America the Beautiful

thomas paineSeveral years ago, the King at the time told a friend how he had sent 14 of the brightest young men of Rumania to receive some training for future service in the government. He had sent 7 to England and another 7 to the United States of America, to study the respective political and even economic systems.

“The seven who went to England were very smart,” said the King, “and they now each have an important post in the leading councils of Bucharest.”

“What about the 7 you sent to America?” asked the friend. read more

John Adams and Benjamin Franklin in France

JohnAdamsAfter Benjamin Franklin was sent to France by Congress, John Adams was soon sent to join and assist him in his labors. Adams and Franklin were very different personalities. Ben was very patient, diplomatic, affable and even affectionate.

John Adams, on the other hand was terse, undiplomatic, impatient, and even gruff at times. Ben and John didn’t see eye to eye on how to proceed. Finally John became so impatient that he uncharacteristically left his assignment and travelled to Amsterdam where he was able to be introduced to some Dutch bankers. Men who controlled money. He was able to convince them to come to the aid of the Colonies, and save the Revolution at desperate time in the War. Thus saving the armies of Washington. read more

Founding Fathers—Uncommon Heroes

Founding Fathers coverThe Founding Fathers were patriots. The root word of ‘founding’ is ‘found’, which means to “take the first steps in building”. The first builders of the nation. The use of the word ‘father’ in this sense means originator. They began the whole thing.

In this context, a father is one who has become one of the leading men as of a country. Just like a man is a father to a boy. The originator, the starter, the one who sees it through.

The way we use these words together today refers to the men who were there at the beginning of our new nation. The ones who originated or started the process of building a new nation. Nation means a politically organized community. read more

Teddy Roosevelt and John Adams, Naturalists

JohnAdamsThere was a naturalist named William Beebe and he was a friend of President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt, of course, was a great friend of nature, as we know. He began the now very extensive National Park system.

One evening the two of them were at Teddy’s home at Sagamore Hill. They walked together around the beautiful gardens and spreading lawn. They took turns identifying the stars and constellations in the night sky.

One of them said: “That is the spiral galaxy of Andromeda. It is as large as our Milky Way. It is one of a hundred million galaxies. It is 800,000 light years away from ours. And that galaxy consists of one hundred billion suns, each larger than our own sun.” read more

Republicanism and The Trial of Christ

constitutionI know it’s a little bit early yet, but Easter is fast approaching. I have sometimes been asked why I have written my books on totally different subjects. Well, the short answer is my background is in law, therefore the Trial of Jesus Christ became a very real matter of interest to me.

I lived outside of the country for a while which imbued in me a spirit of patriotism. Then when I attended a conference in Philadelphia, in 1976, the Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence my interest in the Founding Fathers grew by leaps and bounds. I gave many presentations about my heroes, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John Adams, and James Madison, to the point where people in my audiences began to ask for me to write a book. So I did. read more

John Adams and the U. S. Constitution

JohnAdamsJohn Adams doesn’t get the honor and acclaim he deserves! Even in his lifetime he saw this coming. He said:

“The History of our Revolution will be one continued Lye from one end to the other. . . . The essence of the whole will be that Dr. Franklin’s electrical Rod, smote the Earth and out sprung General Washington. . . .That Franklin electrified him with his rod—and thence forward these two conducted all the Policy, Negotiations, Legislatures and War . . . . Mausoleums, Statues, Monuments will never be erected for me, . . . .nor flattering orations spoken to transmit me to Posterity in brilliant Colours.” read more

John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson—Vitriolic Elections

JohnAdamsIn discussing last nights GOP Presidential debate, one commentator boldly stated that there possibly hadn’t been an election with as much acrimonious attacks since Adams and Jefferson. Of course, none of us were alive to really remember that—and there wasn’t any TV coverage.

But it’s true, there had developed some animosity between the two stanchions of the early years of America. They disagreed on the French Revolution, and about the appointment of judges by Adams at the end of his term of office (hey, is that going to come up again?). read more

Just Facts about U.S. Presidents

Ronald ReaganWith our upcoming Presidential Election coming this year, I thought you might be interested in a few fascinating facts about our past presidents.

The oldest President—Ronald Reagan

The youngest President—Theodore Roosevelt

The youngest to be elected President—John F. Kennedy

The shortest President—James Madison (5’4’’)

The heaviest President—William Taft 321 lbs. in 1911 (a new larger   bathtub was installed for him in the White House)

The first President to live in the White House at Washington, DC—John Adams read more

Examples and Character

Ben Franklin thumb pictureA few posts back, I quoted a statement by Thomas Carlyle. Perhaps you’ll remember that he was a Scottish philosopher, writer, essayist, historian, and teacher. Here’s another quote from Carlyle that I think you’ll like:

“Show me the man you honor, and I will show you the kind of man you are, for it shows me what your ideal of manhood is, and what kind of man you long to be.”

Now that’s a very nice statement, but I don’t think I can actually live up to it! Because the men I honor are the Founding Fathers of our nation, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Patrick Henry, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin. They are my ideals, but I can’t live up to their example. read more

Founding Fathers and Leadership

Speaking-2My wife has been asking me what I want to do now that I’m retired. The other night I woke up at about 2 or 2:30 with a thought on my mind. It seemed important to me at that time in my groggy condition. So what did I do? I got out of bed, went into my office, found a scrap of paper and a pencil and wrote down my thought.

Then, the next day, I couldn’t find the paper on which I had written my thought. Yes, in between I guess I had cleaned off my desk. But that night, I had that same thought again. This time I wrote in down on the white board in my study. That would get misplaced! read more