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From Los Angeles Times

Fourth of July: Words of wisdom from the Founding Fathers

This group of mostly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant property owners had profoundly differing opinions about governance.

July 4, 2011

Independence Day 2011 dawns amid a resurgence of interest in our nation's Founding Fathers. "Tea party" conservatives in particular like to invoke them as an inspiration. Yet while it is certainly possible to find writings by individual founders that adhere closely to modern right-wing principles, this group of mostly white Anglo-Saxon Protestant property owners had profoundly differing opinions about governance — differing not only among themselves but often from the views of today's conservatives.

Those who believe the founders intended the United States to be a Christian nation, for example, should consult the writings of the deist Thomas Jefferson or note the appalling views of Boston patriot Samuel Adams, who thought religious tolerance should apply to everyone except Catholics. Benjamin Franklin's views on taxation and private property would sound downright Marxist if Karl Marx hadn't been born after they were written. All the men quoted below signed the Declaration of Independence 235 years ago today.

Religious freedom

I am for freedom of religion, and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another; for freedom of the press, and against all violations of the Constitution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the conduct of their agents. And I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its branches; and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred name of philosophy; for awing the human mind by stories of raw-head and bloody bones to a distrust of its own vision, and to repose implicitly on that of others; to go backwards instead of forwards to look for improvement; to believe that government, religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance, and that nothing can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by our forefathers."

— Thomas Jefferson, 1799

In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practised, and, both by precept and example, inculcated on mankind…. Insomuch that Mr. [John] Locke has asserted and proved, beyond the possibility of contradiction on any solid ground, that such toleration ought to be extended to all whose doctrines are not subversive of society. The only sects which he thinks ought to be, and which by all wise laws are excluded from such toleration, are those who teach doctrines subversive of the civil government under which they live. The Roman Catholics or Papists are excluded by reason of such doctrines as these, that princes excommunicated may be deposed, and those that they call heretics may be destroyed without mercy; besides their recognizing the Pope in so absolute a manner, in subversion of government, by introducing, as far as possible into the states under whose protection they enjoy life, liberty, and property, that solecism in politics, imperium in imperio, leading directly to the worst anarchy and confusion, civil discord, war, and bloodshed.

— Samuel Adams, 1772

I shall proceed in the next place, to inquire, what mode of education we shall adopt so as to secure to the state all the advantages that are to be derived from the proper institution of youth; and here I beg leave to remark, that the only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. Such is my veneration for every religion that reveals the attributes of the Deity, or a future state of rewards and punishments, that I had rather see the opinions of Confucius or Mahomed inculcated upon our youth, than to see them grow up wholly devoid of a system of religious principles. But the religion I mean to recommend in this place is that of the New Testament.

— Benjamin Rush, 1798

Taxation

The remissness of our people in paying taxes is highly blameable, the unwillingness to pay them is still more so. I see in some resolutions of town-meetings, a remonstrance against giving Congress a power to take as they call it, the "people's money" out of their pockets though only to pay the interest and principal of debts duly contracted. They seem to mistake the point. Money justly due from the people is their creditors' money, and no longer the money of the people, who, if they withhold it, should be compelled to pay by some law. All property indeed, except the savage's temporary cabin, his bow, his matchcoat, and other little acquisitions absolutely necessary for his subsistence, seems to me to be the creature of public convention. Hence the public has the right of regulating descents and all other conveyances of property, and even of limiting the quantity and the uses of it. All the property that is necessary to a man for the conservation of the individual and the propagation of the species, is his natural right which none can justly deprive him of: But all property of the public, who by their laws have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the welfare of the public shall demand such disposition. He that does not like civil society on these terms, let him retire and live among savages. He can have no right to the benefits of society who will not pay his club towards the support of it.

— Benjamin Franklin, 1783

Political parties

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.

— John Adams, 1789

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in anything else where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.

— Thomas Jefferson, 1789

States' rights

I am resolved to vest the Congress with no more power than that is absolutely necessary, and to use a familiar expression, to keep the staff in our own hands; for I am confident if surrendered into the hands of others a most pernicious use will be made of it.

Edward Rutledge, 1776

The state governments, I think, will not be endangered by the powers vested by this Constitution in the general government. While I have attended in Congress, I have observed that the members were quite as strenuous advocates for the rights of their respective states, as for those of the Union. I doubt not but that this will continue to be the case; and hence I infer that the general government will not have the disposition to encroach upon the states.

— Samuel Huntington, 1788

I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That "all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people." To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition.

— Thomas Jefferson, 1791

Regime change

The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many.

— John Adams, 1787

The national debt

I say, the Earth belongs to each of these generations during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and encumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the Earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.

— Thomas Jefferson, 1789

The Constitution

I confess that I do not entirely approve of this Constitution at present; but, sir, I am not sure I shall never approve of it, for, having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged, by better information or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. It is therefore that, the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment of others."

— Benjamin Franklin, 1787

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-founders-20110704,0,4671679,print.story

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Fourth of July: A pop quiz about America

How much do you know about the founding of the nation? (see full article and submit answers for all questions in full version on line)

• 1. At the time of the American Revolution, which of the following was not true

  • A. Fifty percent of the wealth in Boston, then a town of about 16,000 people, was in the hands of its 500 wealthiest merchants.

  • B. One out of three adult men in Boston had no property and no regular job.

  • C. Banks were on the verge of economic collapse and had to turn to the British government for help.

  • D. Wages had declined dramatically for average workers in Boston.

• 2. One reason for American dissatisfaction with Britain was

  • A. The colonists feared a crackdown on illegal molasses that was being smuggled into Boston harbor to feed a large distilling industry that produced rum for the colonies.

  • B. King George III had recently imposed a tax on the birth of sons in the colonies.

  • C. Because of Britain's extensive holdings in coffee plantations, the crown had raised the price of tea in an attempt to make it unaffordable and push the colonists toward drinking coffee instead.

  • D. British ships had first right to berths in Boston harbor, which meant that the ships of colonists were often forced to wait offshore for days or weeks, unable to unload their cargo.

• 3. Which of the following details about the Boston Tea Party is not true

  • A. The participants dressed as Indians, carried tomahawks and communicated in grunts and gestures.

  • B. Anonymous participants sent a lock the next day to one of the tea ships' captains to replace a lock they had broken.

  • C. Many of the participants returned home with their pockets full of tea, making them some of the few Boston residents who had tea to drink in the months that followed.

  • D. Paul Revere embarked on a ride after the cargo was successfully disposed of to take news of the "tea party" to New York.

• 4. The Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament and reviled by American patriots, required colonists

  • A. To pay postage fees on all mail sent within the colonies.

  • B. To pay for an official stamp on printed material.

  • C. To pay income tax for the first time.

  • D. To pay a tax on the loading and offloading of cargo.

• 5. Which of the following is not true of the silversmith and patriot Paul Revere

  • A. He was born Apolos Rivoire, the son of a protestant Huguenot who had fled Catholic France.

  • B. When demand for silver goods dropped during hard economic times, he made false teeth.

  • C. He rode through the Massachusetts countryside and rang bells to warn the British that they could not take away American arms.

  • D. When he set out for his April 1775 warning ride, he forgot two things: his spurs and the cloth he needed to muffle the sound of the oars he would use to cross the Charles River. The sweetheart of one of the oarsmen lent her flannel petticoat to the war effort to be used as a sound muffler.

• 6. Benedict Arnold agreed to tip off the British to the vulnerabilities at West Point in exchange for payment and a commission in the British army. Which of the following about the traitor isn't true

  • A. His sister became a spinster after Arnold frightened away her suitor by firing pistol shots at his heels.

  • B. One winter, on returning from business in the Caribbean, Arnold found that his wife, Peggy, would not allow him to touch her because she'd heard that he had contracted a venereal disease during his travels.

  • C. After his plot was exposed and Arnold fled, he wrote to George Washington asking that his wife be protected, saying that she was "as good and as innocent as an angel."

  • D. As a young man in Norwich, Arnold stole young birds from the nest and maimed them. He also spread shards of glass outside a local school.

• 7. George Washington was named commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and became the nation's first president in 1789. Which of the following things is not true of Washington

  • A. After he was named commander in chief, he asked for a grey horse, saying he wanted nothing so flashy as "a baye or a palominoe."

  • B. While commanding the Continental Army, he refused the monthly salary that had been authorized for him, saying he would keep an exact accounting of his expenses and be reimbursed only for them.

  • C. As a young man, he copied rules for living into a notebook. Among them was that he shouldn't clean his teeth on a tablecloth at meals.

  • D. After meeting Washington in 1775, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband saying that the general reminded her of the lines from John Dryden, "He's a temple, sacred by birth."

• 8. Which of the following passages is from Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence

  • A. "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…"

  • B. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…"

  • C. "…that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."

  • D. "The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare…"

• 9. John Hancock is best known for the size and flamboyance of his signature on the Declaration of Independence. Which of the following facts about him is not true

  • A. Before he was 30, Hancock had inherited the largest fortune in New England, a fortune that was made in smuggling.

  • B. In 1768, a customs investigator reported that he had been shut inside a cabin of a Hancock-owned ship. The door was nailed shut, he said, while the crew unloaded wine that had not been declared.

  • C. At Harvard, Hancock was demoted for getting a slave drunk.

  • D. Three days before Hancock's uncle died, making him an extremely wealthy man, the woman Hancock had hoped to marry, Juliet Smith, called off their engagement after he repeatedly stepped on her foot at a dancing party.

• 10. Thomas Paine's passionate pamphlet "Common Sense," published in 1776, was a rousing call to action. Which of the following passages is not from that work

  • A. "Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!"

  • B. "Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe."

  • C. "Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one."

  • D. "Tar, timber, iron and cordage are [America's] natural produce. We need go abroad for nothing." The information in this quiz -- or at least the correct information -- was drawn from A.J. Langguth's book "Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution."

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oew-quiz-fourth-of-july,0,3791281.triviaquiz

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July 4 warning: Texas says don't go to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

by Mary Forgione

Los Angeles Times Daily Travel & Deal blogger

July 3, 2011

The state of Texas is warning Americans to avoid travel to the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo this holiday weekend because of an anticipated surge in drug cartel violence aimed at Americans.

In a news release Saturday, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Webb County Sheriff's Office said their sources indicated that the Zetas drug cartel was "planning to target U.S. citizens who travel to Nuevo Laredo this weekend."

Steven C. McCraw, the department's director, also said in the statement:

"According to the information we have received, the Zetas are planning a possible surge in criminal activity, such as robberies, extortions, car-jackings and vehicle theft, specifically against U.S. citizens."

Reuters reported that Mexico's tourism chief earlier had complained that similar warnings were "misinformed" and lacked credibility.

Violence from Mexico's drug cartels has prompted travel warnings from the U.S. State Department. Mexico reported more than 12,000 drug-war deaths last year amid violence that has made headlines and affected tourism.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-nuevo-laredo-warning-20110703,0,871729,print.story

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From Google News

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by KATHY McCORMACK

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — It's William Whipple's turn to be recognized.

The New Hampshire merchant is one of the lesser-known signers of the Declaration of Independence. This year, there are plans for Whipple and 11 others to be honored for their place in history with a small bronze plaque at their gravesites or homes, thanks to a group of descendants of the Founding Fathers.

Whipple, one of three men from New Hampshire who signed the famous document — the others were Josiah Bartlett and Matthew Thornton — had no direct descendants. His only child, a boy, died as an infant and is buried near him at the Old North Cemetery in Portsmouth. Whipple, who also commanded troops during the Revolutionary War and served as a state judge and legislator, died in 1785 at age 55.

It's about time he was honored, said Blaine Whipple in Portland, Ore., a distant relative who has researched and published several volumes on 15 generations of the Whipple family in America.

"He was one of the workhorses of the Continental Congress," Whipple said. "He's never been given the credits that he earned." Whipple was chairman of the marine, foreign relations and quartermaster committees and served on another committee that gathered intelligence on the British, he said.

Whipple's gravesite mentions he was a member of the Continental Congress when America declared its freedom from Great Britain, but doesn't spell out his famous moment in time. The 104-year-old Society of the Descendants of the Declaration of Independence wants to change that for Whipple and the other signers, "to honor their memory and their great deed."

"We try to do as many as we can, but it's a long process," said Grace Staller of West Chester, Pa., who heads the project for the nonprofit group. She's a ninth-generation descendant of signer John Hart from New Jersey, whose plaque is at the Old Baptist Meeting House in Hopewell.

The Portsmouth City Council recently approved the request. The city owns the cemetery.

Other plaque recipients — some better known than others — this year are John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine, Massachusetts; Charles Carroll, Maryland; Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Nelson, Virginia; Thomas Lynch and Arthur Middleton, South Carolina; James Smith, Pennsylvania; and Richard Stockton, New Jersey.

Some of the 56 signers, like Whipple, have no direct descendants. For others, it's not clear where they're buried. Some cemeteries don't allow the plaques. In addition to the 45 who will end up with plaques, there are 11 signers who won't be getting them; they will be honored at the historic Congressional Cemetery in Washington.

The bronze plaque quotes from the last sentence of the 1776 document, saying for the support of the declaration, "we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

"I've always been proud to be related to a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It's almost like a royal family," said Jeffrey Saurman of Portsmouth, a direct descendant of Thornton, whose memorial in Merrimack received one of the plaques last August. He said he was happy to share the moment with his children.

His son Josh, he said, recently completed a report on Thornton, a doctor, state representative and judge, for his sixth-grade class. The youngster took a photo of himself in period clothes next to a portrait of Thornton. "You could see some resemblance," his father said.

Saurman, who works at a family plumbing and heating business, said he was shocked and surprised that the plaques hadn't been made years earlier. "You would think something like that would've already been done."

William Whipple, who was born in Kittery, Maine, was a merchant in Portsmouth, a busy seaport and shipbuilding city. During the Revolutionary War, he was brigadier general of the New Hampshire Militia and was one of the negotiators of the surrender of British Gen. John Burgoyne at the Battle of Saratoga, a major turning point in the war.

Whipple kept a diary from that time, musing about how long it took for preparations to bring back Burgoyne so he could be sent back to Britain.

"He talks about Burgoyne holding them all up, and he wouldn't leave because he had to get his whole entourage together," said Barbara McLean Ward, curator of the Moffatt-Ladd House in Portsmouth, Whipple's home. The weather was fine, but when they finally left Saratoga, "it rained the entire time back ... It's all about sort of being miserable," she said.

Whipple freed his slave, Prince Whipple, who had fought with him in the war and was one of a group of slaves who had petitioned the Legislature for their freedom. Prince Whipple also is buried in the Old North Cemetery.

The Moffatt-Ladd House, a Georgian mansion built in 1763, is a national historic landmark that's open to the public. It has a portrait of Whipple, as well as some personal items, such as a sword. Outside the house is a 235-year-old horse chestnut tree, which he had planted after signing the Declaration of Independence, Ward said. The seeds were brought back from Philadelphia.

• Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence,: http://www.dsdi1776.com

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jt2WocrzBoVHRqaLmJrn7YTx4cwA?docId=983895e7b3524532a10238dcf5c053dc

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A new and improved unit within the Charleston Police Departments wants to engage you.

The reorganization of the Community Services Division puts the bike, traffic and community service units -- which include the walking beat and school resource officers -- under the same umbrella.

Lt. Shawn Williams, who is heading the unit, said he takes the name of the unit seriously and wants to add "community" back into Charleston policing.

The idea of positive contacts with residents is not new, but is something Williams said city police have "unfortunately" gotten away from.

"There is an old saying, "If the wheel is not broken, why fix it?'" he said. "We probably dropped the ball [with community involvement] as the 911 system expanded across the county. It provided a huge divide between police officers and their community.

"Now, we want to get back to that."

Williams said he wants local residents to be able to name the police officers who work in their neighborhood.

"I want them to feel like they know us and look to us for help if they need it," he said. "We're trying to throw back a few decades."

More than anything else, Williams wants to increase the visibility of police officers.

"We want people all across the city to see us," he said. "Police are usually on the West Side and the East End because there are more problems, but we want people on the south side to see us, too. We don't want them to feel slighted."

Williams wants more accountability for the unit and to encourage not only reactive, but proactive police work by pushing officers to stop and talk to people.

"If someone is working in their yard or walking down the street, we want them to engage the residents," he said.

During FestivALL, Williams had officers walking around downtown and taking time to talk to people.

"We had so many people come up to us and say 'hey, thanks for being here,'" he said.

It's nice to make the public appearances, but Williams admits the police can't be everywhere.

The bigger issue is "we're extremely shorthanded. We're down as low as we've ever been," he said, which makes positive contacts with the public more important because the department is increasingly doing more with less.

The reorganization of the unit also means those officers will now be able to help take some of the load off of the road patrol officers.

"Fifteen or 20 times a week, [Chief Brent Webster] gets complaints about issues and when you get one, two, three calls about the same thing, you know you have a problem," Williams said.

Traditionally, the calls are handed down to the patrol division. Now, the community service division will answer those calls.

"You don't have to burden the patrol guys who are swamped with answering 911 calls," he said. "When there is a shooting, people panic and they call and want to see police immediately."

Now, "We can saturate the area with uniforms and bike officers."

Problems have been commonplace on the street corners near the old Roosevelt Junior High School on Ruffner Avenue, which has been home to the individual police units for more than a decade.

"It's mostly old people that have lived there for years, but there are some rental properties where people who don't have jobs just drink alcohol all day long," he said.

He asked the bike and traffic officers to saturate the area, and the number of complaints are way down in the area.

But the transition to community oriented policing is not something the officers can do alone.

"Most people realize you can't do it without the community. If they are not on our side, we can't help."

And every officer in the Community Services Division is behind that.

Williams hopes to see positive changes. "Hopefully we will prevent some of the things that have happened over the last few summers. We're getting back to community police work."

The bigger issue is "we're extremely shorthanded. We're down as low as we've ever been," he said, which makes positive contacts with the public more important because the department is increasingly doing more with less.

The reorganization of the unit also means those officers will now be able to help take some of the load off of the road patrol officers.

"Fifteen or 20 times a week, [Chief Brent Webster] gets complaints about issues and when you get one, two, three calls about the same thing, you know you have a problem," Williams said.

Traditionally, the calls are handed down to the patrol division. Now, the community service division will answer those calls.

"You don't have to burden the patrol guys who are swamped with answering 911 calls," he said. "When there is a shooting, people panic and they call and want to see police immediately."

Now, "We can saturate the area with uniforms and bike officers."

Problems have been commonplace on the street corners near the old Roosevelt Junior High School on Ruffner Avenue, which has been home to the individual police units for more than a decade.

"It's mostly old people that have lived there for years, but there are some rental properties where people who don't have jobs just drink alcohol all day long," he said.

He asked the bike and traffic officers to saturate the area, and the number of complaints are way down in the area.

But the transition to community oriented policing is not something the officers can do alone.

"Most people realize you can't do it without the community. If they are not on our side, we can't help."

And every officer in the Community Services Division is behind that.

Williams hopes to see positive changes. "Hopefully we will prevent some of the things that have happened over the last few summers. We're getting back to community police work."

.