As a supporter of the Convention of States Project, you have a passion for the Constitution and a desire to defend our republic. Our Constitution is under assault. To properly defend it, we must understand the nature of the threat.
The Constitution codified the principles our Founding Fathers presented in the Declaration of Independence:
“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.”
This passage from the Declaration of Independence provides six founding principles of our republic. Before we go through these principles, I must give a huge hat tip to David Barton. He puts these principles together like no other I’ve heard. It’s his presentation of these principles that I will draw from:
- “We hold these truths to be self-evident”: there is a fixed, moral standard of right and wrong. This is fundamental to a civil society. If a society does not have a definition of just and unjust behavior, you have anarchy.
- “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator”: a Creator is a prerequisite of limited government. No invention of man (including government) is superior to the Creator. No other government on Earth is truly limited, because they place the government at the top of the food chain.
- “that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”: each human being has certain rights. These rights come from the Creator, which is the highest authority. That means man has no say in these rights and cannot justifiably take them away from another person.
- “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men”: the purpose of the federal government is to protect unalienable rights. It’s not to provide for you. It’s not to give you free stuff. Government’s purpose is to protect an individual’s natural rights.
- “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”: the federal government serves at the will of the majority of those subject to it’s governing.
- “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 a 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.” This provides the obligation for the people to adjust or make changes to our government structure. This is the basis and purpose for the Article V Convention of States process.
By examining the founding principles stated in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the Constitution, you can see how our society has gotten out of whack. We have allowed the federal government to violate these principles, and we have not held our state legislators to their obligation to defend the Constitution.
We allowed the federal government to violate these principles until August 2013, when the Convention of States Project was founded. Today, more than 4.5 million people see the Article V convention process as the only solution that is as big as the problems.
To further your understanding of the Constitution and our Founding Principles, the Convention of States Project has partnered with Rick Green and the Patriot Academy to offer you their Constitution Alive! course to you absolutely free!
This is a six-week course that begins tonight at 7:00 p.m. Central Time on Mondays. You will have access to all the course materials and an interactive session at the end of each class.
Click here to enroll in the class now. Take advantage of this tremendous learning opportunity. If you home school, your students can earn government class credit by taking this class as well.
Our republic is under assault. It's our responsibility to arm ourselves with truth and knowledge to properly defend it. Join me. I’ll see you Monday night.
