Common Sense - a Real Party Movement

Copyright © 2020 James Weart, Juris Doctor.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-1024-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-1023-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020919463

iUniverse rev. date: 10/14/2020

CONTENTS

Preface

History of the American Colonies

Creating A New Nation

History of Political Parties in the United States

A Commonsense Approach to Government that a Real Party Should Pursue

Conclusion

Postscript

About the Author

Acknowledgement

PREFACE

IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND WHERE the country is today, it is important that you understand the History of the American Colonies, of the Political Parties of the United States and of the United States of America. I will attempt to tie the three together in order to assist you in coming to a common sense conclusion that the Democratic Party and Republican Party have outlived their political usefulness.

HISTORY OF THE

AMERICAN COLONIES

ON OCTOBER 12, 1492, CHRISTOPHER Columbus landed on San Salvador and planted the Spanish Flag. During the 1500’s a race to claim new lands and riches developed between Spain and Portugal. Spain obtained most of South America, all of Central America, Mexico, and parts of modern-day California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Florida. Portugal, being smaller and less powerful, managed to take control of a large portion of land in the central portion of South America (modern day Brazil) and numerous small islands in the Southern Hemisphere.

Meanwhile, the other European powers, England, France, and Holland sat idly watching as the Spanish and Portuguese gained wealth and power from their conquests in the New World. The English, aroused by the defeat of the powerful Spanish Armada in 1588, struck first establishing a colony in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Soon thousands of English settlers set sail for the new continent of North America landing up and down the Atlantic coast from Massachusetts to Georgia. Not all of them were coming for land and riches, as many were escaping religious persecution and the iron fisted rule of the King and his Nobles. There was a longing for religious and personal freedom they could not enjoy in England.

The French also got into the act establishing a military fort near modern day Jacksonville, Florida, to keep the Spanish from moving North from St. Augustine, Florida, which they had settled in 1565. While France did claim a few small islands in the Caribbean, their main land holdings would be in the area of Quebec, Canada, and the huge territory called Louisiana that stretched from New Orleans up the Mississippi River to present day Southern Minnesota. It was a huge land mass but was only densely populated by the French in the New Orleans area. The rest of it was very sparsely populated.

The Dutch sent settlers into New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. They were also able to lay claim to several islands in the Caribbean Sea and some land in northern South America, but overall finished last in the race for the New World.

The big losers in the above land grabs by the European powers were the Indians, or present-day Native Americans. They were lied to, cheated, swindled out of their lands, and slaughtered without mercy if they resisted. Their pristine natural habitats were destroyed, crops, pillaged, and large herds of game ruthlessly hunted by the European settlers. They were forced from the natural lands of their ancestors and made to move away to unknown destinations to escape the hordes from Europe.

The English eventually established thirteen colonies under their control: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. For a while things went fairly well but disputes over commerce, land, representation, taxation, and incompetent British governors appointed by the Crown eventually led to discontent with the government in London. By the mid 1700’s, the French to the north (Canada) and west (Louisiana Territory) were creating problems for the colonists. They made treaties with various Indian Tribes and encouraged them to attack English settlers in areas the French were claiming such as western Pennsylvania, the Ohio River Valley, and parts of Western North Carolina (modern day Tennessee). The British, in kind, attacked French settlements in Quebec and along the St. Lawrence River in order to exploit their naval superiority over the French. A series of small wars followed culminating in the French and Indian War of 1753, until 1758, during which a young Virginia Militia Officer named George Washington rose to prominence. His experiences in fighting the French and Indians around Fort Duquesne (near Pittsburgh) and eventually commanding 1500 militia men to guard a 400-mile front from Maryland to North Carolina made him a well-known military tactician to the Colonists. After the war he returned to his life in Virginia as a plantation owner.

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris required the French to relinquish all their territories in Canada and claims to Western parts of the colonies to the British. France would make no more claims to English territory in North America after signing the treaty. However, the French and Indian War would be one of the major factors which caused the Revolutionary War against the British. King George III of England had fritted away his predecessor, King George II’s, full treasury on frivolous ventures and schemes thrust upon him by unscrupulous members of the Royal Court. Since his royal treasury had dwindled down to nothing, he decided to tax the Americans heavily using the excuse that the French and Indian War had drained the English treasury. The Americans knew that the King was lying, as they had contributed the majority of the troops in the war on the side of the English and helped supply the soldiers with the necessities of war. So, when Parliament levied a series of taxes on the American Colonies at the Kings insistence, the Colonists were infuriated. Soon discontent and acts of civil disobedience spread throughout the colonies with Massachusetts leading the charge. The laws imposed duties on imported glass, paper, tea, lead, paint, sugar, rum and certain manufactured goods. Worse yet, the Quartering Acts required private homes to provide billeting facilities for British soldiers stationed in the Colonies. No one took kindly to British soldiers living in their homes. Finally, in 1770, a large mob demonstrating in the streets of Boston started taunting and throwing snow balls at a squad of British soldiers. Someone yelled Fire! and the Redcoats opened up on the mob. Several people were killed and numerous others wounded in what would become known as the Boston Massacre. The truth was the commanding officer had not ordered his troops to fire, but some agitator in the crowd had yelled the command. The commander and several of his soldiers were tried for manslaughter. Preeminent Boston Lawyer, John Adams defended the troops and proved someone other than their commanding officer had ordered them to fire. They were found not guilty even though their lawyer hated the presence of British troops in Boston and did not like Redcoats