Protestantism

» pink101 - THESE Are Dangerous Times For America

In response to Washington raised... posted by Migisi:
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It is interesting in the study of American History that there was such heavy discussion regarding the inclusion of a bill of rights to the Constitution.
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The situation was, it seems, quite complicated.
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Part of the problem was mixed into the idea that the people believed in self government and had done so for over a hundred years at the time of the final establishment of the United States in 1791.
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A bill of rights was seen as a compact between a group of people and their ruler--in that case, the king. So, seeing that the people were the authority it was seen as unnecessary for there to be a bill of rights within any constitution as the people retained all the rights.
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Ahah! If you give that a little thought, you--in 2007--begin to see the flaw in that thinking; but, the people in 1780s didn't.
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But, there was a problem and it was gigantic. Here, on one hand, you have Patrick Henry advocating and calling for bills of attainder. What did HE think that was as far as the people retaining any rights? WHAT--did he think--was the meaning of the idea of The People? Was it the State of Virginia he had in mind or was it all the people who lived in Virginia, each and every one of them as individuals?
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When these founders came together in convention, did they think they each represented a people separate from the people represented by the others? Was that the problem in that they thought in terms of individual states rather than in terms of individual Americans?
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The questions just keep coming to the surface in your study of those founding days.
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And, I feel we are being thrown into the same arguments again by the present surge in States Rights advocacies being brought to the forefront by Southern Conservatism.
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THESE are dangerous times for American democracy.
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-- posted by pink101