American Freedom and the American Founders

Many events undoubtedly led to freedom in America, but there are three events I am going to talk about in this essay and how they made American Freedom possible. These three events are the Magna Carta, the printing press, and the English Bill of Rights.

The Magna Carta was an agreement between some barons and King John. King John was taxing the people too much and taking their property away. The peasants, who were poor, ended up with nothing. So the barons came along and took a stand against King John. They wrote up an agreement, the Magna Carta, and took it to King John. Somehow, they got him to sign it. This agreement took away a lot of King John’s power and made everyone else happier. I think this event influenced American Freedom because it showed people that they could take a stand against their leaders if the leaders weren’t doing what they should. It showed that the people are more powerful than the king.

Gutenberg, the man who
invented the printing press

The printing press was an invention made by Gutenberg around 1440. It was very expensive, but he figured it out. It could produce 3,600 pages a day. It also made books cheaper because they didn’t have to be written by hand. In 60 years, 20 million books had been printed and in 100 years 150-200 million had been printed. I think this influenced American Freedom because it got out ideas to everyone quickly. If the printing press hadn’t been invented, the American people wouldn’t have understood ideas as quickly, and it wouldn’t have made them as fired up about the revolution.

The English Bill of Rights was presented to King William and Queen Mary by the British Parliament in 1659. Before, it had been a battle for power between the King/Queen and the Parliament. The bill gave Parliament freedom of speech, the power to ask the King/Queen to change things, and put the Parliament in charge of the country, giving them more power than the King/Queen. This helped influence American Freedom because it showed people how to get more power than their leaders.

These three things, the Magna Carta, the printing press, and the English Bill of Rights all helped American Freedom.

Our Founders

            Most teenagers of my generation really don’t understand who the U.S. founding fathers were. Part of the blame for this goes to public schools, and part of the blame goes to their parents. The bottom line is: our founding fathers were inspired by God and were good, righteous, and moral men.

            Take George Washington for example. Some people don’t know much about him—only that he was our first president, he had wooden teeth, and he had chopped down a cherry tree. This man, however, was much more than that. Many people think that Washington had to have fake teeth because he never brushed, or that he didn’t eat right. However, the real reason he had to get false teeth was from starvation. This man, when fighting in the Revolutionary War, would do anything for his soldiers. He would freeze with them, he would starve with them, he would suffer with them, and he would even die for them. All of this, he did (with the exception of the dying part).

            Another example is Thomas Jefferson. Later in his life, Jefferson was accused of having children with one of his slaves. DNA tests were taken, and they supposedly “proved it”. They can believe that if they want, but there is absolutely no way that Thomas Jefferson could have been immoral. Take the famous words this man wrote in the Declaration of Independence, and read carefully: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” and later, “And in support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.” Anybody can and should realize that these words could not have been written by any man alone, but that these words were indeed inspired from a higher power. Such a higher power could not have put these words on paper through a man who was not moral. There are many other explanations about the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave. One of them, and probably the most logic, was that it was not Thomas Jefferson who had children with his slave, but Jefferson’s brother who did. This justification has been proven as well.

            The last example I will mention here about our fathers is one of Christopher Columbus. Many perceive Columbus as a greedy individual, only after the gold and the glory. Most speculate that Columbus crossed the Atlantic in search of a shorter passage to the Indies, or Asia, so that easier trading routes could be established. Although this could be a good cause, it was not Columbus’s primary reason for sailing across the sea. Columbus, a devout Christian, knew that before Christ was to come to Earth again, all peoples must be taught the Gospel. God made it known to Columbus that there were other peoples across the sea that must be taught the Gospel, and that is why Columbus sailed. On October 10, 1492, as Columbus was sailing, men on the boat insisted they turn back to Europe or they would surely run out of supplies. Columbus, however, pleaded with them to wait three more days. If, by that time, no land was seen, the ships would turn around and go back. Columbus pleaded with the Lord that land would be found. The night after next, which was the night of October 11, land was seen and a miracle had happened. I testify that this man was not after the gold, the glory, or even after establishing easier trade routes to Asia. Christopher Columbus strived to do the will of God on his journey, and that’s all there is to it.

            There are many other examples of many other men who were led by God, but who are misunderstood by most citizens today. One is the Constitution, which was undoubtedly led by divine Providence. To sum it up, men like Washington, Jefferson, and Columbus are not understood by many today. How can we fix this? One word: teach. We need to teach others the true intentions of those men and the true meaning of the Constitution. The only way that they will know is if they are taught.