Mind Your Liberty

The Stamp Act was now going into effect in Colonial America, meaning colonists of all stripes (anybody that used paper) had to make a choice - to use the comply or not to comply. John Dickinson, “the Penman of the Revolution”, wrote this broadside pamphlet to encourage his countrymen to carefully consider their course of action, and the consequences thereof. 
 
“THE Stamp Act, therefore, is to be regarded only as an EXPERIMENT OF YOUR DISPOSITION. If you quietly bend your Necks to that Yoke, you prove yourselves ready to receive any Bondage to which your Lords and Masters shall please to subject you.” [Emphasis original]
Stamp Act - https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/stamp_act_1765.asp
 
Broadside Against the Stamp Act - https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Writings_of_John_Dickinson/DaWqy3gNcogC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA201&printsec=frontcover 
 
Other good stuff - https://americainclass.org/sources/makingrevolution/crisis/text3/stampactresponse1765.pdf 
 
http://www.mindyourliberty.com 

In this episode I read through and briefly talk about another important document from the revolutionary era, The Rights of Colonists, by Samuel Adams. This document is another one of the many you can trace the similar lines of thought from the early 1760's (and earlier) to the mid 1770's, and beyond. Adams further develops the concept of natural rights in this piece. 
 
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-rights-of-the-colonists/
 
http://www.mindyourliberty.com

What do we do when a country is being divided? When "enemies" are skewing events, blowing things out of perspective, and demonizing us? When we are being labeled as "dangerous" and "a threat"? Well, lets take a peek into a similar situation back in 1768, and see how a Boston town meeting wrote to their London agent and explained events that had been used to stoke division. Maybe there is something for us today. 
 
P.S. I know it's the 30th not the 29th. :-)
 
Letter to Dennys De Bert September 22nd - https://archive.org/details/writings01sammuoft/page/240/mode/2up
 
King George's reply to the Massachusetts Circular Letter (June 21st) - https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073215843&view=1up&seq=88
 
June 10th “insurrection”. - https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/the-liberty-affair-john-hancock-loses-a-ship-and-starts-a-riot/

In this podcast episode I read through a rousing oration given by patriot Samuel Adams in Philadelphia on August 1st, 1776 American Independence. The following day, the members of congress affixed their signatures to the parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
British paper quoted in the speech: https://classicliberal.tripod.com/price/ncl04.html
 
Text of the American Independence oration: https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/historical-documents/american-independence/
 
www.mindyourliberty.com
 

In this short episode I read through America’s favorite document, the Declaration of Independence. Most of us probably read through it in grade school, some of us have studied it since then, but I believe all of us could benefit from once again listening to these timely, intentional words.
 
Pauline Maier’s book  American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence.
 
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense - https://oll.libertyfund.org/page/1776-paine-common-sense-pamphlet

Today I celebrate the the historic Supreme Court decision, where they get something right and recognize our God-given right to self defense, specifically carrying pistols in public. I read though the syllabus of the opinion. Follow along, I bet you'll learn something!
 
Epoch Times article - https://www.theepochtimes.com/supreme-court-strikes-down-new-yorks-unconstitutional-concealed-carry-gun-law_4553435.html
 
The Opinion - https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf Federlaist 37 (referenced) - https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/fed37.asp
 
Further reading on the incorporation doctrine: "Government by Judiciary" by Raoul Berger.

In this episode we cover A Summary View of the Rights of British America, by Thomas Jefferson (1774) There are a lot of timeless quotes taken out of this piece. I point out a few of these and break down the document a little bit before reading through the whole thing, so we can get a grasp on the context these quotes are being taken from. 
 
https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/a-summary-view-of-the-rights-of-british-america-2/
 
https://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/
 
www.mindyourliberty.com

This is episode #2 in the Wordy Wednesday series. Today we cover some old words I encountered while preparing a forthcoming episode covering A SUMMARY VIEW OF THE RIGHTS OF BRITISH AMERICA, by Thomas Jefferson. The words covered in today's episode are: Imperious, Recognizance, Nugatory, Salutary, Allodial, Feudal, Burthens, Venal
 
www.mindyourliberty.com
 
https://webstersdictionary1828.com/
 
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/
 
 

In this episode I read Washington’s Farewell Address. Our first president was offering some parting advice, while looking forward to retirement after over 20 years of service to his country. Issues he addressed back then may sound familiar to us even today. He mentioned the dangers of party politics, overgrown military establishments, entangling European alliances, choosing favorite nations, what to do with the national debt, encroachment upon liberty, and public morality. Hopefully at least some of those sound to you like something worth listening to, from our first president! 
Links:
 
Transcript of George Washington’s Farewell Address - https://www.mountvernon.org/education/primary-sources-2/article/washington-s-farewell-address-1796/
 
“my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793” - https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-12-02-0371
Wordy Wednesday #1 - https://www.mindyourliberty.com/e/wordy-wednesday-1/

Words are our primary means of expressing ideas. As such, they are natural means of subversion of liberty, which is, among other things, an idea. This is the inaugural episode for an ongoing series of episodes called "Wordy Wednesday". Sometimes, we'll dive into high-impact words and spend a full length episode digging into the word and the ideas behind it. Other days, like this episode, we will simply define some old words that I ran into while studying for a future or past episode. These will be shorter episodes, but hopefully will help us understand the documents we are looking at better. 
 
Today we cover the following words: solicitude, specious, weal, antipathy, umbrage, odium, caprice
 
Johnson's Dictionary Online  - https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/
Websters 1828 Dictionary - http://www.webstersdictionary1828.com/
www.mindyourliberty.com