Florida Young Republicans of Indian River County

11/22/2021

11/16/2021

House Members will bring questions on HB 1B, COVID-19 Mandates to the House floor today at 10 am. Click here to watch: https://thefloridachannel.org/

11/08/2021

On this day in 1819, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention passes away. Caleb Strong of Massachusetts attended the Convention, but he never signed the Constitution.

Have you ever thought about the men who were appointed to serve at the Convention, but who failed to sign the document?

Roughly three dozen men fall into this category of “non-signer” of the Constitution. Of these, only a small handful deliberately rejected the substance of the document. Others didn’t sign, but for different reasons.

For starters, nearly 20 men failed to attend the Convention—at all! The historical record leaves us guessing at some of the reasons, but given the difficulties of travel in those days, perhaps a few “no-shows” is unsurprising. Moreover, historians know that at least a few of these men had health problems that prevented travel. Others had business conflicts. One man declined to serve because he worried about catching smallpox in Philadelphia!

So what happened to everyone else? Why didn’t they sign?

A handful of men arrived at the Convention and participated in the discussions, but then had to leave partway through the summer. Men such as Oliver Ellsworth (CT) left early for personal or business reasons, but later became advocates for the Constitution. Similarly, Virginia delegate George Wythe had to return home because his wife was in poor health, but he later supported the Constitution.

One man stayed to the end, but refused to sign, Edmund Randolph (VA) was worried that the Constitution wouldn’t be approved by the requisite nine states. In the closing days of the Convention, he announced that he would not sign the document.

Randolph ultimately changed his mind and ended up supporting the Constitution, but a handful of others never could get comfortable.

Elbridge Gerry (MA) and George Mason (VA) participated fully in the Convention, but they flatly refused to sign the Constitution. Among other things, they worried about the lack of a Bill of Rights.

New York delegates John Lansing and Robert Yates took a different tack. They got disgusted and left the Convention early. They feared that the national government being created was too powerful.

A national government, they explained to the Governor of New York, “must unavoidably, in a short time, be productive of the destruction of [citizens’ civil liberty], by reason of the extensive territory of the United States, the dispersed situation of its inhabitants, and the insuperable difficulty of controlling or counteracting the views of a set of men . . . possessed of all the powers of government . . . .”

John Mercer and Luther Martin of Maryland seemed to agree with much of this. They departed early in protest, fearing that states’ rights were not being sufficiently protected. Martin also had other concerns: For instance, he thought the Constitution should take a harder line on slavery.

What are we to do with all this information today?

Obviously, some of these delegates later had their concerns assuaged: A Bill of Rights was ratified and added to our Constitution. Yet other delegates doubtless continued to feel justified in their doubts.

Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that these delegates were in the minority. Most signed the Constitution, apparently agreeing with a sentiment expressed by James Wilson of Pennsylvania.

“[W]hen I reflect how widely men differ in their opinions,” Wilson observed, “and that every man [and state] has an equal pretension to assert his own, I am satisfied that any thing nearer to perfection could not have been accomplished . . . . it is the best form of government which has ever been offered to the world.”

Would he think we were doing a good job of preserving it?

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Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2021 by Tara Ross. I appreciate it when you use the shar e feature instead of cutting/pasting.

11/05/2021

Leftists are now using the same tactics of Castro, Guevara, Ortega, and Mao. Comply or you can’t work, feed your family, etc. We have to stand up for our rights and freedoms or they will continue to take them away.

America will not be a socialist country nor will we be a country that discriminates others. End this tyranny now!

11/05/2021

10/14/2021

“Boys, I only did my duty; the old flag never touched the ground!”

William Harvey Carney was born into slavery in Virginia in 1840. It’s not certain how he became a free man, but based on most accounts, he escaped through the Underground Railroad.

In 1863, he joined the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. On July 18th, 1863, this regiment led the charge on Fort Wagner, South Carolina. As the regiment marched in battle, the unit’s color guard was shot. William, only a few feet away from his wounded comrade, rushed over, caught the flag and continued to lead the attack.

Then Carney too was shot. Twice.

But he continued to march forward, holding the flag up high as “he crawled up the hill to the walls of Fort Wagner, urging his fellow troops to follow him. He planted the flag in the sand at the base of the fort and held it upright until his near-lifeless body was rescued.”

And still he didn’t want to give up the flag. Witnesses said that William held on to the flag until he was evacuated back to the regiment’s temporary barracks. The flag never touched the ground.

William was promoted to sergeant after the battle. After the war, Carney returned home to New Bedford, Massachusetts. He took a job maintaining the city’s streetlights and he delivered mail for thirty-two years.

Thirty-seven years after the charge on Fort Wagner, William Carney received the Medal of Honor. Credit- historicalsnapshots,

09/01/2021

On or around this day in 1942, the United States Congress considers amendments to the United States Flag Code. Did you know that the first Flag Code wasn’t written until 1923? Or do you know why it provides for us to stand and put our hands over our hearts? Or how the tradition of flying the flag at half-staff got started in the first place?

Believe it or not, the latter custom can be traced back to the 1600s.

The first recorded instance of a flag being flown at half-mast occurred in 1612. The British ship Heart’s Ease was looking for the Northwest Passage when her captain was killed by Eskimos. The crew responded by lowering the flag to half-mast, which was the first sight that Londoners saw when the ship returned to port.

No one is exactly sure what made the crew lower the flag to half-mast, but there are a few possible explanations.

One theory stems from a sailor’s love of order and discipline on a ship. Any departure from that orderliness indicates that things are awry. “The half-masting of colors is in reality a survival of the days when a slovenly appearance characterized mourning,” Lt. Commander Leland P. Lovette wrote in the 1930s. “Even in the British Merchant Service today there are recent cases of trailing rope ends, slacking off of rigging, and scandalizing yards as a sign of mourning.”

A second theory is that lowering the flag to half-mast would make room for an invisible black flag of mourning above it.

Either way, the custom spread, and it is commonly used by countries all over the world today.

The tradition of standing and placing our hands on our hearts also has surprising origins—and it was this very tradition that Congress would have been considering on this day so long ago. But even those deliberations had been a long time coming.

As early as the Civil War years, some Army veterans were working to protect the flag from certain types of commercial advertisements and other signs of disrespect. They’d put their lives on the line for that flag! They couldn’t stomach its desecration now. Despite their work, the flag-protection movement didn’t really gain steam until after World War I. Finally, on Flag Day in 1923, the American Legion and more than 60 other patriotic, fraternal, civic and military organizations met for the first National Flag Conference in Washington, D.C. Their purpose? Draft a code of flag etiquette. A second Flag Conference was held one year later. The Flag Code was finally made law in June 1942.

Early versions of the Flag Code contained a provision that might surprise modern Americans today: The pledge of allegiance was to “be rendered by standing with the right hand over the heart; extending the right hand, palm upward, toward the flag at the words ‘to the flag’ and holding this position until the end, when the hand drops to the side.”

Maybe you won’t be surprised to hear that this tradition was soon dropped. It looked too much like a N**i salute! On December 22, 1942, FDR signed an amendment to the Flag Code simplifying the provision so that we now stand “with the right hand over the heart.”

Today, the Flag Code is codified in Title 4 of the United States Code. It’s a code of etiquette and respect, created because the “flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing.” But it’s as code of etiquette only: There are no criminal sanctions for violating the Code’s provisions.

Obviously, there has been controversy lately regarding whether individuals “should face the flag and stand at attention with their right hand over the heart” whenever the national anthem is played. There’s a certain amount of irony in the protests, given the flag protection movement’s origins. “[The flag] served as a unifying symbol—especially after the end of the Civil War—for a relatively young nation made up predominately of immigrants,” one biographer of the flag concludes.

How will the controversy end? Perhaps the end of this history story is still in the future.

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If you enjoy these history posts, please see my note below. :)

Gentle reminder: History posts are copyright © 2013-2021 by Tara Ross. I appreciate it when you use the shar e feature instead of cutting/pasting.

08/25/2021

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-call-an-emergency-session-to-protect?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign"e_id=quote3&title_id=title1&recruiter=18869012&loc=thank-you-page =

This petition is in response to the

05/11/2021