are one.

When in the course of

human events it

becomes necessary

for one to dissolve

the bonds which bind

us. Disregarding of

this truth is nothing

short of tyranny.

TO BE SELF EVIDENT.

THAT ALL MEN ARE

CREATED EQUAL

The right of the

people exists above

the right of the king.

The right of the

government and the

right of the economy.

From the hto dog van

we shall prevail.

Life. Liberty. And the

pursuit of victory.

- Declaration of Independence By C!Wilbur

#l’manberg #wilbur soot #tommyinnit #dsmp #dsmp tubbo #dsmp ranboo #dsmp eret #dream smp #declaration of independence #c!wilbur #dsmp wilbur #dsmp lore #l’manburg #lmanburg #bedrock duo #tntduo #dsmp tommy #hot dog #disc duo

[fetchmearum420]

Why does it feel weird when he says Damn

#1776 musical #1776 film #david ford #john hancock #mood #declaration of independence

[taraross-1787]

This Month in History: Thomas Heyward, Signer of the Declaration

At about this time in 1809, a signer of the Declaration of Independence passes away. The patriotic song “God Save our Thirteen States” is sometimes attributed to Thomas Heyward, Jr.

If he did write it, then he penned the words as he sat in a British prison.

Heyward was born into a prosperous planting family. They grew rice! Not exactly what you would expect at that date and in that location? Heyward’s family was able to afford a good education for him, so he eventually traveled to England to complete his legal education.

Ironically, his time abroad ended up contributing to his support of the Patriot cause.

The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-thomas-heyward-signer

#tdih #history #history blog #declaration of independence #America #usa #freedom #sharethehistory

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Our republican robe is soiled, and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it. Let us turn and wash it white, in the spirit, if not the blood, of the Revolution. Let us turn slavery from its claims of ‘moral right,’ back upon its existing legal rights, and its arguments of ‘necessity.’ Let us return it to the position our fathers gave it; and there let it rest in peace. Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. Let north and south—let all Americans—let all lovers of liberty everywhere—join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union; but we shall have so saved it, as to make, and to keep it, forever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it, that the succeeding millions of free happy people, the world over, shall rise up, and call us blessed, to the latest generations.

—Abraham Lincoln, Speech delivered in Peoria, IL, Oct. 16, 1854

[Robert Scott Horton]

#Abraham Lincoln #speeches #quotes #slavery #created equal #Declaration of Independence