The West That Was, Part 4, by Paul Rosenberg

The American settlers from Great Britain got used to being left alone. From Paul Rosenberg at freemansperspective.com:

America, 1776

The development of the American colonies moved in an arc. They began with a lot of oppression (after the old world model), shook it off as the arc rose toward 1776 and the revolution, then headed slowly back down. My job today is to give you some feel of the times, and I’ll begin with some background.

Perhaps the most important accident of the early America period was a British policy that later became known as salutary neglect. This salutary (healthful) neglect began in 1722, when a Whig named Robert Walpole became the king’s chief minister. The Whigs held what we might call libertarian opinions, and Walpole wanted to govern loosely, to avoid government meddling, and to let natural forces bring prosperity to England. Under Walpole, many of the regulations upon American trade were simply ignored.

This policy lasted, more or less, until 1760, after which the impositions we normally associate with the American Revolution began.

The most enduring expressions of this line of development came from George Mason, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine. But more important than the words of the most eloquent Americans were the words and deeds of working people. In 1773, for example, the people of Hubbardston, Massachusetts, a town of about 300, published this in a declaration:

We are of the opinion that rulers first derive their power from the ruled by certain laws and rules agreed upon by rulers and ruled, and when a ruler breaks over such laws … and makes new ones … then the ruled have a right to refuse such new laws and … to judge for themselves when rulers transgress.

In Worcester, a town of a few thousand, a similar letter was published at about the same time:

It is our opinion that mankind are by nature free, and the end design of forming social compacts … was that each member of that society might enjoy his life and property, and live in the free exercise of his rights … which God and Nature gave.

Notice in both these cases, that we are seeing working men and women making firm and confident pronouncements about the world.

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2 responses to “The West That Was, Part 4, by Paul Rosenberg

  1. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

    “Righteousness alone can exalt [America] as a nation. Reader! Whoever thou art, remember this; and in thy sphere practice virtue thyself, and encourage it in others… [T]he great pillars of all government and of social life: I mean virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible.” –Patrick Henry

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  2. No surprise here that Mr. Evil dedicated to the destruction of the USA.  Soros is funding all these riots, like before. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy9VbfvF0_s

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