During the 16th and 17th centuries, early American settlers were primarily from England, Ireland, and Germany.
These ‘Pilgrims’ sought opportunities for land ownership, economic prosperity, and religious freedom.
A ‘Pilgrim’ is the name for a ‘religious traveler’. Many of them left Europe to avoid religious persecution.
Pilgrams were farmers who lived in poverty, worked long hours for low pay by weaving, spinning and making cloth.
They made ideal settlers because they were close-knit, industrious and accustomed to hardship.
There were also many ‘economic migrants’ who came to help with the ‘commercial’ success of the colonies.
The cost of establishing these original colonies was paid for by Investment groups from Europe wanting a new source of fur, timber, and fish.
After years of failure, they started to succeed by trapping beaver and sending their fur back to Europe. Beaver fur had become very popular in Europe for the making of hats and other clothing accessories.
By 1691 the number of settlements had grown and they banded together to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
It had taken over 70 years of struggling to reach just this point.
By the mid 1700s America had grown to 13 separate colonies. Each of which had many settlements.
The laundry list of complaints against the King and Parliament was constantly growing.
Of the 27 SPECIFIC complaints cited in the Declaration of Independence, below are just a few of them.
• Not allowing colonist to participate in their own government.
• The king appointed his own judges.
• English generals could suppress cities.
• He created unconstitutional laws.
• Excessive taxes on the colonists without representation.
• Foreign soldiers were stationed in colonists homes.
• He eliminated ‘trial by jury’.
• He claimed authority over ALL LAWS and in ALL SITUATIONS.
• He ignored the colonists complaints.
• He dissolved local governments.
• He cut off all trade with countries other than England.
• He took arrested colonists all the way back to England for their trial.
These complaints finally resulted in the Colonial Congress declaring independence from England.
July 4th, 1776 these 27 grievances and examples of crimes of the King of England against the people of the colonies led to publication of the “Declaration of Independence”.
The Declaration of Independence is made up of three major parts: the preamble; the body, and the conclusion.
The preamble explains how all men have rights. The government is established to secure those rights. And if government becomes a hindrance to those rights, it should be abolished!
The Body lists numerous grievances and examples of crimes of the King against the people of the colonies.
The conclusion announces to the world that “the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.”
On August 2, 1776 delegates from the Continental Congress began signing it.
John Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Other than John Hancock and Charles Thompson, whose names appeared on the original printed versions of the Declaration, the names of the other signers were kept secret until 1777 for fear of British reprisals.
On January 18, 1777, Congress ordered the second official printing of the document, including the names of all of the signers.
The Constitution, which was approved by the delegates to the Convention on September 17, 1787, established a republican form of government.
The Constitution established the United States as a republic in which power ultimately is in the hands of the people and is exercised by their elected representatives.
It explained the organization of that government, and outlined the federal system.
Federalism divides the power between the national government and the states.
Congress makes laws, but the president can veto legislation. However, Congress can override a president's veto with a two-thirds vote from both houses.
While the president appoints judges to the Supreme Court, the Senate can reject an appointee through its power to give "advice and consent."
The genius of the U.S. Constitution is no accident. America’s Founding Fathers had learned the hard way that any government - given too much power - would eventually oppress the people.
It is a system of checks and balances designed to ensure that no single entity has too much power.
It explained the rough organization of the three branches, how they would interact with the states, and how the document could be amended.
Amending and filling in the details was left to future leaders.
America’s government has three parts. The legislative, executive, and judicial.
Many people refer to these as Congress, President, and the Supreme Court.
The first writes our laws, the second executes them, and the third makes sure it’s done correctly and follows our constitution.
Each ‘branch’ of government has a high degree of autonomy. Each branch still has legal influence on the other two.
This structure has kept our nation stable over the last 250 years.
Most all other world governments have collapsed over this time or evolved to abuse its citizens.
This ‘three branch’ system of government is used in every state . . .
and each state has its own constitution . . .
but their laws CAN NOT override or conflict with our Federal constitution.
This ‘checks and balances’ system of government is used in every state.
And though there have been many corrupt politicians, they are eventually discovered, and will pay the price.
This is because our system of ‘checks and balances’ does not allow any one person to have too much political power.
American values reinforce fairness and equality of opportunity across to all regardless of race or religion.
It does not guarantee your success, but it does guarantee you will be treated fairly.
But you MUST follow our laws. Those are our ‘rules’ for living in America.
Just like the rules in sports teams, all sides have to play by the same rules.
You will also notice this theme in our movies and television programs going back as far as 100+ years.
HOWEVER . . .
The internet and TV news allows people to invent ‘news’ or portray events in a distorted way.
Especially with ‘Artificial Intelligence’.
Please, in our current world, TRIPLE CHECK your news sources!
Only in America!
You can be most anything you want.
And the Internet enables you to be an expert of most any subject.
Your success is directly related to your knowledge.