… the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms, enacted by the 2nd Continental Congress on 6 July 1775.
This five-page declaration explained why the Colonies believed armed resistance against the Crown (Great Britain) had become necessary. Although the delegates still expressed hope for peace, they made it clear they were prepared to defend their liberties by force—setting the stage for the Declaration of Independence one year later.
Part of that process we discussed earlier this month, it is worth studying by lovers of liberty.
You can find it here.
It’s ending words are striking:
Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow-‐subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against them. We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great-Britain, and establishing independent states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death.
In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our fore-‐fathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and not before.
With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war.
Can we have the same attitude those men and women had 251 years ago today?
The Price of Liberty 
Local governments, even in Wyoming, are evil
This article is from Cowboy State Daily:
Crook County is a small, ranching, timber, mining, and tourist county in Wyoming’s Black Hills. It is home to one of five Amish communities in the State of Wyoming. They are good neighbors, good people, and of great value to the community (not that the last is a requirement for the first two). It only has about 8,000 residents living in more than 2800 square miles. It is a lovely place, filled with a lot of good people, businesses, and opportunity. The Amish fit in well with the frontier and surprisingly libertarian attitude of most people. Indeed, the community of Hulett, in addition to having Amish, Devil’s Tower, a huge sawmill, and great hunting and fishing, is where Boston T. Party and others established the Wyoming Free State project decades ago.
We at TPOL know and work with some of the officials in Crook County. And we know that sometimes the officials (elected and appointed) demonstrate disturbing signs of stupidity and evil. And we know that their governmental system is corrupt and evil, just as every county in every American State is. Why? Because all too often they fail to praise and honor those who do good and fail to punish those who do evil. Why? All too often, as in this case, the failures come from what the State government (read, Legislature, Judicial Branch, and the Executive Branch) forces the county to do. And of course, much of what the State government does is demanded, dictated by the FedGov, DC (with threat of force if not obeyed).
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