Benjamin Franklin– Man of Honor

Ben Franklin thumb pictureOne of my heroes is Benjamin Franklin. I have found that he is likewise the hero to many Americans. As I have spoken to many different groups over the past 25 or 30 years about our Founding Fathers, I have found that the people’s favorite is hands down Benjamin Franklin.

My presentations based on his life are better attended and more eagerly and readily accepted that those of any other Founding Father about which I speak. Hands down. It’s not even very close. People of all ages and backgrounds love Ben Franklin! read more

More of The U. S. Constitution Amended

constitutionYesterday I wrote about the amendment amending an amendment to the Constitution. I hope you read about it. Today more about Amendments.

You’ll probably remember that the Equal Rights Amendment was not ratified in the time required by the Amending process in effect. There was just too much uncertainty about how it would affect certain parts of our normal lives—so in the wisdom of the original Signers of the Constitution it was not approved.

What you may not know concerns the most recent Amendment. That is Amendment 27. This Amendment requires that “No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.” read more

Amending the U.S. Constitution as Amended

constitutionThere have been 27 Amendments to the U. S. Constitution since it was ratified in 1787. That’s pretty remarkable when you stop to think about it. Twenty-seven changes to a document creating a new Nation!

And one of those amendments was to revoke a prior amendment. There’s been only one time in the history of our country when one amendment was confirmed in order to strike out an earlier change. That, of course, was in 1933 when the twenty-first amendment was adopted in order to repeal the eighteenth amendment. read more

The Liberty Bell

Liberty BellThe story is told of how the Liberty Bell sounded on July 4, 1776, to celebrate the signing and announcement of the Declaration of Independence. However, no announcement was made on that date, so no celebration or bell ringing was held to get the ball rolling, so to speak.

That myth, or old folk tale, was started by an article printed in 1847, in a book titled “Washington and His Generals: or Legends of the American Revolution”, by George Lippard, a Philadelphia journalist. It is now apparent that Mr. Lippard concocted the whole story of the bell’s involvement in the Revolution. He therefore forged one of the greatest mythical symbols of the Freedom of America. read more

Thomas Jefferson and the Richmond Examiner

Founding Fathers coverJames Callender was the publisher of the Richmond Examiner and a friend who helped Jefferson get elected to the Presidency. But Callender wanted a job in Jefferson’s administration. Tom, however, knew his background, that he’d been run out of Great Britain for sedition and libel, and had been charged in America under the notorious Alien and Sedition Act, and that he was not a particularly honest person.

Calllender reminded Jefferson of all the hard work and writing he had done to assure Tom of his election. But Tom refused him as a member of his cabinet nevertheless. James reminded Tom of his control of the newspaper and threatened to print stories about Jefferson that would do him damage. read more

Jefferson and All the News That’s Fit to Print

Or this article could be headlined “How the Newspaper Got Bigger.”

ThomasJeffersonI’ll have to report on the Jefferson story later. But his caught my eye.

The first official newspaper in the Colonies, or at least the first one to print more than once, was the “Boston News-letter”. It printed news in the order that it was received from the European news sources. The length of the stories and articles became so large, that this newspaper had to expand its size. The information received soon exceeded the space allotted. read more

Mathematics and Religion and Anger

Library of Congress Reading Room“A man in never in worse company than when he flies into a rage and is beside himself!”

“Regret is an appalling waste of energy. You can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.” –Katherine Mansfield

“Mistakes are the dues one pays for a full life.” –Sophia Loren

Anger and mistakes don’t make you whole again. There’re natural.

“No matter what mistakes you have made—no matter how you’ve messed things up—you can still make a new beginning. The person who fully realizes this suffers less from the shock and pain of failure and sooner gets off to a new beginning.” –Norman Vincent Peale read more

Benjamin Franklin’s Disinterestedness

We know that Franklin was in his lifetime a man who accomplished innumerable extraordinary things, includingBen Franklin inventions, diplomatic missions, writings, and printing. We could list a page full. Easily.

He was always learning and helping. One of the character traits he exhibited was that he really didn’t care who got credit. He considered that if God gave him the wisdom to come up with new solutions, inventions or remedies, he wanted to bring those about. He didn’t want the glory. That’s why he never patented any of his inventions. He put them out for public use and benefit. read more

Muhammad Ali and Me

One of my claims to fame is that I actually did shake hands with Muhammad Ali. It was several years ago when he was a guest at the Orrin Hatch Invitational Golf Tournament in Park City, Utah.

At that time my daughter was graduating from BYU in Provo, Utah. She had majored in Public Relations and Communication. She had been hired for the summer by the company which was doing the publicity for the Golf Tournament. She invited my wife and me to come to Utah and join in some of the revelry. So we did. read more

Memorial Day and Memories

You Cant Take it With You coverMy Father died last year. I was going to visit his grave this day, but my brother told me he had been there and the grave was overgrown with weeds, mucky and wet, and to top it off most of the grass was gone or dead. Wow, I didn’t expect that. The grave is supposed to bring back good memories.

Like “we have not yet begun to fight.” Or “I regret that I have only one life to give for my country.” Or “Remember the Alamo.” My Dad served in World War II in the Army Air Corps. He was always a patriot. read more