TFP Admin Writers Archives - The Founding Project

Lemuel Haynes, Our African-American Founder

October 19, 2024 TFP Staff 2

Lemuel Haynes: Pastor, Patriot, Poet On July 18, 1753, Lemuel Haynes was born to a white mother “of respectable ancestry” and an African father in West Hartford, Connecticut. His parents abandoned him as a child, giving him to a local deacon in Middle Granville, Massachusetts. Lemuel’s parents had an agreement with Deacon John Haynes that their son would work on Haynes’ farm until age 21 in exchange for housing and education. His Youth Thus, Lemuel spent his youth as an indentured servant working on a Massachusetts farm to earn his keep. He worked on the farm by day and studied at night. With a basic education, Lemuel developed a passion for books, especially for the […]

Algernon Sidney, Unsung Founding Father

October 15, 2024 John Barrett 0

Algernon Sidney, An Unsung Founder Every year, as we approach the anniversary of his beheading, I pay tribute to Algernon Sidney. Since so few people have heard of Col. Sidney, much less know of his influence on the founding fathers, I believe it is important to provide some information about him. Algernon Sidney was an associate of John Locke and one of the luminaries of the Whig Movement (not to be confused with the Whig Party in the U.S.). While Locke fled to Holland upon being implicated in the Rye House Plot to assassinate, King Charles II, Col. Sidney stayed and was arrested. At trial, the primary evidence against Col. Sidney was the manuscript for […]

The U. S. Constitution: Simplified

September 17, 2024 thefpAdmin 5

The U. S. Constitution: Simplied…Abbreviated for beginning understanding or quick reference When you just want to get the general or simplified idea of what is covered, TFP offers an abbreviated version of the U.S. Constitution. Think of this as your “pocket version” of the full Constitution. It is not meant to be a version for legal purposes or study. It is meant to give our members the general idea of each portion of the Constitution for better understanding or a beginning approach to learning about the greatest document of freedom the world had experienced. Look for general definitions at the end of this simplified version. The full, original transcription of the U. S. Constitution […]

The 14th Amendment and Rights

September 1, 2024 thefpAdmin 0

Why The 14th Amendment? After the Civil War, the United States needed to swiftly deal with several aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. Three amendments were ratified in July of 1868 and were collectively known as the “Reconstruction Amendments”. The 14th Amendment was intended to protect the rights of formerly enslaved people, but has continued to play a role in constitutional politics. In response to the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln, the first step to free slaves, and The 13th Amendment, which freed slaves, some Southern states enacted laws known as “Black Codes”. These “Black Codes” targeted recently freed slaves and restricted their ability to travel widely, own certain types of property and-or […]

The Articles of Confederation Complete Text

July 9, 2024 thefpAdmin 0

TO ALL TO WHOM these Presents shall come, we the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our Names send greeting. Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America in Congress assembled did on the fifteenth day of November in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy seven, and in the Second Year of the Independence of America agree to certain articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia in the Words following, viz. “Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the states of New […]

The Declaration of Independence, Exact Transcript

July 3, 2024 thefpAdmin 0

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription Editor’s Note: This is a transcription of the Engraving of the parchment of The Declaration of Independence, a document on display in the National Archives Museum Rotunda. The spelling, punctuations and wording is exact to the original document. The signers of this Declaration are included at the bottom, along with the state they represented. In Congress, July 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the […]

America’s First Congress

September 9, 2023 thefpAdmin 0

America’s First Congress The First Congress and Congress, as we now know it, officially began on March 4, 1789. It came into being due to America’s new Constitution, which was written in 1787. The new Constitution of the United States of America was written in 1787. It was ratified in 1788, when the 9th state (New Hampshire) ratified it on June 21, 1788. It officially began operation in 1789 and is the world’s longest surviving written charter of government. Charting a Course The First Congress’ necessary tasks were many and the new form of government meant the Congress was charting a new course of freedom. There were no examples for this Congress to follow, because […]

Our First “Constitution”: The Articles of Confederation

April 17, 2023 thefpAdmin 4

Why the Articles of Confederation failed its New Nation The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States of America. It established a confederate style of government for America, which united 13 States with their own strong governments under one purposefully weak central government. A Confederacy was born The Founders established a confederacy, because they had just fought a war (the Revolutionary War) against the British to escape an oppressively strong central government. The Founders wanted to avoid any type of strong central government. They opted to give the States the power to establish their own governments, foreign relations, trade agreements, military and economic practices. This distribution of power was chosen by […]

Lemuel Haynes’ Liberty Further Extended

March 24, 2023 TFP Staff 0

Lemuel Haynes’ Most Important Work Liberty Further Extended… Lemuel Haynes, a Founder, Minuteman, Pastor and Author, penned in an influential essay called “Liberty Further Extended” in response to the Declaration of Independence. His work was a treatise against slavery and an influential stance during the Founding years of the United States. Haynes argued that liberty for one group of people justly meant freedom for all. The story of Lemuel Haynes is featured on The Founding Project website. (See link below.) His most important work, “Liberty Further Extended”, is published here for the benefit of TFP readers and to honor the story of our Founders. The Founding Project publishes his work with no changes, except to add […]

The Originally Proposed Bill of Rights

March 21, 2023 thefpAdmin 0

Bill of Rights: The Original Proposed Transcript and the Original Final Ratified Document The transcription included here is the recorded original of the Joint Resolution of Congress PROPOSING the Bill of Rights. These proposed amendments and the final accepted and ratified Bill of Rights document is on permanent display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum. The punctuation and spelling for both is the same as the original documents. History: On September 25, 1789, the First Congress of the United States proposed 12 amendments to the Constitution. The 1789 Joint Resolution of Congress proposed the amendments now on display in the Rotunda in the National Archives Museum. Ten of the proposed 12 amendments were […]