Category: Messages from the Chairman

On April 21, 1775, the people of Virginia were alerted that the royal governor, Lord Dunmore, had removed the gun powder stores from the public powder magazine in Williamsburg, VA during the night and moved it to a ship of the Royal Navy. 

Thanks to Patrick Henry’s speech to the Second Virginia Convention, militias in Virginia were being readied to defend America from Britain’s imminent attack. Patrick Henry lead his militia to Williamsburg to demand the return of the gunpowder. Militias around Virginia moved on Williamsburg in support of Henry, and they were eventually reimbursed for the cost of the stolen gunpowder.

Virginia would not have been ready for this emergency had Patrick Henry not made his “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech the month before. The question for each of us is, what are we doing to prepare for the upcoming local elections in our area? Have you organized a local Constitution Party affiliate? Have you recruited quality candidates who understand the purpose of government and are prepared to secure our inalienable rights? Do you have the groundwork laid for getting our candidates on the ballot and for getting the votes needed to elect them? Do you have a plan of action for when they get elected? Do you have a long-term plan for electing more and more local CP candidates?

We must be ready.

Learn more about THE GUN POWDER INCIDENT here.

April 19, 1775

British Lt. Col. Francis Smith with 700 troops began moving towards Concord, Massachusetts with orders to confiscate the colonist’s arms and powder stockpiled there. A detachment of the light infantry under Major John Pitcairn were met on the green in Lexington by Captain John Parker and around 80 Minutemen in parade formation. Shots were fired, several Minutemen were killed, and the British troops continued on towards Concord.

The powder and arms in Concord had been moved before the British troops arrived and they went back to Boston empty handed harassed the entire way by the many militias gathering to the cause. This engagement triggered all the militias in the area to turn out, and by the time the British troops made it back to Boston, there were nearly as many militia men surrounding Boston as there were British troops occupying the city.

The “Shot Heard Round the World” has been recognized as the final straw that launched the American Revolutionary War. Today, our government has become far more oppressive than the British government of that time. It is time for a new American Revolution while there is still a chance for it to be a bloodless revolution.

What issue is the hill that you would be willing to die on? 

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set today a votive stone.
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.

Visit the Concord Museum April 19th exhibit online

In the fight for American Independence, few moments were so pivotal as Patrick Henry’s speech on the floor of the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. In Massachusetts they had already seen the British strip the colony of its right to self-rule. As things escalated in the north, military preparations were begun, readying for the war that was already being felt. The question in Virginia (where the Royal Governor had previously dissolved the General Assembly for supporting Massachusetts) was whether they would join the northern colonies in preparing for the inevitable war. While many balked at making any such move against England, everyone understood what would happen if every colony waited to face the enemy alone.

Virginians well knew what England was doing and met at this Second Convention to select delegates to the Second Continental Congress. But the question stood, would they wait too long to commit themselves completely to Liberty, and thereby lose it all? Patrick Henry’s speech, both logical and impassioned, left them all in stunned silence. It was well they listened to Henry and began preparing for the war, as only a month later the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the Gunpowder Incident would be fought.

Today, I ask each of you what Liberty is worth to you? “Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle?” You may wait too long if you are not actively engaged in building the Constitution Party locally. Join us now before another month goes by. Lend your support to restoring Liberty.

Justin Magill

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who have just addressed the House. But different men often see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentlemen if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The question before the House is one of awful moment to this country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the subject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms shall we find which have not been already exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves. Sir, we have done everything that could be done to avert the storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free– if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending–if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained–we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come.

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

That personal freedom is the natural right of every man; and that property, or an exclusive right to dispose of what he has honestly acquired by his own labour, necessarily arises therefrom, are truths which common sense has placed beyond the reach of contradiction.

And no man, or body of man, can without being guilty of flagrant injustice, claim a right to dispose of the persons or acquisitions of any other man, or body of men, unless it can be proved that such a right has arisen from some compact between the parties in which it has been explicitly and freely granted.

Dr. Joseph Warren, 1775

Dr. Joseph Warren, in 1775, spoke these words on the events of the Boston Massacre that had occurred five years before. He spoke of the invasion of a standing army in times of peace and the death and suffering caused by it. He spoke of the Natural Rights of every colonist and their right to defend themselves and their posterity. He applauded those who sacrificed themselves and their money for a cause that was barely underway yet.

You then, who nobly have espoused your country’s cause, who generously have sacrificed wealth and ease; who had despised the pomp and shew of tinseled greatness; refused the summons to the festive board; been deaf to the alluring calls of luxury and mirth; who have forsaken the downy pillow to keep your vigils by the midnight lamp, for the salvation of your invaded county, that you might break the fowler’s snare, and disappoint the vulture of his prey, you then will reap that harvest of renown which you so justly have deserved.

Your country shall pay her grateful tribute of applause. Even the children of your most inveterate enemies, ashamed to tell from whom they sprang, while they in secret, curse their stupid, cruel parents, shall join the general voice of gratitude to those who broke the fetters which their fathers forged.

Dr. Joseph Warren, 1775

We now have the same issue of tyrannical government trampling our rights. But we also have those who have committed themselves and their fortunes to the fight. We have those who have looked past the struggles ahead to the freedom to be gained for us all.

Having redeemed your country, and secured the blessing to future generations, who, fired by your example, shall emulate your virtues, and learn from you the heavenly art of making millions happy; with heart felt joy, which transports all your own, you cry, the glorious work is done. Then drop the mantle to some young Elisha and take your seats with kindred spirits in your native skies.

Dr. Joseph Warren, 1775

Will you join us?

But, pardon me, my fellow citizens, I know you want not zeal or fortitude.

You will maintain your rights or perish in the generous struggle.

However, difficult the combat, you never will decline it when freedom is the prize.

Dr. Joseph Warren, 1775

Read the full speech of Dr. Joseph Warren Delivered at Boston on 6 March 1775: Patriot Joseph Warren’s 1775 Boston Massacre Oration in full text

Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: It is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

Thomas Paine -The American Crisis

“Perhaps the sentiments contained in the following pages, are not yet sufficiently fashionable to procure them general favour; a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason. As a long and violent abuse of power, is generally the Means of calling the right of it in question (and in Matters too which might never have been thought of, had not the Sufferers been aggravated into the inquiry) and as the King of England hath undertaken in his own right, to support the parliament in what he calls theirs, and as the good people of this country are grievously oppressed by the combination, they have an undoubted privilege to inquire into the pretensions of both, and equally to reject the usurpation of either.”

Thomas Paine in his writing, Common Sense, calls for everyone in America to consider their rights, abused by their government, and how those abuses could occur. He concludes by encouraging everyone to unite in a common effort towards liberty while there still exists time for contemplative action.

Today we are given repeated contemporary examples of government abuse from all sectors of government and the DEMGOP party. We also, like our founders, have a chance to claim independence from government oppression. And like our founding, the right to independence comes only through committed individuals recognizing what could be and pursuing it fully.

The time to return to limited government is now, before we lose the ability to do so without bloodshed. We now have the power to replace the DEMGOP government that we have long lived under, with our own representatives. We have the opportunity to return to limited government and to self-govern in all areas not given to government’s purpose; that of securing our individual rights.

We need individuals in every State to join with us by starting local Constitution Party organizations to be able to run local candidates under the State party.

We need donations so we can fill our War Chest to be ready for action at every election.

We need individuals and private organizations to do the jobs that government should not be doing; to make government assistance obsolete by taking care of our own communities.  We need Patriots!

You can read Thomas Paine’s pamphlet in its entirety here: