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The Founding Of An American Republic by David O. McKay David O. McKay, Clare Middlemiss, Man May Know for Himself: Teachings of President David O. McKay, 350-357. AS WE CELEBRATE the birth of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, let us catch the spirit of that morning and awaken appreciation for the blessings and privileges that are ours if we remain loyal and true to the Constitution of the United States as established by our Founding Fathers. Compared to other nations, we are still just a young nation. But what has happened during that period of nearly two hundred years? We are a nation now leading all others. Uncounted billions of dollars have been poured out to protect the world against dictatorship and slavery, and gigantic burdens have been borne successfully by America. It is almost 200 years since those 56 men sat in the Old State House at Philadelphia, determining whether they should break away from the mother country and the tyranny of George the Third. I do not know who wrote the poem, "Independence Bell," but its lines give the spirit of the momentous occasion that morning. I used to study it in school. INDEPENDENCE BELL There was a tumult in the city In the quaint old Quaker town, And the streets were rife with people Pacing restless up and down-- People gathering at the corners, Where they whispered each to each, And the sweat stood on their temples With the earnestness of speech. As the bleak Atlantic currents Lash the wild Newfoundland shore, So they beat against the State House, So they surged against the door; And the mingling of their voices Made the harmony profound, Till the quiet street of Chestnut Was all turbulent with sound. "Will they do it?" "Dare they do it?" "Who is speaking?" "What's the news?" "What of Adams?" "What of Sherman?" "Oh, God grant they won't refuse!" "Make some way there!" "Let me nearer!" "I am stifling!" "Stifle then! When a nation's life's at hazard, We've no time to think of men!" So they surged against the State House While all solemnly inside, Sat the Continental Congress, Truth and reason for their guide. O'er a simple scroll debating, Which, though simple it might be, Yet should shake the cliffs of England With the thunders of the free. Far aloft in that high steeple Sat the bellman, old and gray, He was weary of the tyrant And his iron-sceptered sway; So he sat with one hand ready On the clapper of the bell, When his eye should catch the signal, The long-expected news to tell. See! See! The dense crowd quivers Through all its lengthy line, As the boy beside the portal Hastens forth to give the sign! With his little hands uplifted, Breezes dallying in his hair, Hark! with deep, clear intonation, Breaks his young voice on the air. Hushed the people's swelling murmur, Wilst the boy cries joyously; "Ring!" he shouts, "Ring! Grandpa, Ring! Oh, ring for Liberty!" Quickly at the given signal The old bellman lifts his hand, Forth he sends the good news, making Iron music through the land. How they shouted! What rejoicing! How the old bell shook the air, Till the clang of freedom ruffled The calmly gliding Delaware! How the bonfires and the torches Lighted up the night's repose, And from the flames, like fables Phoenix, Our glorious liberty arose. That old State House bell is silent, Hushed is now its clamorous tongue; But the spirit it awakened Still is living--ever young! And when we greet the smiling sunlight On the fourth of each July, We shall ne'er forget the bellman Who, betwixt the earth and sky, Rang out, loudly, "Independence; Which please God, shall never die!" Fifty-six men signed that document, the Declaration of Independence! They were all educated, well-trained, but common, loyal, ordinary men. Their average age was only 44, and that included Benjamin Franklin who was 70 years of age. Some were in their fifties. Others, however, were just young men. This is what they signed: "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." That gives the spirit of that occasion in the old Philadelphia town in the year 1776! Independence Gained The Revolutionary War was fought; and the colonists gained their independence from the despot, George the Third. I say George the Third because there were many Englishmen who were in sympathy with the American colonies. William Pitt, a member of Parliament, was one of them. You will remember reading in school about Pitt's reply to Walpole when they were discussing the rebellion of the American colonies. Walpole made an accusation against Pitt, accusing him of being a young man and said that Parliament should not listen to him. As I remember, Pitt arose and said: "Of the irretrievable crime of being a young man, I shall neither palliate nor deny." And then he said, "Were I an American, as I am an Englishman, I would never lay down my arms. Never! Never! Never!" After the Revolutionary War was over and nine years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the Founding Fathers met in the same Old State Hall to frame the Constitution of the United States. The French historian, Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot, while visiting in the United States, asked James Russell Lowell, "How long will the American Republic endure?" Lowell's answer was: "As long as the ideas of the men who founded it continue dominant." And what were those ideas? Two fundamental principles were: Freedom from Dictatorship and Freedom of the Individual! This goes right back to our free agency, which is as precious as life itself. The rebellion against that dictatorship of George the Third had begun hundreds of years before that meeting in the Old State Hall, when freedom-loving men in England brought King John to Runnymeade and made him sign that great document which gave to them the right of trial by jury by their peers and took away the right from the kings to say: "This man's head or that man's head shall come off!" Men had been imprisoned and beheaded without fair trial because of a whim or because of the king's fear of being overthrown. Man Defies Compulsion There is something in human nature that rebels against dominance and compulsion. In our day, we have witnessed one of the greatest uprisings against just such dictatorship that the world has ever known. I refer to those loyal Hungarians who rose up against the tyranny of oppression! I do not suppose there has ever been such an uprising--not since the Declaration of Independence, at any rate--of a people. They used their bare hands; and children, youths, and adults rose up against tyranny and won--until the communist gangsters turned on them and killed them by the hundreds; and hundreds of others were shipped off to Siberia. This is in your time and mine! Do we realize it? Do we realize what it means to have a knock come at the door at night, and to be afraid because it is the police, then to hear a voice commanding: "Open the door!"? One woman who was alone got such a command; and, scantily dressed, was rushed, not down in the elevator, but down four flights of stairs, put in a black wagon with guards on each side, and carried off to prison. She was innocent; but the door closed behind her, and that was the beginning of a nine-year prison sentence. This is a frequent happening in dictator countries in this the twentieth century! That is the kind of treatment the spirit of man rebels against; that is why we had the Declaration of Independence; that is why we had the Constitution of the United States drawn up by men who were inspired; and that is why we have the Bill of Rights, granting protection to each individual. The government was established to protect the individual; the individual is not a part of the State, nor should he be used as part of the State. The government is set up to protect him in his rights. Constitution Is Greatest Writing What other fundamental prompted these men when they framed the Constitution-- "the greatest instrument," said one man, "ever written by the hands of man"? I name it as Faith in God, next to free agency, or correlative with free agency. As an illustration, during the critical time when the representatives of the colonies were trying to frame the Constitution in that Old State Hall, Benjamin Franklin, the oldest man present, arose and stated his faith in an overruling Providence and in the power of prayer, and then said: I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: That God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings, that "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. . . . I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. It is difficult to learn from history whether that was ever carried out. They did not have any money to pay for prayers, and John Quincy Adams implies that they did not have prayers there. Another man says they did. However, the point I wish to make is that Benjamin Franklin emphasized that faith in God is a fundamental principle of the Constitution of the United States. I should also like to refer to a remark made by George Washington, who following the establishment of the Constitution and the acceptance of it by the 13 Colonies, wrote this: Of all the dispositions of habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. He stated that neither prosperity nor reputation nor life itself is secure when people are not sincerely religious. Actuated by these two fundamental and eternal principles--the free agency of the individual and faith in an overruling Providence--those 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence, those who drew up the Constitution of the United States nine years later, gave to the world a concept of government which, if applied, will strike from the arms of downtrodden humanity the shackles of tyranny, and give hope, ambition, and freedom to the teeming millions throughout the world. All Americans should be on guard against the scheming of those who would take from us the freedom so dearly bought. Edward F. Hutton gives us this warning: Why do our people possess more autos, more radios, more washing machines, more of so many things, than the people of any other country? After all, we are plain, ordinary human beings. Why then do we have many more of God's blessings? One impelling reason I think lies in the simple fact that we have believed in the rights of man and have lived under a government of laws as distinguished from a government of men. We have enjoyed the safeguards of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, whose word, until recently, we believed was immutable and inalienable. The protection, the confidence, the assurance provided by the Bill of Rights opened up the faucets of human ambition and let loose an avalanche of new incentives. Men were free to inquire, to reject, to choose, to risk, to create! Till twenty years ago, the Bill of Rights, generator of the genius of America, was taken for granted. For two decades now it has been under attack . . . by those who assert, though without proof, that they can improve upon our system of government. The plan seems to be to impose upon the people political control of the daily activities. Under Communism you lose your liberties immediately and perhaps your life. Under Socialism, you lose your liberties a little more slowly but just as surely. Today the Bill of Rights is in jeopardy. If it could speak, I believe it would have this to say: I am your Bill of Rights. Don't take me for granted. As man brought me to life, I can be slain by men, and will be slain unless you, the plain people of America, organize to defend me. I am freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly. I am the privacy and sanctity of your home. I am your guarantee of trial by jury, and I am the custodian who guards your property rights. I am your signed lease to spiritual, mental, and physical freedom. My existence depends on how vigilantly you watch those who administer your government. Put every law proposed in Washington into the crucible of my ten commandments. Your question must always be: "Not what does a law give me, but what does it take away from me?" We, the plain, humble, God-fearing people, made this republic what it is. Let us unite our voice in defense of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. I love the Stars and Stripes! I love the people who make this country great, and I believe in their loyalty. In its leadership is the greatest responsibility that ever came to a nation. We pray to God to guide our president and congress. I know that they and we do not want war, but there are things that are worse than death--one is to be deprived of our liberty! God help us as a people to be true to the Stars and Stripes which stands for individual freedom, the free agency of man, for faith in God, and for service to our country and to our fellowmen! |
