THE GREAT SEAL OF

"THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"

"Republican Government "

Republican government in America is unique to the world in that it is based upon the Protestant concept of government in a local church. This form of government is created by a constitution from the members; after they have associated themselves together by covenant to form a local church. It is founded upon the liberty in the Gospel presented in The New Testament.  Under this Protestant concept,  all individuals are equal. Under this concept, there is no spiritual hierarchy between God and man. God does not use men to comunicate His will or to determine what is acceptible conduct .  He does not use popes, cardinals, or bishops. He speaks to all directly. All members are priests. Being equal in authority, all have the liberty or right to form their own conscience. 

  The colonies, who were all free Protestant (See Declaration of 1774),  applied this spiritual equality politically to all American citizens. After the American Revolution, all citizens have the spiritual and political liberty to form their own conscience (See Declaration of 1776).

 Under this concept, Protestants believe that Jesus commands those who wish to be great to be seen as servants. Thus the political leaders in America are seen as public servants. On the state level, for example, public servants, who have been elected by the people, are given  limited power by a constitution (a job discription from the people) to serve the people within their state.

Like the members of a local church, each state of the Union has political sovereignty as a republic because the United States is an association of small republics. It is this reason that Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution kept the Supreme Court of the United States from interfering with the politics of Florida in the 2000 Presidential election.   It is this concept of Protestant government  that is the foundation for the inspiration that motivated the men of the 13 Free Protestant colonies to unite as an association of small republics and fight against the political system of England. The form of government resulting from this liberty is still unique among the Christian nations of the world today. More... 

About the Author

Mission Statement

Introduction to Liberty Principles

Maintaining a "republican form of government" in the States.

" Republican Form of Government"

under the Principles of Federalism

Introduction

In Article IV, Section. 4 of the U.S. Constitution, the following clause appears:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,"

In American politics, the guarantee clause of "a republican form of government" to each State is written to prevent the federal government, which would be created by the Constitution, from extending or construing its Constitutional rights or powers, in such a manner, as to invade the politics within the sovereignty of the individual Free States.

The clause is written to protect the political sovereignty of each Free State within the Union. It is also written to protect the Equal Right of all citizens within a State to determine the way they will manage their lives and property as they pursue God's Blessings for their happiness. The founders believed that this right was an inalienable Right from God. They also believed that this right belonged to everyone. It is commonly referred to by our founders as a citizen's "Right of Conscience" or "Liberty of Conscience".

In 1776, the founders fought and won the right to exit as a Union of Free States. Their victory also meant that the citizens of each of the Free States had the right to practice their "Rights of Conscience" without government interference.

Thomas Jefferson believed that this clause was the most important clause of the whole Constitution. He stated so in a letter to the Methodist Episcopal Church at New London, Connecticut, Feb. 4, 1809. He wrote:

"No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the power of its public functionaries..."

When 11 of the 13 original States passed the U.S. Constitution, they, the People of those 11 Free States, believed that the Constitution had been written in such a way as to protect their Right to continue to practice all of the liberties that they had won as listed in the founding principles of the "Declaration of Independence".

That protection was based upon the following principle. In the "Declaration of Independence", the Free States, united as a Confederation, state that any and all constitutions in America are to be seen as laws for the elected leaders. (See "Declaration of Independence")

The U.S. Constitution was therefore to be seen as a job description for the elected leaders at the federal level giving them the power to govern the States only in the areas outline by the Constitution. The People of all the 11 Free States believed that the Constitution was written in such a way as to build a Wall of Protection around each State to protect the internal affairs of that State from their federal government.

Applying this principle also to the State level meant that all other areas that had not been assigned to the elected leaders of the individual States by State Constitutions, were to remain with the People of those States without question.

They believed that there was no need for a "Bill of Rights" within their Republic because they had stated in their founding document that a constitution could exist only as long as it produced a federal government that supported all the founding principles of their Republic. For in the new Constitution of their Republic, the guarantee clause of "a republican form of government to each State" would always mean the federal government was required to support the fundamental principle that each State was a Free State within the Confederation as in 1776, with the right to exist and operate as a Free sovereign republic in all areas not listed in the federal Constitution of the Confederation.

The clause "a republican form of government" was a vital and necessary clause which allowed each State of the Confederation to continue its existance as a Free State. It is the main clause in the Constitution that prevents the federal government from consolidating the Free States into one national State. Because of that clause, the Republic will always be seen as a Confederation of free States and not as a consolidation of people into one State. The Confederation will always be known as "The United States of America" and not the "The United State of America".(See Hamilton's Letter #84 of "The Federalist Papers" ) and (Madison's Speech to Congress.)

Original Purpose of "The Bill of Rights"

Eleven of the thirteen Free States were convinced that that existing protection was adequate, two were not. James Madison wanted unity in the Confederation. To obtain it, however, he had to compromise his position with the 11 States and introduce an additional "Bill of Rights" for additional protection in order to get the 2 remaining States to join the Confederacy. ((Madison's Speech to Congress.) The elected leaders of the 11 States had failed to convince those 2 remaining States that the guarantee of "a republican form of government " to each State was enough to protect individuals and their States from their federal government.

SOME VERY IMPORTANT QUOTES CONCERNING THE CONTEXT OF LIBERTY AND "RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE" UNDER AMERICA'S REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT.

1. "No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the power of its public functionaries..." (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to the Methodist Episcopal Church at New London, Connecticut, Feb. 4, 1809).

2. "The error seems not sufficiently eradicated that the operations of the mind as well as the acts of the body are subject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have no authority over such natural rights, only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God. The legitmate powers of government extend to such acts as are injurious to others." (Thomas Jefferson quoted from "Jefferson Himself" edited by Bernard Mayo, p.81, University Press of Virginia).

3. "And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?" (Thomas Jefferson from his "Notes on Virginia", 2:229-30)

Brief History of American Politics and the Explanation of the Seal's Symbols

"The United States of America" Illustrated

    Welcome!

    You are about to enter the pictorial site of American Politics. Black's Law Dictionary defines the human conscience as a " moral sense; the faculty of judging the moral qualities of actions, or of discriminating between right and wrong; particular applied to one's perception and judgment of the moral qualities of his own conduct, but in a wider sense, denoting a similar application of the standards of morality to the acts of others."

    For Protestants, Catholics, and Jews in America, the Right of liberty in the Declaration of Independence means that they have the freedom to use "The Ten Commandments" as their standard or guide for what they feel is morally right and wrong. It is the purpose of the U.S. Constitution as stated in the Preamble to protect the Blessings of that liberty.

    This was accomplished by not giving the federal government power in the Constitution to pass laws or interpret laws in a way that would impair or prohibit an individual's right to follow those Commands of God according to his or her own conscience. According to God's Covenant with his followers, He promised to see that His Blessings would be given to all individuals, who followed Him, in proportion to their allegiance to His Commands.

    The "Fear of God" and the voluntary allegiance to His Commands for Blessings were the foundation for the new form of government that had been created in America by the free Protestants . It was designed to create and maintain order without the use of a police force.

    This alternative form of government and the Protestant principle of "peer pressure", made possible by using the local press in each town, eliminated the need to create and maintain a police state to keep order in local communities.

    The Commandments were never to be forced upon anyone in America. They were only taught by the founders as (1) the alternative to having a police state and (2) being the only way to obtain Blessings of liberty from God. The founders believed that every American citizen should have the same opportunity or right to pursue happiness or Blessings from God according to his own conscience as they did.

    The Constitution was never designed to guarantee happiness, only to protect the pursuit and blessings obtained from that pursuit. The founders believed that if one would choose to follow the Commands of God and seek His blessings, they would find true happiness.

    Formimg a Conscience

    Because man thinks in pictures and not words, this site uses a unique approach for explaining the major rights of Americans and the principles that define their form of government. It pictorially illustrates how the conscience is formed and how the U.S. Constitution prevents the federal government from interferring with each citizen's God given right to use that conscience to discriminate personally their own actions and socially the actions of others based upon what they feel is right and wrong.

    The site is divided into two sections, A & B.

    Section A

    This section contains short essays on major topics dealing with each American's "Right of Conscience". At the present time, the following topics are presented:

    Section B

    This section contains, in chronological order, all the major documents that were used to create the Union and its form of government. It identifies the major characteristics of the Union as a Confederation of Free States and the federal government as it was created to govern those States.

    Overview of Section B

    • Confederation of 1643 ( Describes the Principle Attributes of an American Confederation based upon Religious Liberty)
    • Declaration of 1775 (Describes how the Colonies as a Confederation warn England that they will call up their militias if conditions continue.)
    • Declaration of 1776 (The New England Confederation of Colonies declare their sovereignty and independence as free States)
    • The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 ( Defines how new States will be added to the Confederation and it declares that any changes in the Articles of Confederation will only be done by the use of a constitution. The same principle is stated by the Confederation in the "Declaration of Independence".)
    • The U.S. Constitution (Changes the form of the government in the Confederation by dividing into three separate branches the political power that had resided in one body. It did not, however, change the relationship of the individual Free States to one another as a Confederation.)