Who we are, and why we are better than this... (legal, death)

[Auntie77]

I have heard a lot recently,about how America is a certain way, and everyone who comes to it, needs to conform. It got me thinking...who are we? When the very earliest seeds of a new country were sown in what is now the United States, what was the dream, and since then, how have we evolved? I went back to revisit some old history, which I would like to share with you.

Let’s start with the earliest European settlers in what is now Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Body of Libertieswas the first legal code established by European colonists in New England. A Puritan minister, Nathaniel Ward, compiled these laws, and they were established by the Massachusetts General Court in 1641. The Body of Liberties begins by establishing the exclusive right of the General Court to legislate and dictate the"Countenance of Authority”.

(Interestingly enough, King Charles II revoked the Body of Liberties and asserted English law, but when King James II established the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he reinstated the Massachusetts Body of Liberties until it was replaced by the Provincial charter.)

The Body of Liberties was significant in how it protected individual rights far beyond what was allowed under English law. It contained rights that would later be included in the US Bill of Rights. Many of the rights therein laid the groundwork for the concept of procedural due process in the US, such as rights to notice and hearing before the court. The rights which were also contained in the Bill of Rights included freedom of speech, a right against uncompensated seizure by the state, the right to bail, the right to a trial by jury, a right against cruel and unusual punishment, and even a provision to protect against double jeopardy.

In addition to those, the Body ofLiberties also contained other individual rights, including a prohibition of general draft (except for territorial defense), a prohibition of monopolies, prohibition of an estate tax, and the freedom of all "house holders"to fishing and fowling on public lands (which had been traditionally forbidden commoners in Europe, as “Public lands” were the property of kings).

For the framing of the Body ofLiberties, many of the rights legislated are explicitly cited as originating from biblical sources. However, leaders of the day, such as RogerWilliams, a co-founder of Rhode Island, specifically stated that religious tolerance was more important than achieving religious homogeneity in a society.

The distance between Europe and the new world perhaps had a great deal todo with what is known as the Age of American Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries. A new American philosophy was being born, with minds such as the great Samuel Johnson, who rejected Calvin's doctrine of Predestination and believed that people were autonomous moral agents endowed with free will and natural rights aspresented by Locke.

While the Declaration of Independence does contain within it references to the “Creator”, the “God of Nature”, “Divine Providence”, and the “Supreme Judge of the World”, the the Founding Fathers were not essentially theistic. Some held personal concepts of deism, as was characteristic of other European Enlightenment thinkers, such as Robespierre,Voltaire, and Rousseau.

(I would like to add a note here, regarding Voltaire, who has commonly been quoted over time, when US rights are referred to..."I disapprove of whatyou say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". Interestingly enough, Voltaire never actually wrote this, it was a creation of Evelyn Beatrice Hall, an English writer. She used it to explain his philosophy, in herbiography of Voltaire which was published in 1906.)

It should be noted, however, that of 106 contributors to the Declarationof Independence between September 5, 1774 and July 4, 1776 ...only two men,Franklin and Jefferson, both of whom professed an adherence to AmericanPractical Idealism in their moral philosophy, were in fact non-denominational Christians (who did not subscribe to one particular denomination). All of the remaining contributors were publicly members of denominational Christian churches in their communities.

So undoubtedly, while the framework of our society is built on foundations which came from Christian roots, the founding fathers were aware of the potential evil of misuse of religion, and made certain to provide for liberties in our Constitution. Since that time,America has seen an influx of Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Orthodox, Muslim and atheist immigrants.

I've always thought it funny when people talk of America as a “melting pot”. I think a trip through various regions where different ethnic groups were drawn to communities where their fellow immigrants settled...makes it clear we are more like a vegetable soup; each group keeps aspects of their own spiritual and cultural practices, while settling into their new life in the United States. To me, what makes the country of my birth unique, is the diversity of its components. It’s a rare country that can achieve that diversity and celebrate it, rather than be torn apart or slam down and force compliance to one group’s way of doing things. I suppose I want to see us keep this openness, and it worries me when I see uncertain times, causing some people to slam doors and blame “the others” for everything.

I’m leaving this thread here, I won’t be speaking on it again, but I wanted to put it out there for discussion. I ask the US citizens and residents on this forum...What is America to you?