236 Years Ago Today!

[Killer]

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 bands 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 effect 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 shewn, that mankind are 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 mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations 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 harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
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 a 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 offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring 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 into 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, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & 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 endeavoured 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 Brittish 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 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 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.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

[Killer]

On July 4, remember: We are not French



Ann Coulter: On July 4, remember: We are not French

[Brian Carlton]

Another trolling post by Philip Fox, better known here as "Billybob".

How's the Cape this time of year, Phil?

[Killer]

US Servicemen read the Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence 2012 | Military.com

[Killer]

Netanyahu's 2011 4th of July Message to the US

PM Netanyahu's Message for July 4, 2012 US Independence Day - YouTube

[chilcutt]

Message to BillyBob..
Marine !! You have gone rogue...make sure all of your weapons are secured...check into the nearest V.A. for evaluation..contact your handelers to let them know you need a re-debriefing.....again...secure all of your weapons immediately....THATS AN ORDER!!!!

[Brian Carlton]

IBTL

[Botnst]

Golly, posting the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day. Definitely trollish behavior. Unlike stalking a contributing member, which makes perfect sense.

[Brian Carlton]

Originally Posted by Botnst

Golly, posting the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day. Definitely trollish behavior. .

I though I explained it to you on another thread.

You don't understand the definition of a "troll" so no further discussion is possible with you.

You can't recognize trolling behavior if it was put right in front of you.

[JB3]

Originally Posted by Killer

On July 4, remember: We are not French



Ann Coulter: On July 4, remember: We are not French

wow this woman is a piece of work.

Founding fathers had a bit more sense than to equate every single thing about the American revolution with Christianity, and downplay any other revolution as nonsense. What an idiot she is.

Yeah, the French revolution was bloodier, and what of it? the situations were not parallel, and to argue that its of course because everyone over here was an excellent Christian and therefore better, is insulting nonsense.
The difference is a nearly autonomous colonial entity rejecting excessive taxation and control of an imperial power, vs a revolution from the ground up against a sitting monarchy.
Im sure I don't have to remind anyone that the English army had to land on the shores of America in force to try and bring the colonies back into the fold.
Things would have been far bloodier and violent if King George was based in Philidelphia. You really think the continental congress would have been able to convene and write the declaration of independence with the monarchy right on top of them? It would have been harder, and bloodier, and more like the way the french revolution turned out.
We forget that at our peril, certainly Ann Coulter would like to draw conclusions based on things that don't compare.

Also just like her to forget the Marquis De Lafayette in her invective anti French nonsense. You remember, the Frenchman who of his own accord, traveled to the colonies, joined Washington's army, and built a professional army out of the continental militia capable of standing up to the English?

She also forgets our longstanding relationship with the French, what is her agenda with that piece? That we are better than them? What a cretin.

Certainly the French have proved their sensibility to our national ideal of freedom, we should have the grace to respect theirs on equal grounds.

Statue of Liberty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EDIT-
As a further comment, its exactly the mindset of "we are better than you" that Ann Coulter proposes, that would have dovetailed nicely with the viewpoints of the English Parliament of King Georges time. Shame on her for forgetting that.

[chasinthesun]

I think Ann Coulter is a career Troll with credentials to back it up,I dont really now how some people arrives at this kind of job as a traveling media troll but I imagine it starts at an early age as a high school rumor mill starter.

[dynalow]

Originally Posted by Botnst

Golly, posting the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day. Definitely trollish behavior. Unlike stalking a contributing member, which makes perfect sense.

BC, I'm half in with B on this.

In and of itself, posting the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day is hardly trolling. Would you agree? Is it the Ann Coulter link that becomes chum in the water? If so, why?
Were I to post a reply and include a picture of my front porch displaying the ensign, and the service flags of the branches the family served in, would I be guilty by association? How about if I posted a picture of the Culpeper Minutemen Flag, which also flys there on Independence Day?
Culpeper Minutemen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just wondering what lies at the heart of the issue here..the message or the messenger?

Whatever, hope everyone had a happy 4th. The moon rose over the ocean and the low clouds about 15 minutes before the barge off the beach started the display here. Here's two I took on the beach with the Bberry.

[JB3]

Originally Posted by dynalow

BC, I'm half in with B on this.

In and of itself, posting the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day is hardly trolling. Would you agree? Is it the Ann Coulter link that becomes chum in the water? If so, why?
Were I to post a reply and include a picture of my front porch displaying the ensign, and the service flags of the branches the family served in, would I be guilty by association? How about if I posted a picture of the Culpeper Minutemen Flag, which also flys there on Independence Day?
Culpeper Minutemen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just wondering what lies at the heart of the issue here..the message or the messenger?

Whatever, hope everyone had a happy 4th. The moon rose over the ocean and the low clouds about 15 minutes before the barge off the beach started the display here. Here's two I took on the beach with the Bberry.

Posting the Declaration of Independence, followed by an asinine article from Ann Coulter is like having a wedding cake with a fresh turd placed on top.

It infringes upon the honor and majesty of such a document to follow it with a hate filled ill informed and stupid article by a cretinous ninny, which insults the very people and nation who were very much involved in making us independent.

[Killer]

Originally Posted by dropnosky

wow this woman is a piece of work.

Founding fathers had a bit more sense than to equate every single thing about the American revolution with Christianity, and downplay any other revolution as nonsense. What an idiot she is.

Yeah, the French revolution was bloodier, and what of it? the situations were not parallel, and to argue that its of course because everyone over here was an excellent Christian and therefore better, is insulting nonsense.
The difference is a nearly autonomous colonial entity rejecting excessive taxation and control of an imperial power, vs a revolution from the ground up against a sitting monarchy.
Im sure I don't have to remind anyone that the English army had to land on the shores of America in force to try and bring the colonies back into the fold.
Things would have been far bloodier and violent if King George was based in Philidelphia. You really think the continental congress would have been able to convene and write the declaration of independence with the monarchy right on top of them? It would have been harder, and bloodier, and more like the way the french revolution turned out.
We forget that at our peril, certainly Ann Coulter would like to draw conclusions based on things that don't compare.

Also just like her to forget the Marquis De Lafayette in her invective anti French nonsense. You remember, the Frenchman who of his own accord, traveled to the colonies, joined Washington's army, and built a professional army out of the continental militia capable of standing up to the English?

She also forgets our longstanding relationship with the French, what is her agenda with that piece? That we are better than them? What a cretin.

Certainly the French have proved their sensibility to our national ideal of freedom, we should have the grace to respect theirs on equal grounds.

Statue of Liberty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

EDIT-
As a further comment, its exactly the mindset of "we are better than you" that Ann Coulter proposes, that would have dovetailed nicely with the viewpoints of the English Parliament of King Georges time. Shame on her for forgetting that.

Originally Posted by dropnosky

Posting the Declaration of Independence, followed by an asinine article from Ann Coulter is like having a wedding cake with a fresh turd placed on top.

It infringes upon the honor and majesty of such a document to follow it with a hate filled ill informed and stupid article by a cretinous ninny, which insults the very people and nation who were very much involved in making us independent.

Still haven't found your toilets yet, huh?

[JB3]

ahahahhaa

well done. Funny, but an evasion.

Yep, found em. Sitting in a warehouse for 20 days.




Related to the topic, How can you really agree with Ann Coulter on this anti french stuff?

Do you?