Topic: Community Self Government
Jake Towne on "Regaining Our Individual Rights" In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in three spots in Pennsylvania following the Fourth of July. One spot was Easton's historic Center Square. 233 years later, a small band of 300 patriots showed up once more. Here is the speech (and video!) I gave July 3rd, 2009 at the Lehigh Valley Tea Party at the fountain in Easton's Center Square, Pennsylvaniaby Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
(libertarian)
Saturday, July 4, 2009
NOTE: A longer version of this speech delivered at another rally is also below. This speech was edited to fit in the time allotted, but covered all of the main points in the full version. I am glad to report the speech was received quite favorably by the crowd as you can see in this YouTube video. I am likewise extremely honored to have been selected by this organization to speak on such an historic place at such an important time in our nation's history.
If I was granted a thousand wishes on our country's birthday, I would spend them all on restoring the Republic. As that simply won't happen, I will just continue to work as hard as I can. If you care to help, please let me know.
On July 15th, 1776, 72 patriots led by Benjamin Franklin issued Pennsylvania's Constitution. One sentence read: QUOTE That ALL POWER is originally inherent in, and consequently derived from, the PEOPLE; therefore all officers of government are their trustees and SERVANTS, and at ALL TIMES ACCOUNTABLE to them.
Our founders clearly realized that all power stems from the PEOPLE, from US, and all officers of government are NOT masters, but SERVANTS.
Most importantly, the Constitution was written under the principle of "positive grant." What "positive grant" means is that the government can ONLY exercise the powers which are specifically granted to it and nothing more. The Constitution is not the AUTHORITY over our lives, it is simply the LAW meant to CONSTRAIN the actions of government.
However, over time the federal government has slowly and steadily taken more and more power from the people, from our local and state governments.
Look at the bailouts of the banks, insurance companies, car companies, and investment firms. There is NOTHING - there is NOTHING - in the Constitution that gives Congress or the Federal Reserve the power to do ANY of this.
So what to do? What can be done against this government? What are the BEST actions that people who believe in the rule of law, who believe in freedom, do?
What I favor is a strong shift back to the America that our founding fathers and mothers had in mind. If we can shift these powers back closer to the People, from the federal governments to the State and local governments, the better off we all will be. The more local each issue becomes, the more voice, the more power each individual has, and the happier we will all be.
The 4th of July for the Patriots of '76 was only the start of a long march towards freedom and liberty. It is in their spirits that we, from our families FIRST, from our local communities SECOND, and from the State of Pennsylvania THIRD must rise up and defend freedom from a government that disrespects the Rule of Law and the boundaries of its Constitutional powers!
We can start and WIN this revolution of our lifetimes TODAY if only a few good women, a few good men are brave enough to place their bodies and their minds between our families and the Establishment, this government that acts as if the Constitution were just "a piece of paper!"
As for myself, I have decided to run for political office even though I have no prior political experience. I have a very strong message to share and a plan to implement accountability and transparency, to return the 'money power' from the government to the people where it belongs, and to fiercely defend individual liberty and the rule of law.
I have decided to run as private citizen, unaffiliated with any political parties. I do not desire to represent either the Democrat or Republican Parties, I desire to represent US, the people of this district whom I am willing to serve.
I believe that the current Republican and Democrat representatives have been leading our country down the path of both MORAL and ECONOMIC ruin.
Our two-headed, one-party political scene is not the sharp divide the politicians and the media want us to believe. The true difference between the Democrat and Republican politicians in power is no greater than the choice between picking Coke or Pepsi at a supermarket.
To me, the real choice today is simple.
We either choose LIBERTY or we choose TYRANNY!
We either choose PROSPERITY for those who earn it or POVERTY for us all!
TODAY we decide between a REPUBLIC of LAWS or MOB RULE by the Gang in Washington!
TODAY we decide if we are Women and Men of PRINCIPLE or if we will let "politics as usual" and the "lesser of two evils" ruin our lives and the lives of our children!
What I would like MORE THAN ANYTHING is to join with a team of candidates who HAVE the spirit of '76, who SHARE the same principle and belief in individual liberty as I do, and are focused on saving our great country from those who threaten it, THE TRUE ENEMIES DOMESTIC.
America was conceived in liberty, and I will not let our Republic fall to the cowards who defile her without a bitter fight. These cowards will do whatever they can to remain in power, to control us by debasing our money and throwing away our liberties as if they were garbage. Our Republic was not established by cowards, and cowards have no chance of preserving it!
Their favorite strategy is "Divide-and-Conquer." They will prey upon our differences in Race, Skin Color, Gender, and religious creeds in attempts to turn us upon ourselves. They will try to set our Citizens Senior against our country's young people. They will try to set the Rich, the Poor, and the Middle Class at each other's throats for this is the ONLY way they can stay in power.
We must act together, we must recognize that we are all Americans, we are all on the SAME SIDE. As our founders signed the Declaration of Independence, Ben Franklin said, "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we will all hang separately."
The longer version with hyperlinks. If you have read the US Constitution but not your State Constitution, I highly recommend it! Here is the current PA Constitution.
At the end of this week we will celebrate our nation's date of independence from the tyranny of the King of England. Thank you for all gathering here today to protest the actions of our government by exercising our freedom to peaceably assemble.
I would like to share with you all two very powerful sentences from the Constitution – but not the U.S. Constitution! From the Constitution of Pennsylvania! You see, after the Fourth of July, each of the 13 colonies issued their own Constitutions and declaration of rights. So 11 days later on July the 15th, 1776, 72 patriots led by Benjamin Franklin issued the first-ever Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Seven of these were from our Lehigh Valley.
They wrote QUOTE That ALL POWER is originally inherent in, and consequently derived from, the people; therefore all officers of government, whether legislative or executive, are their trustees and SERVANTS, and at ALL TIMES ACCOUNTABLE to them.
That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection and security of the people, nation or community; and not for the particular advantage of any single man, family, or set of men, who are a part only of that community: And that the community has an indubitable, unalienable and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish government in such manner as shall be by that community judged most conducive to the public well-being. UNQUOTE
So our founders realized that all power stems from the PEOPLE, from US, and all officers of government are NOT masters, but SERVANTS.
July 15th, 1776 marked the beginning of the SOVEREIGN STATE of Pennsylvania. During the Revolutionary War, the 13 States formed a federal government under the Articles of Confederation. After the War, Americans realized that their federal government needed more power to handle the affairs of the United States. Each State still needed the others for military protection from the French colonies to the north and west, the Spanish colonies to the South, and from the ever-present British Navy by sea. However, a super-majority was required for any major decision, and the federal government became very ineffective – not because it was passing too many laws or acts but because it could do nothing. When the Constitution was signed in 1787, the States gave up just enough rights so that the federal government could function, but it was NEVER the intent to have a strong central government like today's.
Most importantly, the United States Constitution was written under the principle of "positive grant." What "positive grant" means is that the federal government can ONLY exercise the powers which are specifically granted to it by the Constitution approved by We the People, and nothing more. The Constitution is not the AUTHORITY over our lives, it is simply the law meant to CONSTRAIN the actions of government.
However, over time the federal government has slowly and steadily taken more and more power from the people, from our local communities, and from our States.
Look at the bailouts of the banks – Citigroup, Bank of America and many more – the car companies Chrysler and Government Motors – the insurance companies like AIG, and Wall Street investment banks like Merrill Lynch and Government Sachs, there is NOTHING - there is NOTHING - in the Constitution that gives Congress or the Federal Reserve – the same FED which has spent well over $2 TRILLION dollars in undisclosed secret bailouts – there is NOTHING in the Constitution that gives the government the power to do ANY of this.
The 10th Amendment clearly reads QUOTE "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." UNQUOTE
So what to do? What can be done against this government? What are the BEST actions that people who believe in the rule of law, who believe in a just and accountable government do?
What I favor is a strong strong shift back to the America that our founding fathers and mothers had in mind. They recognized that all power came from the PEOPLE. We the People then delegated some powers to our State governments to act on our behalf, and then gave even FEWER powers to our federal government.
If we can shift these powers back closer to the People, from the federal governments to the State governments to the local governments, the better off we all will be. The more local each issue becomes, the more voice, the more power each individual has, and the happier we will all be.
There was a time after the Revolution when Thomas Paine, a patriot and author of Common Sense wrote that each family kept a copy of the Constitution in their homes. When discussing an issue, he wrote, it was not uncommon for the family to open up the Constitution and refer to it! Paine even called the Constitution our "political bible."
Another founder, Sam Adams, once said, "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires in the minds of men."
The Fourth of July for the Patriots of 1776 was only the start of a long march towards freedom and liberty. In the history of mankind, there have been VERY few wars that resulted in an increase of liberty, an increase in prosperity, but the Revolutionary War that founded our country DID result in more freedom and more prosperity. The Patriots of '76 risked their lives, liberty, and property with their families to fight to the death against the British Empire. But they fought with confidence knowing that if they won, peace, freedom, and prosperity would be their reward. They risked their lives knowing that life simply wasn't worth living as unrepresented serfs of the state.
It is in their spirits that we, from our families FIRST, from our local communities SECOND, and from the State of Pennsylvania THIRD must rise up and defend freedom from a government that disrespects the Rule of Law and the boundaries of its Constitutional powers! Thanks to the heritage of our founding fathers, this is a revolution that can SURELY be won without the use of muskets or cannon.
We can start and WIN this revolution of our lifetimes TODAY if only a few good women, a few good men are brave enough to place their bodies and their minds between our families and the Establishment, this government that acts as if the Constitution were just "a damn piece of paper!" I ask that each of you search inside your souls and decide how best you can help win the battle.
As for myself, I have already decided to run for political office even though I have no prior political experience. I have a very strong message to share and a solid plan to implement accountability and transparency, to return the 'money power' from the government to the people where it belongs, and to fiercely defend individual liberty and the rule of law.
I have decided to run as private citizen, unaffiliated with any political parties. I do not desire to represent either the Democratic or Republican Parties, I desire to represent US, the people of this district whom I am willing to serve.
I believe that the previously-elected Republican and Democratic representatives have been leading our country down the path of both ECONOMIC and MORAL ruin.
Our two-party political scene is not the sharp divide the parties and the media want you to believe. The true differences between the Democrat and Republican politicians in power is no greater than the choice between picking either Coke or Pepsi at a supermarket. One is just a little sweeter to some and will rot your teeth just a little faster than the other!
Today we either choose LIBERTY or we choose TYRANNY!
We are deciding between PROSPERITY for those who would earn it or the POORHOUSE and POVERTY for us all! Our nation is becoming the Soviet Union right before our eyes!
TODAY we decide between a REPUBLIC of LAWS or MOB RULE by the GANG in WASHINGTON!
TODAY we decide if we are Women and Men of PRINCIPLE or if we will let "politics as usual" and the "lesser of two evils" ruin our lives and the lives of our children!
What I would like MORE THAN ANYTHING is to join with a team of candidates who HAVE the spirit of '76, who SHARE the same principles as I do, and are focused on saving our great country from those who threaten it, THE TRUE ENEMIES DOMESTIC. I do not care which party you are from, only that we share the many of the same principles and ideas, and intend to save our country from the cowards that are in office today.
America was conceived in liberty, and I will not let our Republic fall to the cowards who defile her without a bitter fight. These cowards will do whatever they can to remain in power, to control us by debasing our money and frittering away our civil liberties as if they were garbage.
Their favorite strategy is the game of "Divide-and-Conquer." They will use hot-button topics to divide us. They will prey upon our differences in Race, Skin Color, Gender, and religious creeds in attempts to turn us upon ourselves. They will try to set our Citizens Senior against our country's young people. They will try to set the Rich, the Poor, and the Middle Class at each other's throats for this is the ONLY way they can stay in office.
They will trot skeletons out of their Republican or Democratic Party closets whose only saving grace is that they have not been involved in politics for the last 4-5 years, just long enough so we can forget that they would have acted EXACTLY the same as our current politicians.
We must act together, we must recognize that we are all Americans, we are all on the same side. As our founders signed the Declaration, Ben Franklin said, "We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately." We either "Join or Die."
Our Republic was not established by cowards, and cowards have no chance of preserving it!
That is all I have to say, thank you for this opportunity to speak.
The views expressed in this
article are those of Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
It is good to see your message Jake, best wishes for success. We appreciate your willingness to serve while helping to restore what this simple concept means. Upholding one's oath of office should unite toward People's Law yet we drift into tyrannical waters. We invite you to introduce yourself at our forums 'Meet the Candidate' discussion.
You care for your country like a lumber company cares for the trees -- you just want to have it YOUR way. And, while that's Democray, it's also going to be a stunning, staggering disappointment for those who want to cut down all those TREES along with you.
The first principle you seem to misunderstand is that LOCAL equals MORE VOICE and MORE POWER. The truth is that LOCAL equals LESS UNIFORMITY, MORE CONTROVERSY, and the strong arm of the LOCAL ELITE. When you have thousands of differing laws (local) covering the same issues, you have CHAOS not improved FREEDOM. Those CORPORATIONS and WEALTHY ELITE who extend EVERYWHERE are going to rule everything LOCAL.
Secondly, an UNAFFILIATED REPRESENTATIVE is an IMPOTENT REPRESENTATIVE. You have no constituency of allies to implement anything you want to get passed. You have no fund raising capabilities, no party support, and -- therefore -- a lone voice in a concert hall of many louder instruments.
Third -- You may insist that we only have a choice between Coke and Pepsi, but it's a lot better than getting FAYGO!
Your flag-waving pledge that you're running for US, the citizens of your district, is about as disingenuous as GW Bush telling us that he represented US. He didn't, and you won't, either. You'll only represent those people who believe the way YOU do. That isn't representing "US", it's representing that group of (probably) 30 or 40 people in your district who support you.
Good luck in learning the lesson that Libertarian is NOT a party platform that will ever WIN an election. It's a dream of a tiny, microscopic group of whining, complaining babies who want to go back to the rules that a group of ELITE, WHITE, MALE-ONLY so-called "founders" imposed on BLACKS, WOMEN, NATIVE AMERICANS, and the SOCIALLY-POOR who were told to pull themselves up by their BOOTSTRAPS but were never even allowed to have any BOOTS!
Your view of PATRIOTISM is wrapping YOURSELF and your buddies in a FLAG, strapping on your guns, tearing down our courts and governments, and telling the WEAKER groups in society that they can just fight it out with the STRONG ones. After all, we're ALL EQUAL. Ha! Ha! Well, if that were true, you'd have an EQUAL chance in the election. And, you DON'T.
Posted By: Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-07-06 18:56:33
Dear Master C,
I am not running as a Libertarian and thanks for your version of your best wishes. From our past communications I know this is just you wishing me well :)
I am also heartened to see you cared enough to reply to this article. I am running the campaign on my principles and values, so if elected, it will be because of the message.
I assure you I am completely mindful of my chances of winning, and I did it anyway. Don't get so wound up about other people living their lives as they so choose.
Please enjoy your life, and take care of yourself! Jake
I guess you feel that in running for office, that's going to show that you care about the country. I think all it does is show that you have NO IDEAS that are going to UNIFY people, and that you don't understand the point I made for you -- that LOCAL control means NO UNIFORMITY. You cross one state or county boundary, and you're now under a different law -- whether it's carrying guns, shooting off fireworks, smoking, drinking, or driving 65!
Your flag-waving speech about LOCAL CONTROL is about as ill-advised as Ron Paul calling for an end to the IRS (and the Federal Reserve, and to bases on foreign soil, and fiat currency, and to withdrawing from NATO and the United Nations, and to Roe v Wade... the guy is a (barely) living verbal fountain of misstatements!). I only hoped that I could alert you to one or two of the many dangers to LOCAL control. But, you sound like you want to proceed with that delusion as surely as the Wizard wanted everyone to "disregard that man behind the curtain"!
To say that you're not running as a Libertarian is like Barack Obama saying that he's not running as a black man. He may not TALK about it, but he can't disassociate himself from it, either.
Running for office just to spout some Libertarian -- or "NON-AFFILIATED" -- views that would lead us down a road to CHAOS isn't patriotic, it's NIHILISTIC.
If you can tell me why having hundreds of conflicting LOCAL laws is better than having one consistent NATIONAL LAW (other than it makes YOU feel good), I'll be very impressed with your statesmanship.
But, I don't think that's an answer you have, Mr. Pseudo-Politician. You don't want to BRING US TOGETHER, you just want to DIVIDE US up into little local factions that can then be controlled by the LOCAL ELITE.
Posted By: Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-07-07 05:33:04
Dear Mr C -
Thanks for restating. I get your point, but we disagree in that I do believe that having local and state control over laws and acts is much better than having the federal government set one law or one act to rule over everyone.
You are correct that there is less uniformity (besides in those powers granted to the federal gov't), but it all goes back to the Constitution and positive grant. The more local/state control over sensitive topics concerning powers not granted to Congress, the better off everyone is.
However, all of those state/local laws can never conflict with the Constitution - the supreme law of the land - so you really DO have a situation where there is one national law with plenty of state and local laws/acts underneath. I will allow that you are correct that some local acts/laws conflict with each other - but it doesn't seem to have created "chaos".
As a matter of fact, it's just a matter of fact we already live in this America. Or perhaps you want Congress to control housing zone code, littering fees, drunken driving penalties, criminal law, etc, etc. Sounds like Maoist China to me, not the USA. Your solution is the crazy one, not mine.
If it becomes obvious that it's better off to delegate more powers - say over health care - to Congress, then it's certainly not too difficult to amend it.
Actually you might be the utopian/nihilist on this point. When federal or state politicians are sworn in, they only say they will obey the US/state Constitution. If you don't agree with the Constitution, then go ahead and try to change it.
"as ill-advised as Ron Paul calling for an end to the IRS (and the Federal Reserve, and to bases on foreign soil, and fiat currency, and to withdrawing from NATO and the United Nations, and to Roe v Wade... "
Then you are absolutely going to love the rest of my campaign speeches!
It's OK we don't agree on much Mr. C, thanks for your comments!!
Yes, I know we don't agree on much. That's because I'm in the mainstream and you're not even in a stream -- you're a teeny, tiny, TRIBUTARY MAN.
Some day you Libertarians will all go off on an island somewhere that will accommodate all 276 of you and have the paradise of your dreams. But, that's the ONLY way you'll ever get people to live under the kind of oppression and stagnation that you advocate.
Rule by chaos and anarchy is NOT civilized; it's the rule of the JUNGLE. And, the VAST MAJORITY of us have OUTGROWN that antiquated notion.
SELF-DELUSION is a harsh mistress. But, I guess it's the only mistress you Libertarians have got!
Posted By: Jake, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-07-07 08:08:51
Dear Mr. C -
It's perfectly OK that we don't agree, thanks again for your comments. We are truly polar opposites - you say "oppression and stagnation" - while I claim that WHAT WE HAVE NOW is tyranny, oppression, and stagnation -- not too many new businesses starting up right now in this environment now that the Keynesian economists that you cling to have ruined things .
Question: Do you really have all the liberty you feel you need?
The rule of law that I advocate is the polar opposite of chaos.
Lastly, you can hang out with your vast majority, but there are a lot more than 276 of us. I'll close with a founding fathers quote and a link
"It is better to be alone than to be in bad company."
You're clanging a broken bell, my friend! Do I have all the liberty and freedom and money and opportunity and blah, blah, blah that I want -- OF COURSE I DO! I feel as if I live at the greatest time in the history of the world because the world has so much to offer. And, it has it to offer because of FIAT CURRENCY and the creative imaginations that it encourages and rewards.
To see an economic DOWNTURN of this magnitude being kept from COLLAPSE then being REVERSED should be as inspiring as watching you go out for another wave after being bounced off the bottom for taking one that was too big for you.
This economy shows RESILIENCY and FLEXIBILITY and DURABILITY. As it does all around the WORLD! You hillbilly Libertarians have been counting LIGHTS OUT for nearly a YEAR now (In Republicae and Walt's cases, they've NEVER stopped yelling that the END is very near! Probably even since they first heard the word "Federal Reserve". Ha! Ha!).
But, for you not to recognize all the signs of CHANGE, TRANSFORMATION, and REGROWTH is like someone who looks out over a California forest after FIRES have raged through it. You can only see the ASHES, you can't see the sprouts of NEW LIFE.
It won't happen QUICKLY because it will take YEARS to rebuild what CAPITALISTIC GREED did to us. Shipped JOBS overseas by the carload and factory-full, turned CORPORATE profits into INDIVIDUAL TREASURE for the executives, hid taxable corporate earnings in off-shore accounts, BLINDED government by removing regulations and oversight (through Reagan and Bush and Bush), tore down our international status by the ARROGANCE of self-determined, self-imposed wars, and packed the SUPREME COURT with a bunch of CONSERVATIVES who don't know the difference between Liberty and Tyranny.
We are REBUILDING America, Jake, to be a FAIR, GENEROUS, GRATEFUL, RESPECTFUL, SHARING nation that will surely be the marvel of every SOCIALIST DREAM I've ever had.
Long live SOCIALISM! A system that SHARES not HOARDS, a system that CARES not IGNORES, and a system that TAKES from those who have taken too much and uses it to provide for those who need a CHANCE to contribute.
Posted By: Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-07-07 10:06:29
Dear Mr C -
It's interesting since I was just in Philly - and saw the Liberty Bell. Yes, it is broken, and I'll clang it as much as I want :)
It's amazing that our perspectives are so different - I believe we are in the last stages of a Marxist revolution that really got going around 1900.
I am short-term pessimistic as you know - the fiat money system is in its death throes, sorry to kill your dream. However, at least we are both long-term optimistic :)
I'll die free rather than continue to live like a slave in a socialist regime. This strikes at the heart of why I am running for Congress - to get a message out, even if I fail in my attempt, you can't put out the flames of individual liberty, stomp on them as you will.
Enjoy the rest of your day, Mr. C. It is interesting to hear your thoughts even though I disagree, thanks for writing.
In the meantime, I will just fight as hard as I can against the forces you so strongly believe will take care of us.
If people like you could kill my dream, I wouldn't dream.
There's NOTHING that people who live in the past (quoting long dead WHITE SUPREMICISTS, accepting principles that were made long before airplanes, computers, and the telephone, and preaching NIHILISM to established, mainstream GOVERNMENT CREATIONS) will ever convince me is something I should believe in. Your ideas are as old and dead as that '57 Chevy that people still like to talk about. But, they can't drive it because it isn't STREET LEGAL.
Your promise to DIE instead of accept SOCIALIST IDEALS is like that same promise from the GUN LOBBY -- pry my gun from my cold, dead hands! And, believe me, WE WILL! I would like to be the first to tell you to live under the RULES a DEMOCRATICALLY elected government has passed, or GET OUT!
Where you gonna go, my friend? Is there a LIBERTARIAN ISLAND out there somewhere where you and your teeny, tiny group of friends can go? The world is getting BIGGER for everyone except those die-hards who think they know better than the BILLIONS of others around the world who SHARE, HELP, and OFFER OPPORTUNITY to others.
Posted By: Jake Towne, the Champion of the Constitution
Date: 2009-07-07 10:47:55
Keep dreaming then.
Your side may have aircraft carriers, nukes, and the military-industrial complex, all I have is a pen and my voice.
We will see who wins.
"A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine."
- Thomas Jefferson, drafter of the Declaration of Independence and 3rd President of the United States
"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
- John Adams, 2nd President of the United States
"A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way... Liberty has never lasted long in a democracy, nor has it ever ended in anything better than despotism... Democracy pollutes the morals of the people before it swallows up their freedoms."
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On July 15th, 1776, 72 patriots led by Benjamin Franklin issued Pennsylvania's Constitution. One sentence read: QUOTE That ALL POWER is originally inherent in, and consequently derived from, the PEOPLE; therefore all officers of government are their trustees and SERVANTS, and at ALL TIMES ACCOUNTABLE to them. 