A Revolutionary Idea

Bob Schieffer Says There Was Nothing Inevitable About The Birth Of The United States

(CBS)  Weekly commentary by CBS Evening News chief Washington correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer.

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Some thoughts on this July 4th weekend ...

In his wonderful book, "Founding Brothers," historian Joe Ellis says of the American Revolution that "no event in American history, which was so improbable at the time, has seemed so inevitable in retrospect."

As we think back on the rightness of America's cause, we find it hard to believe that it could have come out any other way.

Yet, as Ellis writes, when the Declaration of Independence was signed, the signers had no idea how the revolution would end. The most likely outcome was failure.

No matter the rightness of the cause, the signers were defying the most powerful nation in the world, and no colony had ever successfully broken away from a mother country.

Revolution after revolution against imperialist powers followed ours, but until ours, none had succeeded.

All the signers of our declaration knew for certain was that if it failed, they would hang. Somehow, they won.

On the Fourth of July, we celebrate (as we should) the wisdom and the vision of the founders and the way, in one document, that Thomas Jefferson summarized the aspirations of all people: the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

But let us never forget the one thing that made all the rest of it and what came after it possible: courage - the courage of those who bet their very lives on a project that all signs suggested would fail.

There was nothing inevitable about the American Revolution.

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E-mail Face the Nation.

[ausus-2009]

It''s time to stop fighting old battles - the Bush era is coming to an end - now we should think about how we want to shape the US in the years to come. We will have a new President, all of the seats of Congress will be up for election as will a third of the Senate.

What do we want from the new President and new Congress?

[alancozzi]

and with hope , the nation may survive the conservative assault, the conservative war against humanity,

pray for christians to be turned back into humans

HERE HERE!!!

in the interest of fairness, there have been far more human & intelligent conservatives than the ones in power now - the neocon junta (go look up the origins of the neocon movement Righties&Republicans - do it now! - it is not what you think it is, I promise you) and it''s influence is the problem

AC

[mswolfestock]

Right On, hologram5! Use the example set by the courageous patriots - get out there and QUESTION AUTHORITY!!!

[hologram5]

All this talk of freedom and independance means nothing if we sit idle and do nothing while our freedoms get taken away in the name of "national security". We need to stand together and fight the tyranny.

[mswolfestock]

God Bless America. I urge everybody to study American history and the Revolution - it is the most exciting and uplifting story - so much better than most popular fiction.

If you love America, study its history. Then you will know and understand why you love your country. The story of the founding of this great nation is NOT boring, although too many school teachers in the past have made it seem dull.

I have read "Founding Brothers," and it was great. I would also suggest and recommend David McCullough''s books "John Adams," and "1776," which is mostly about George Washington and everything that happened in the year of our great nation''s birth. I think it was Joseph Ellis who also wrote "American Sphinx," about Thomas Jefferson. Cokie Roberts, the ABC News reporter, wrote a great book, "Founding Mothers," which highlights some of the Revolution''s less well-known contributors, along with Abigail Adams, Martha Custis Washington, Dolley Madison, etc.

[cfin5]

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was only writing on a piece of paper if it has to be implemented from the end of a gun.

Posted by o_nolan1 at 08:51 AM : Jul 08, 2008---- The King of England didn''t bow to a piece of paper, rather from the American spirit of heart that held the other end of the gun. Your understanding is about this "-" long if you believe your own words against the words of the Founding "AUTHORS" of this nation.

[penrod8]

As always when we celebrate the birth of our country, Thomas Jefferson is mentioned. Perhaps, we would do better to compare the contributions of Jefferson to those of John Adams. No one contributed more, and accumulated less, either monetarily or in historical recognition, than John Adams, for their efforts. And even as our nation was being conceived and during the infancy of this country, John Adams realized that the two party system would lead to the ruination of our country. Something that the intellecutals in both parties have not and do not recognize to this day.

[o_nolan1]

We will only have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as long as we are able to defend these RIGHTS. That means not *** with the 2nd amendment. I know this aggravates the "left", but it is even more important than abortion, gay marriage, universal healthcare or wearing your baseball cap sideways.. Aren''''t you glad you don''''t live in Washington DC?

Posted by ken1dall

The second amendment was written when America was teetering on the edge of volatility. Arming oneself was designed to bolster the new nation just formed and not to protect it from itself. Why has this amendment become the right to bear arms to protect yourself from your fellow Americans? It is all so bizarre. If the country is that bad than maybe it''s time to move. If one is that fearful of the government, than those wise old men were dead wrong. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was only writing on a piece of paper if it has to be implemented from the end of a gun.

[ausus-2009]

larryfarma,

The Founding Fathers may have had their failings, but they produced some wonderful documents in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Have you read either document lately?

[Larry Fafarman]

The proximate cause of the Revolutionary War was the Boston Tea Party and the British response to it, the Intolerable Acts. The British lowered the tax on tea to help the British East India Co. sell its tea in the colonies, but the resulting lowered price undercut the price of tea sold by tea smugglers. Colonists who profited from the smuggled tea protested. The owners of the tea ships in Boston harbor agreed to leave without unloading the tea, but colonial governor Thomas Hutchinson refused to let the tea ships leave without first unloading the tea. Some colonists disguised as Indians then boarded the ships and dumped the tea into the harbor. The British then responded with the Intolerable Acts, which suspended the charter of Massachusetts and closed Boston harbor until the tea was paid for. The Intolerable Acts sparked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. John Hancock, whose signature on the Declaration of Independence dwarfs the others, was a tea smuggler.

The desperate revolutionaries made an alliance with their old enemy, France, against the mother country. Ironically, one of the purposes of British taxation in the colonies was to help pay for the cost of the French and Indian Wars.

Anyway, I see no reason to worship the Founders, as some originalist judges do. The Founders weren''t all wonderful people.

[ausus-2009]

OzarkBard,

If you have multiple parties, you have a situation like Italy with an average of one government a year since World War II or a similar situation in France until De Gaulle. Such instability is a recipe for economic and political disaster.

[ozarkbard]

Only in a vigorous two-party system do you have any chance for checks and balances on one corrupt party.
Posted by ausus at 09:56 PM : Jul 07, 2008
______________________________________________________

Two parties are defintely better then one, but having ONLY two major parties means it only takes one side to muff up the whole works.

Ideally, I believe we should have no less then ten major political parties, the more the better. And by "major" I mean it literally, not soem minor party that only represents less then one percent of the populace.

But of course, this is all pipe dream. I believe it is impossible to get a truly and wholy moral person into the White House; the rules of the game have been established too long for that to happen... so really the number of political parties is a moot point.

[cfin5]

"With respect to our rights, and the acts of the British government contravening those rights, there was but one opinion on this side of the water. All American whigs thought alike on these subjects. When forced, therefore, to resort to arms for redress, an appeal to the tribunal of the world was deemed proper for our justification. This was the object of the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject, in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion. All its authority rests then on the harmonizing sentiments of the day, whether expressed in conversation, in letters, printed essays, or in the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, et cetera." - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Henry Lee, May 8, 1825

[ausus-2009]

joyous88,

Are you looking for a one-party state run by a party that has had in its history Tammany Hall, the Daley machine in Illinois, the Brown-Unruh machine in California, the Long machine in Louisiana, various corrupt mayors in Washington DC, etc.

Only in a vigorous two-party system do you have any chance for checks and balances on one corrupt party.

[ausus-2009]

patriot12436,

You are no patriot. To overthrow the elected government can lead only to a brutal dictatorship. It will mean the end of free communication such as we are having now. It will mean the end of the Bill of Rights.

Can you name any government who was overthrown that created a better result? The American Revolution doesn''t count as it was removing a colonial ruler. Certainly the violent overthrow of governments in France, Russia, Cuba, China, England and in many parts of Africa led to brutal, murderous dictatorships with horrors unimagined in the democratic west.

[ken1dall]

We will only have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as long as we are able to defend these RIGHTS. That means not *** with the 2nd amendment. I know this aggravates the "left", but it is even more important than abortion, gay marriage, universal healthcare or wearing your baseball cap sideways.. Aren''t you glad you don''t live in Washington DC?

[kaiyo4u]

patriot12436, absolutely right! It is our duty to overthrow the government if it is not doing as we expect it to.

If you are expecting to be told how to live your life then you should not be here in the US, but in a country that will fulfill that for you.

I shall live my life as a free man invoking the liberties set forth by the Constitution.

Something that was told to me a long time ago was that a person does not live for what they believe in, but are willing to lay down their life for their belief.
Maybe that is what is wrong with this country today, there is too little to believe in for a lot of people. So they live their life doing what they''re told to do by the forces around them.

[joyous88]

what is inevitable is the demise of the United States

at the hands of republicon rule,

Time to dismantle the republicon party, the party for and of the wealthy, the parasites of america

the new NAZI''s

[juwboy]

18 of the 56 signatures on the Declaration of Independence were inscribed by persons born in Wales or of Welsh descent (as Thomas Jefferson was).

The Welsh contribution to the Revolutionary cause far exceeded their relative numbers in the population of the Colonies in 1776.

[patriot12436]

sam thecat
Or does he ?