Birthplace of the Second Amendment 1765: The Cost of FREEDOM

Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Cost of FREEDOM

By JW Ross

I wish I could be more upset re: the deaths at Newtown School.

Every time I read (or listen) to the hand ringing and chest beating on the TV and in the newspapers about the "deaths of 20 children and six teachers", I think of the millions who stand with them as innocents butchered at the hands of those who wish to supress freedom in just the last century.

Whether it is those who were killed with purpose in the gas chambers, or those who simply were collateral damage when the Russian took Berlin, or the Germans lay siege to Stalingrad (for example). . .the numbers are numbing but demand a perspective and our reason, not our passion.

What is the lesson to be learned . . .?

In the face of this tragedy do we call for gun control or prohibition as the Progressives of the past (Nazi's, Communists, and Fascist) did? And as many Progressives do today?

Or do we accept that guns are "tools of freedom", as are words, our persons, and our lives. History shows clearly that the cost of disarmament is not hundreds of lives, or thousands, but millions.

Rather than victims, those of us who realize that FREEDOM cannot be compromised, must embrace "the children" of Newtown School as martyrs who gave their lives to a mad man who wished to take their, and our, FREEDOM away with a gun.

And we must gather strength and comfort from Thomas Jefferson's words. . ."The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

We can be sorry. . .but we must be resolute.

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It All Started Here . . .

Frontier Mercersburg in 1765 was the "birthplace" of the right we now refer to as "the Second Amendment", or, "the right to bear arms". It was here that individuals for the first time, some would say divinely, embraced the link between "Life and Liberty". . . and struck the first blow for Freedom.

Historically the right to bear arms goes back even before our founding as a nation to the Glorious Revolution of 1689 when William III agreed to the English Bill of Rights. If one can look at revolution like a volcanic eruption in nature, you understand that often from the destruction come the seeds of new human values and beliefs. In this case the independence of the human spirit, the right to know God for oneself, and to trust your conscience was hard won in this revolution of the human soul.

One crucible begets the necessity for another and on the frontier in America the right to defend ones religious beliefs was becoming the right to participate in the decisions of government that impact my "self". Freedom of the soul was becoming freedom of the heart and mind. Smith's Rebellion began as an act they justified under the rubric of defending oneself because government had failed in its obligation to protect Life, Liberty and Property. This was the first assertion of this principle aimed directly at British Military Authority as well as the incompetent government of John Penn - anywhere in the colonies.

In the end, Smith's Rebellion was the first armed resistance against British Military Rule leading up to the American Revolution. It was the first American triumph over the best military force in the world. It was the first time upon defending oneself that Americans had proclaimed we can rule ourselves.

It would be ten years before the battles at Lexington and Concord.

...Let Them Take Arms

The "Right to Bear Arms" . . .or 2nd Amendment is one of the most discussed and contentious of all the amendments of the Bill of Rights. It is, in fact, the only amendment that contains not only the seeds but the actual instruments of the revolution itself. Further, it gives real affirmation to Thomas Jefferson's quote . . .
"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."

It is for this reason, if no other, that the Government and its functionaries vociferously assail and obfuscate the text of this simple assertion. More, it is for this reason, and in the face of the perennial onslaught that its defense and affirmation is essential to the survival of the republic.

Frontier Mercersburg & The Justice William Smith House

The frontier town of Mercersburg, PA. in the 1760's, although typical of many settlements along the Appalachian Mountains played a pivotal role in the creation of what was to become the "Bill of Rights".

Frontiersmen like James Smith and the Black Boys, many of whom were inhabitants of the Mercersburg environs, were early participants in a series of conflicts with the British government that established principles the eventually lead to the inclusion of the "right to bear arms" in the Bill of Rights.

Much of the focus, centers on the domicile (and likely place of business) of Justice William Smith.

Birthplace of the Second Amendment 1765

Pages

Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution - Bill of Rights

Preservation and Proposition

Saturday, January 26, 2013

The Cost of FREEDOM

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