The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1910-07-02


Thomas Jefferson was criticized at the tl,he
for lack Of orieinaity IN the declaration. me
document gained all the greater force from i'o
statement of selfevident truths. Never was
there a more mastery presentation or Dill Vi
grievances than is contained in the Declara tioN'
which submits the facts to candid world
Arraigning the British king for acts OF UT
amy It sets forth that he refused MS assent
IN laws the most wholesome and necessa[! ~,
the public good" meaning that George III Hau
prevented the issue of colonial currency ana
had refused representation to his American SUP
jects ~, vor,,
II was desired on the part of the New YORK
assembly to enter into treaty with the DIX
Nations. but the governor prevented the hego-
tiation of the treaty until be could obtain the
consent of the king
He did not proceed further because he feared
that such an act would lead to independence
Hence the expression, He has forbidden MS
governors to pass laws of immediate and press
ing importance.
Grievances Of the Massachusetts colony
which was deprived of representation and suf
fered interference in popular elections because
of its wish 20 trade with Nova Scotia, suggest
ed the paragraph:
He has refused to pass other laws for the
accommodation OF large districts OF people un
less those people should renquish the right OF
representation in the legislature right ines
Unable TO them and formidable to tyrants
only"
To further humble the Massachusetts, colony
and to punish the participants in the tea party
of 1913 the assembly was called in Salem, and
not in Boston Hence the words Of the docu
ment He has called together legislative bodies
at places unusual uncomfortable and distant
from no depository of their public records"
Massachusetts colony and others had adopt
ed resolutions In their assemblies that there
should be no taxation without the consent Of
the governed. The Massachusetts assembly
was asked to rescind its resolution in 1863 and
on It's refusal to do so was dissolved. The as.
semblies of Virginia and North Carolina met
the same fate. This state of affairs is summed
up in the Declaration IN the words, He has dis.
solved representative houses repeatedly for op,
posing with much frmness his Invasion on the
rights of the people"
The Declaration protests against the judges
being dependent on the will OF the king for
their salaries and, indeed, in some of the col.
onies many of the judges had been impeached
for declaring that they would receive their sal.
aries from the royal treasury
Graphically the authors of the document tell
how the erection of multitude of new offices
had impoverished the country referring to the
collectors appointed to carry out the provisions
OF the stamp act The quartering of troops In
times of peace a substantial grievance com.
planned OF, for the king insisted on retaining
British regiments here after the French and
Indian war at the expense Of the colonists. o.
tensibly for defense but IN reality to suppress a
growing democracy.
The words, He has affected to render the
military independent of and superior to the civil
power refer to the position taken by Genera,
Gage, who, with several regiments OF British
troops, was IN Boston. By order of the king
he had been made superior TO the civil govern
ment
Here and there through the colonies Amert
cans had been killed in alterations with Brit
ish soldiers, who were subsequently put on trial
and acquitted. The Declaration accuses tbs
king Of quartering large bodies of armed troops
ana OF protecting them by mock trial from,
punishment for any murders which they NAV
commit"
Such We're the principles euunciated in the
Declaration and how well they were sustained
by the arbirament OF war the world knows
The nation began celebrating the glorious
Fourth from the very beginning Statutes OF I:
cannon we're fred b. the army in INT, and the
new republic was pledged in wine.
West Point saw significant celebration fr
l"9, when General Washington issued par
don Tor all prisoners in the army under sen
tence of death The last celebration ~ tbe
army Of the Revolution as such took place or
ooth shores OF the Hudson river and a gram
salute was fired
More OF the nature OF festival dominate,
the Fourth after l7S3 for then came parades
free dinners toasts. the reading Of the Declare
ton In public BY citizens and more ana rnor.
the participation Of the younger generation
b'Ehr' and soiemnity marked these early osIa
eraslonS and eloquent speeches were made.
she Fourth IS statutory holiday IN ever
state AMI rs tame has gone beyond the .sAs