Like a fire bell in the night…

In an April 22 letter, Thomas Jefferson penned the following, expressing the opinion that the that the divisive nature of the “Missouri Compromise” would eventually destroy the Union:

 ”…but this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. it is hushed indeed for the moment. but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper.” 

This same sentiment was echoed in Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech, delivered to the Republican Convention.

Today, several of the more militant members of our society are calling for secession, not unlike the Southern States did in the late 1850′s.  The dissatisfaction with the present electoral process, and the demonstrated flaws in accurate balloting, have given these dissolutionists a place to stand.  This is a very dangerous time.

Rebellion is not necessary.  Adherence to our rule of law IS.  Our Constitution made provision for proportional government.  To allow for efficient and effective government as the Nation grew, apportionment was of the most primary importance when the Articles of Amendment, what we, today, call “The Bill of Rights”, were finally consolidated and proposed to the then States by our first assembly of Congress under the newly ratified Constitution.  I say “most primary importance”, because apportionment was, indeed, the subject of “Article the First”.

As it happens, although no one knew until the Fall of 2011 – or, at least, no one publically acknowledged – that Article the First, long believed to have failed ratification, was, as a matter of historical fact, PASSED INTO LAW when Kentucky, the fifteenth State of the Union, adopted it when assenting to the “Articles of Amendment”, as one of the first acts of the Kentucky Legislature.  This means it has been the law of the land since 1792, if not earlier.

Even our first President under the Constitution, George Washington, felt apportionment was so important an issue that his first act in reviewing the proposed Constitution in it’s engrossed form was to change the originally proposed 40,000 persons per district to 30,000 – this to insure that little Delaware received at least a minimal representation “in Congress Assembled.”  Indeed, if one views the actual document carefully, it is clear where the “40,000″ was scratched off the vellum, and re-inked as “30,000″.

 

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