Thomas Jefferson’s Other Declaration

[CuteOldGuy]

Interesting article:

Most Americans know that Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of “The Declaration of Independence”, the most important of all our founding documents.

Yet few of them have even heard of another document that I would say might be the second most important declaration he ever wrote: The Kentucky Resolutions of 1798. He drafted them secretly while he was serving as vice president. It was written in response to the hated Alien and Sedition Acts which were passed under the Adams administration during an undeclared war with France.

The acts authorized the president to deport any resident alien considered dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States, to apprehend and deport resident aliens if their home countries were at war with the United States, and criminalized any speech which might defame Congress, the President, or bring either of them into contempt or disrepute. You could compare it to the Patriot Act, but really it was much worse. Either way, The Alien and Sedition Acts were probably Thomas Jefferson’s worst nightmare.

Some people are surprised to learn that in response to these acts, Jefferson did not hold up the First Amendment in protest. Rather he invoked the Tenth Amendment, which states that:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Essentially, he argued that by passing and enforcing the Alien and Sedition Acts, the federal government had over stepped its bounds and was exercising powers which belonged to the states.

In other words, the Alien and Sedition Acts were acts of usurpation.

James Madison corresponded with Jefferson about these issues, (they suspected that their mail was being secretly opened and read by the way). As a result of their correspondence, James Madison penned another series of resolutions against the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were passed by the Virginia legislature in 1798 and 1799.

As important as these resolutions were in objecting to the unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts, their lasting importance was due to the the fact that they were strong statements in defense of federalism, the sovereignty of the people of the several states, and the authority of state governments to check or resist the tyrannical proclivities of the federal government.

Jefferson began the Kentucky Resolutions by explaining the exact nature of the relationship between the new federal, or general government and the states that predated it:

“Resolved, That the several States composing, the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their general government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government for special purposes — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force: that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral part, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.”

These resolutions, authored by Jefferson and Madison, and passed by the Kentucky and Virginia Legislatures, came to be known as the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, or Resolves, of 1798. The ideas they expressed were later referred to as “The Principles of ’98″.

Over time, “The Principles of ’98″ would be invoked by many states, for a variety of issues. States invoked them to oppose everything from unconstitutional embargoes in 1807-1809, to the misuse of their militias during The War of 1812, the Second Bank of the United States in 1825, and the Fugitive Slave Acts of 1850.

Even today, The Principles of ’98 have been rediscovered and are being used by both Republicans and Democrats to address unconstitutional federal laws such as federal firearms regulations, Cap and Trade, REAL ID, Obamacare and Congressional “commerce clause” abuse in general.

The Principles of ’98, as expressed in Thomas Jefferson’s other declaration, The Kentucky Resolutions, are non-partisan in nature and are just as relevant today as they were in 1798.

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Hmmm . . . What WOULD the Founders think of what we have done to their country?

http://www.nullifynow.com/2013/06/th...r-declaration/

[Seedy]

What would they think now? They would say we are a bunch of stupid fucking idiots, that have given our country away to corrupt politicians, beaurocrats, and corporate thieves. We keep electing people that do not have the peoples best interest at heart, and are taking our freedoms away at an alarming rate.

[JD Barleycorn]

Benjamin Franklin saw it coming as did Jefferson.

[Yssup Rider]

You guys were born 200 years too late.

[cptjohnstone]

Originally Posted by Yssup Rider

You guys were born 200 years too late.

yea, we would make sure you were never born

[Yssup Rider]

Excellent point, Muskogee.

Keep up the intellectual discussion ... Oops. I spoze that there is funny, I don't care who yew R!

[Seeker]

Why the red fonts?

[JD Barleycorn]

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 to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government,..

These words, written a two hundred and thirty-seven years ago, are the heart of the Declaration of Independence. A government by consent. We have forgotten that and the idiots in Washington hope we never remember. The second part is the remedy; change or abolish a corrupt government.

[Randy4Candy]

Abolish it and replace it with what? Dummies and fools like you, gritsboy, IBSyndrome, East Texas Rig Hand, and the rest of you knee-jerk reactionary 20%? We already have a preview of what that would look like in the current House of Representatives where the rat wang Teawipe "patriots" worry more about restricting freedoms of women and minorities (if successful, will be expanded to everyone who doesn't toe their line) yet can't seem to focus on jobs and reforms to the financial system their supporters claim to be corrupt (you know, the "corporate thieves").

You people are all about bitching and moaning and totally useless when it comes to meaningful alternatives. You probably have more fun jacking off and prefer it to the company of our lovely ladies (or, more likely, your butt-boy bros).

[JD Barleycorn]

You tell some big lies Candy but then again I guess you believe them. So I guess a lie is in the eye of the beholder. What do you have against people who where tri corner hats Candy? Something happen in your childhood that makes you ashamed and fearful? You were molested by a MInuteman?


As for the one simple question; what would we replace our current government with? Considering all the changes in society, culture, and sensitivities we would go back to the spirit of the founders. A small goverment dealing with only the few problems on the national level. The states would make most of the laws in accordance with the wishes of the citizens of the state. Taxes would be lower because we would stop subsidizing unions, companies, and enemy foriegn powers. The Senate and House would meet only six months out of the year except in a crisis declared the president and confirmed by a 2/3rds vote in both houses after they convene. The bureacracy would be slashed by 2/3rds. The EPA would be reduced to monitoring and recording only (enforcement would be left to Congress), the educations department would be gone (all of its functions returning the to states and parents), vast amounts of government owned land would be sold to the public by lottery, the federal reserve would be audited within an inch of it's life, subpoenas will handed out and prisons filled with corrupt officials, all federal employees would be removed from their pension programs and join us in Social Security, since we don't want to go through this again term limits will be imposed and it will be illegal to lobby for a period of time after leaving office.and this is just a start.