Age and the Founding Fathers

Last night my blog was all about the ages of some of the Founding Fathers. Tonight it is about You! What can you learn from their lives. Here is a poem to express that just a bit:

“You are old, Father William,” the young man cried.
“The few locks that are left you are gray.
You are hale, Father William, a hearty old man;
Now tell me the reason, I pray>”

“In the days of my youth,” Father William replied,
“I remembered that youth would fly fast;
And abused not my health and my vigor at first,
That I never might need them at last.” read more

The Ages of the Founding Fathers

The Founding Fathers were industrious and positive thinking men. They lived not only fruitful lives, but lives full of activity, wisdom, leadership, and friendship.

Benjamin Franklin, who took part in most of the life changing events of his time, lived to be 84. He died in 1790.

George Washington, the indispensible man, our nation wouldn’t exist without his accomplishments, died at the age of 67. He died in December of 1799, just before the new century was rung in.

Patrick Henry also died in 1799. He was known as America’s noble patriot and the first national hero. He was only 63 when he left his family of 17 children. read more

Lessons From Prison

Patrick Henry warned us about losing some of our rights, even with the new Constitution. Yes, just as he warned, I was unjustly and falsely accused of conspiracy to defraud the government. To avoid a possible 37 year prison sentence, I accepted a plea offer. Later I was exonerated when the civil court decided I had done no wrong.

Read about this In my upcoming book “A Patriot Imprisoned.” Sometimes people ask me how I could have made it through confinement, imprisonment, and detention, and remain confident, optimistic, and even positive? It’s because those are my choices. That is my character. read more

Founding Fathers Follow –up

I had a meeting with my publisher this weekend about my upcoming book. We made some decisions. There is some basic editing and a few major changes that have to be made. The working title is “A Patriot Imprisoned”. It’s about my unjust indictment, what happened, my incarceration, and my exoneration by the civil courts (3 of them).

The book gives interesting methods I used to come to terms with and accept my ordeal, and the way my wife handled things.

My publisher has a way for you to benefit from all of the promotion & publicity of my book that will happen when my book is launched. If that is something you might want more information about at some point, please let me know! www.stevenwallenjd.@gmail.com. read more

Philadelphia—Independence not Cheese

It’s absolutely a fact that the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson, in Philadelphia. Jefferson was a member of the committee assigned by the Continental Congress to create such a document if one should be needed. The committee was made up of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. They chose Jefferson to write the draft for their review and approval. He did. At the Graff House. The committee approved it with only minor changes. read more

Winter with the Founding Fathers

In the Revolutionary War the battles generally stopped in the winter months. That was mostly because of the cold and wet weather. George Washington didn’t consider that in his quest to cross the Delaware River and attack the British forces with the Hessian soldiers who were camped at Trenton, New Jersey. The main British army had stopped for rest, dining and dancing somewhat earlier.

You remember the victory of Trenton and Princeton. They were won when armies were usually resting and waiting for fighting weather. read more

The Founding Fathers and Prudence

Carefulness, caution, and good sense. That’s what they meant by prudence. That’s kind of like what Benjamin Franklin defined as “Moderation” in his Project for Moral Perfection. He defined moderation as “Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.” Moderation should be used in all your decisions and actions. Use reason and common sense to solve most problems.

Most of the Founding Fathers seemed to think along these same lines. Use common sense, which is not so common any longer. read more

Benjamin Franklin and Pride

Franklin had his own “Project for Moral Perfection.” He strived to become as perfect in a dozen different personal character traits as he could be. He made a list and worked on it his whole life. After a short while one of his friends told Ben he should add another trait to his list. That of humility. And the friend proved the need for improvement in that area by citing several examples.

At least one prophet has suggested that Pride is the sin of this generation. We must all be careful to watch ourselves, and our words and deeds. Pride can be corrosive to character. read more

The U. S. Constitution

In this Easter season I’ve been posting about the Illegal Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It all began because all Hebrew authority was concentrated in their Great Sanhedrin (they were allowed to govern themselves as a ‘client state’ of Rome). There were no checks and balances. Christ was found guilty of blasphemy.

There was no death penalty allowed to be carried out by the Sanhedrin without the express approval of the Roman representative. Hence, the Chief Priests took their guilty subject to Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea as representative of Caesar. They wanted approval of their death penalty crime. It was granted. read more