I had a request to provide a reading list from a person who wanted to better understand the nature and function of Freedom as perceived by our Founding Fathers. I have attached the response for any others who have spare time to read, or have a desire to follow the path I took on learning American history.
Steffan M. Bertsch
Hi,
The material I study, if available, are copies of original documents. Jefferson wrote 25,000 letters, so, he left us a huge legacy of wisdom. Franklin, John and Samuel Adams, Richard Henry Lee, and Madison left us a great deal of writings.
Perhaps the most informative piece I read was the epitaph of Thomas Jefferson which he wrote for his own tombstone: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for religious freedom, & Father of the University of Virginia."
If you read those documents, and comprehend why those two papers were in Jefferson's mind, his most important accomplishments, then, you start to taste, feel and live the type of liberty he strove for. Were I to give a reading list, it would be as such:
1. Common Sense by Thomas Paine
2. The Declaration of Independence in Jefferson's original text
and the one after Congress edited it.
3. The Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson (which gives a history
of the D of I and a copy of the original D of I Jefferson submitted
to Congress.)
4. The Statute on religious freedom for Virginia. (Spend a great
deal of time reflecting upon--with this statute, Jefferson declared
that there would be no inquisitions in America).
5. The Constitution of the United States.
6. The Federalist Papers.
7. More importantly, the anti-federalist papers. [especially
those by Richard Henry Lee (the Federal Farmer)], who was the
proponent of independence in the 2nd Continental Congress, and
the Pennsylvania Minority's objection to the Constitution.)
8. Washington's Farewell Address.
9. Henry David Thoreau's essay "On Civil Disobedience."
10. Mahatma Gandhi's analysis of Thoreau's essay and how it was
used to free India from British rule.
11. Martin Luther King's comments about the Thoreau-Gandhi-Christ
connection, some of which I have attached hereto.
Christ furnished the spirit and motivation, while Gandhi furnished the method.
Stride Toward Freedom.
For more than twenty years Mahatma Gandhi unrelentingly
urged British viceroys,
governors, generals, prime ministers, and kings to let his people
go. Like the Pharaohs of old, the British leaders turned deaf
ears to these agonizing pleas.
Strength to Love.
. . . it must be emphasized that nonviolent resistance
is not a method for cowards; it does resist. If one uses this
method because he is afraid or merely because he lacks the
instruments of violence, he is not truly nonviolent. This is
why Gandhi often said that if
cowardice is the only alternative to violence, it is better
to fight.
Stride Toward Freedom.
And, if those items aren't enough, Consider reading "A Modest Enquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper-Currency" by Benjamin Franklin.
Franklin's piece is a real eye-opener about how long the bankers have hidden knowledge about money, and, how thoroughly they protect their secrets concerning it. Franklin wrote the piece in 1729, when he was only 24 years old, and expressed how difficult it was to find information on money. He proposed that people pledge their land and allow some entity to print money backed by that land. The person pledging the land would then be paid interest each year for the pledge. The Federal Reserve seems to have adopted Franklin's plan, but they twisted it ever so criminally, by having "We the People" pledge our assets, while the Federal Reserve collected the interest for the assets pledged.
Good Luck in your pursuits,
Steffan M. Bertsch