Happy July 4th

~ VFW, Richlands, VA ~

THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

"We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for other general good of the Colony, unto which we promised all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620.

Source: William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 (Samuel Eliot Morison, ed. 1952, 75-76."

~ Little Miss and Miss USA ~

"It is impossible to govern without God and the Bible." 

~ George Washington, 

First President of the USA ~ 

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. ...

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.
24 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence had a seminary degree!

"Republicans believe every day is the 4th of July, 

but Democrats believe every day is April 15th."

~ Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the USA ~

"I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical." 

~ Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, 1787 ~

"Well Doctor, what have we got--a Republic or a Monarchy?"

"A Republic, if you can keep it."

~ Benjamin Franklin ~

"Love your country but never trust its government." 

~ Robert Heinlin ~

"The power to tax involves the power to destroy...the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create..." ~ Chief Justice John Marshall, 1819 ~

"The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun." 

~ R. Buckminster Fuller ~

Blessings ~ veterans ~ Veterans of Foreign Wars ~ Declaration of Independence ~ Mayflower Compact ~