Benjamin Franklin had seen so much trouble and even despair caused by drinking that he advised against it. His childhood friend borrowed some money from Ben, then disappeared to Barbados. Ben never saw him again.
Hugh Meredith was Ben’s partner in the printing business in Philadelphia. He was seldom sober. Franklin and Meredith soon dissolved their partnership.
Ben was assigned to negotiate a treaty with the American Indians around Pennsylvania. Ben was at the time a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. Then Native Americans demanded liquor in order to listen to the terms of a treaty. They drank all the liquor given them and then demanded more.
James Monroe, while not considered one of the Founding Fathers directly, did serve with and was influenced by them. Monroe was in the camp with George Washington in December, 1776. You recall that was the month that Washington directed the assault across the Delaware River in a snowstorm to attack the British and their hired warriors, the Hessians. The Hessian were considered the most mighty and brutal of all the fighting armies at the time.
In the practice of law and there is a rule of law that questions regarding a contract must be construed by what is said within the 4 corners of the Agreement itself. Contract law is based on this principle. What the document says, controls. If it is not there, the Agreement must then be revised or the question ignored.
Last night I expressed some gratitude for what Senator Orrin Hatch did in requesting that Supreme Court nominee, Sandra Day O’Conner learn a little more about the U.S. Constitution. I hope you enjoyed that episode of history.
“I must soon quit this scene. But you may live to se our country flourish, as it will amazingly and rapidly after the war is over; like a field of young Indian corn, which long fair weather had enfeebled and discolored, and which in that weak state, by a thunder gust of violent wind, hail and rain, seemed to be threatened with absolute destruction; yet the storm being past, it recovers fresh verdure, shoots up with double vigor, and delights the eye, not of its owner only, but of every observing traveler.”
As I was editing some material this week, I was once again enchanted by my description of a recent trip my wife and I took to Virginia. One of the most memorable placed we stopped was Red Hill. This was Patrick Henry’s retirement home, and where his grave is located.
There were some mean spirited and even scandalous elections in our nations early years. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams had a furious campaign against each other. Their early friendship was almost completely ended. They didn’t speak to each other for a dozen years.