Words of wisdom from the good Captain;-)

[JamesA1102]

Run time: 02:02 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b56e0u0EgQ   Posted on YouTube: January 16, 2007 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: July 08, 2007 By DU Member: JamesA1102 Views on DU: 666

 

[uberllama42]

1. "Not written for the chiefs and kings, or the warriors, or the rich or the powerful"

There's a good theory. Despite what we were all told in high school, the Constitution was written for the rich and the powerful. The Revolution was an effort by the propertied class in the colonies to secure for themselves the same rights they would have had if they had lived in England. The Constitution shared that motivation- they wanted to establish a government which would protect their property rights.

Andrew Jackson did a great deal to enfranchise poor whites, and of course there has been great progress since then. But when people complain that Big Business has taken over this country, they ignore the widespread influence our rich oligarchs have always had over the course of policy in the U.S.

Very nice acting by Shatner, though.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. respectfully disagree

John and Samuel Adams, both key players, did not come from wealth or property. John's father was a farmer, as was his grandfather, and so back for generations. What the Adams cousins wanted, I think, was the right to rise in society and not to have that right taken away. Others in the Massachusetts legislature were also interested in securing and opening up the frontier, something the British weren't that keen about (and neither were the Native Americans, for that matter). There were any number of men who fought in the American Revolution who agreed with these causes.

I've done genealogical research for over 25 years, and have studied Revolutionary War documents and legal papers of the period. In my family, at least, the one fellow who was a rich merchant did NOT side with the rebels, but instead was a Loyalist who tried to recruit others into a Loyalist regiment in the Hudson River Valley; he was in several skermishes and battles, and at the end of the war fled to Canada. Everyone else in my family who was involved in the Revolution were not well to do, but rather working class or farmers--the Adams cousins (my direct ancestor was their aunt) being the most prosperous of the lot.

[uberllama42]

6. Naturally, the people who actually did the fighting

were poor. Most of Britain's objectionable policies were not directly harmful to the majority of Americans, but it is my understanding that they were largely progandized into the war by the Sons of Liberty. It's relatively easy to get people to fight if you tell them the reason they are cold and hungry is because of the British Crown, regardless of whether or not that is the case. (It wasn't - the objectionable policies were almost universally the result of Parliament - George III was actually considerably friendly to America before the war. But the Seperatists could not attack Parliament because they had a handful of allies in Parliament. The King was a much easier target. And the reason most people were poor was the result of the structure of American society.)

Neither Adams was present at the Constitutional Convention. John was not quite a friend of the poor. If you read what he wrote in defense of the soldiers on trial for the "Boston Massacre," he says some unbelievable nasty and racist things. Of course, he was a lawyer and could have been lying, despite his noble intent in the case (which I nonetheless admire very much.)

The primary push for opening the frontier came from wealthy speculators. You are right in saying that part of the motivation behind the revolution was the frontier, but it was the motivation of the wealthy.

Not all wealthy men have the same interests. The two most famous men who attended the Convention but voted against ratification before sending the document to the states were George Mason of Virginia and Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts (after whom the Gerrymander is named.) They both objected on the grounds that the new system of laws would hurt them financially, although the no doubt they came up with more presentable objections when pressed publicly.

[Robb]

2. "One named Kirk, what is this "tronkwility" you speak of?!?"

:rofl:

[yurbud]

3. Kirk visits GOP convention, explains constitution not magic just really good ideas

if you actually read them.

[AnnieBW]

5. I still can't hear the Preamble

without thinking of "Schoolhouse Rock". :D