Freedom of Choice
It is a craft
of decision
to frame a trajectory
of outcome
Freedom of Creed
is a gift,
a dream
for all who desire
a path
for their life
and to be the crafter
of their frame
Appointing the self
master and lord
of their world
A belief
we flaunt
In the face of the Holy
Wherein lies ~
the Conflict
~ PJackson
Happy 4th of July! Understood also as Independence Day, this special day celebrates our country’s securing its Independence from Great Britain, as recognized by the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776.
While our country had secured its independence, there were, as you might imagine, a great many obstacles to overcome, before having any sense of stability and putting down roots, for the livelihood of citizens and families.
By 1799, more and more people were migrating to places where large acreage of land could be obtained, for the purpose of settling down. The state of Tennessee, now a state, welcomed the large influx of settlers, wanting to purchase acreage.
But, while the land was a draw for settlers, the Indians would be a terrible threat, massacring the settlers. The instances grew rarer by the end of the century, and by 1796, 28,000 people had come to Tennessee to settle. Later, when the Civil War started, the citizens of Tennessee became divided due to the fact Eastern counties were pro Union and received more support than the Confederacy.
It was the North that became increasingly more industrialized and found a ready source of labor from European immigrants. And because of increased industrialization, the north preferred the government pay for the costs of industrial needs.
As a result, the south, a commodity producing state, would be rendered … servile. And it was at this time, that a war was coming, a war between two kinds of life; thought and inheritance.
Secession began to stir. To secede would tear the nation apart, as well as its states, communities, even families. Nowhere was the debate more heated than in Tennessee. Some were willing to lay down their lives for what they saw as a threat to their way of life, while others were equally willing to die to preserve the Union they loved.
While state’s rights act as an end in themselves, they limit action to a partial performance, while the value of Sovereignty, is the unconsidered issue in question.
Sovereignty is always divine and absolute, at least in Christendom. People are not sovereign. To say or believe that people are sovereign, generally or by states, is a logical contradiction and a heresy. The ruled cannot be rulers. Our deist constitution recognizes that in its cynical balancing of powers between the various branches of government. It considers self-interest, secular and material only, and little else. Secular rule has never worked. It brought all the states to a devastating internecine war and a savage reconstruction; destruction would be a better word. God alone is sovereign. ~Andrew Nelson Lytle
This Monday, July 4th, America will celebrate her 246th birthday. Below is the extended meaning of the revelation the Declaration of Independence, clarifying the causes of separation from the King of England.
The efforts were generally positive, but not without conflict, similar to the controversy later on, in the United States, where Sovereignty vs. state’s rights, brought about heated conflict, dividing people and states.
“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 complete 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.”
This weekend, our nation will be celebrating its independence from England. But, as we read the Declaration of Independence, we might also recognize, what was considered, a wrongful governing of a body who supposedly respected the Declaration, yet did not seem to respect its worth, and instead, ruled the people of England adversely, initiating the separation from England.
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.
Today in 2022, we may see many similarities between our current governing bodies, and the governing body of 1776, that brought about the Declaration of Independence.
While our Declaration of Independence upholds life, we understand from the data Worldometer that in 2021, nearly 43 million unborn babies were killed in the womb.
While our Declaration upholds liberty, the opportunity to worship God, and share our faith, it has been prohibited – calling it hate speech.
While our Declaration upholds the pursuit of happiness, or “eudaimonia”, the Greek term for “happiness” is traceable from the 5th century B.C. Greek philosophers, revealed to us, the word “eudaimonia,” and connoted as, the right actions that result in the well-being of an individual. “It is acknowledgement of a state of being, based in morality, virtue, and utility. It is not an acquisition.”
Fourth of July is upon us. On this day, we will celebrate this country we love and live in. May we also turn toward our Holy God, Who alone is sovereign, and may we seek His truth of understanding … freedom.
For the support of your life and the many sides of life.
The thoughts and opinions expressed in The Conversant Counselor’s Blog are those belonging to Paulette Jackson lpc-mhsp and do not necessarily reflect those belonging to any other individual or professional.
1.photo credit:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7d/8b/98/7d8b984c16c8507b7d2425d6c9224d09.jpg
2. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript
3. A Wake for the Living by Andrew Nelson Lytle
