At the beginning of July I wrote down the names of all of the signers of the Declaration of Independence that I could think of off the top of my head. My list only had 6 names on it. I realized I needed to learn more about the people who signed the Declaration of Independence.
I saw this book by Douglas MacKinnon and thought it would provide some insightful information about each of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I was also drawn in by the subtitle Liberty Lessons.
MacKinnon outlines why he wrote the book in his introduction. He writes about the 4th of July:
“Will the day which represents the act of those 56 men coming together as one to declare our independence from tyranny and our right to exist as a sovereign nation and a free people soon be altered, smeared, or outright cancelled?” Flash ahead approximately 246 years from that historic and sacred time period and the answer seems quite obvious.”
An example of the liberty lessons that MacKinnon writes about come in the chapter about Richard Henry Lee. MacKinnon writes:
“beginning early in 2020 it was the reaction to the pandemic not the pandemic itself that gave birth to instant overreach that robbed so many of their rights, freedoms, and livelihoods. But you may ask how could so many first world countries around the world fall victim to such one sided power hungry group think?”
MacKinnon does a good job of proving an outline of each of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He does have several references to movies and comic books such as National Treasure and Batman, which probably were not necessary in this book. I would like to have seen a little bit more information about each of the signers.
Overall I rate this book 3 out of 5 stars.
William Wilberforce has been called an agitator for his commitment to ending the slave trade. One of his well known speeches on the subject was given on May 12, 1789.
Cardinal Richelieu has been hailed as a great statesman and as a subversive authoritarian. Depending on who you talk to he was a man needed to strengthen the monarchy in France, or he was a tyrant seeking personal power. Next week I will have a book review that may shed more light on Cardinal Richelieu.
When Lenin was working on his major writing projects he would often pace across the room formulating the ideas that he would write down by saying them out loud. Once he had the idea for what he wanted to write he would often repeat the idea to Nadezhda Krupskaya, who would provide feedback. Once this process was complete he would then write the ideas down.
Here is an AI rendering of what that might have looked like when he was drafting What is to be Done.
This month this community will focus on political subversion. What is subversion? When is it justified? What is the interplay between subversion and agitation? These are some of the topics to be discussed this month.
“You get used to the despot’s shortcomings, when they are not great vices, and the change of an autocratic ruler leads to involuntary fear.”
Sergei Trubetskoi
